I am very surprised that Audie Murphy agreed to star in "Battle at Bloody Beach", as he had a very bad case of PTSD after fighting in WWII. Sure, he earned more medals than any other American in the war, but he also paid a huge price...and his PTSD was so bad it contributed to his first marriage dissolving. So, in light of his mental illness, it's not 100% surprising that he had a few other troubles in life...including many financial ones. It was so bad that after a while, he went from making relatively high budgeted films (mostly westerns) to making cheaper and cheaper movies. "Battle at Bloody Beach" is certainly one of the cheaper ones.
A few signs this is a very cheap movie is that instead of filming it in the Philippines, they chose nearby Catalina Island...just a short distance from Hollywood. Another is that the women in the movie all sport 1961 hair (particularly the lead) and they made little attempt to make it look like a period piece. Additionally, Murphy is given little in the way of support...with mostly unknowns and Gary Crosby, who, at the time, wasn't exactly a star.
The story is set around late 1943-sometime in 1944. Craig Benson (Murphy) is on a mission where he is going island to island recruiting the locals for the insurgency against the Japanese. At the same time, and a VERY weak part of the film, is that he's also looking for his wife who got separated from him at Manila at the beginning of the war. And, naturally, he finds her here...which seems pretty ridiculous. But there are problems...and the mission ends with a bloody battle on the beach...hence the film's title.
I agree with the one review that describe this as a stiff and talky picture--it is. I think a bit more action might have helped and less of the love story as well. Still, it's not a terrible low budget film...just one that's easy to skip.
By the way, two bad things that stood out where the scene was when one of the insurgents yells out "NO!! Blanco ends here" as he pretty much throws away his life instead of getting on the boat with everyone else. The other, and I'm surprised that Murphy didn't complain about this, is that they are fighting the Japanese with Browning Automatic Rifles...a sort of rifle/submachine gun hybrid. It could fire, at most, 20 rounds...but here you never see anyone reloading and they are firing it on full automatic most of the time instead of in single-shot mode. I'm not a big expert on guns but have fired the BAR and know the film didn't seem to care if it was being used realistically or not. Of course, perhaps Murphy DID say something but the director simply didn't care. Who knows?
A few signs this is a very cheap movie is that instead of filming it in the Philippines, they chose nearby Catalina Island...just a short distance from Hollywood. Another is that the women in the movie all sport 1961 hair (particularly the lead) and they made little attempt to make it look like a period piece. Additionally, Murphy is given little in the way of support...with mostly unknowns and Gary Crosby, who, at the time, wasn't exactly a star.
The story is set around late 1943-sometime in 1944. Craig Benson (Murphy) is on a mission where he is going island to island recruiting the locals for the insurgency against the Japanese. At the same time, and a VERY weak part of the film, is that he's also looking for his wife who got separated from him at Manila at the beginning of the war. And, naturally, he finds her here...which seems pretty ridiculous. But there are problems...and the mission ends with a bloody battle on the beach...hence the film's title.
I agree with the one review that describe this as a stiff and talky picture--it is. I think a bit more action might have helped and less of the love story as well. Still, it's not a terrible low budget film...just one that's easy to skip.
By the way, two bad things that stood out where the scene was when one of the insurgents yells out "NO!! Blanco ends here" as he pretty much throws away his life instead of getting on the boat with everyone else. The other, and I'm surprised that Murphy didn't complain about this, is that they are fighting the Japanese with Browning Automatic Rifles...a sort of rifle/submachine gun hybrid. It could fire, at most, 20 rounds...but here you never see anyone reloading and they are firing it on full automatic most of the time instead of in single-shot mode. I'm not a big expert on guns but have fired the BAR and know the film didn't seem to care if it was being used realistically or not. Of course, perhaps Murphy DID say something but the director simply didn't care. Who knows?