User Reviews

No one can accuse Cornel Wilde of being a subtle film director . BEACH RED shows the same flaws that made the film version of John Christopher's novel NO BLADE OF GRASS a memorable movie for the most bizarre reasons . That novel didn't contain any environmentalist subtext or agenda but Wilde decided to batter the audience to death with a pollution is bad kids message . He also used strange directorial techniques that felt that they belonged in an entirely different movie . In this movie that was made three years previously Wilde has a similar sledgehammer approach which works slightly better but even so you'll remember this film due to its storytelling more than its actual story

From the outset you can see BEACH RED is a war film with a difference but tries just a little too hard . It has cinematic art-house pretensions but possibly not the budget and probably not a cerebral enough director to pull off the ideas presented . That said Wilde does deserve some credit for making what is effectively a B movie in to something that sticks in the mind . It also be judged against the context it was made . The Hays Code was still in place but Wilde has tried to push the boat out as to what he can get away with and it's relatively sadistic and graphic for a movie during this period . Likewise the Vietnam War was escalating and throughout the narrative there's a strong element that just because the enemy is not from a WASP nation it doesn't necessarily make them evil because the enemy is still human

It's impossible to mention BEACH RED without mentioning later , better , more critically acclaimed films namely APOCALYPSE NOW , THE THIN RED LINE and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN . The extensive use of voice-over whether it relates to the nature of war , profound existentialism or merely hoping to get home in one piece along with the imagery seen here has had a very clear influence on Coppolla , Malik and Spielberg . Malik especially has taken the ideas presented here and made them more effective in THE THIN RED LINE which critics described as " an interesting failure " . Perhaps BEACH RED deserves the same dubious backhand compliment ?

Visually compelling and focused on the battles of a group of Marines and on men's determination to survive their tour of duty . Intense and bloody fight for an occupied Pacific island and shot in Philippines outdoors . This is a thought-provoking as well as exciting wartime film about a spectacular battle for an essential island on the Pacific toll in which a typical crew of Marines fighting the ¨Yellow Menace¨ and it considered to be by some reviewers one of the best American films about the Pacific conflict during WWII ; however , being sometime slow , boring but generally worthwhile . At the beginning the American Marines ashore on a Japanese-held island . As an US marine unit formed by Captain MacDonald (Cornel Wilde) , Sergeant Honeywell (Rip Torn) and Privates (Jaime Sánchez , Burr DeBenning , Patrick Wolfe) fight against the defenders of a Japanese held island , both sides are haunted by their own thoughts and memories ; as battle experience hardens soldiers . What follows are a series of bloody attacks , on the beach , jungles , mountains in which the rifle company fighting Japanese who hold killers gun-machines and other deadly weapons .

It is first hand account of a notorious battle on a Pacific island , and against an important base on a solitary atoll . Focusing on relationship between Capt. MacDonald/Cornel Wilde and his soldiers . Effectively portrays the dehumanizing psychological effects , battling soldiers on both sides are haunted by memories of home and the terrifying , sickening images they experience in combat , and using flashbacks by means of photos and images about their past existences . While the relationship between captain and his men makes the biggest impression and delivers the interesting main plot , among many sub-plots , some of which go nowhere . Interesting screenplay based on Peter Bowman's uniquely constructed novel "Beach Red" , it was published in 1945, near the end of World War II . The sequence in which Japanese troops tried to fool the US Marines by wearing their uniforms was taken directly from the source novel . This dark story produced/acted/directed by Wilde is immensely exciting , firmly characterized on its roles and in places very moving too . The film brings home the true horror of battle and the meaninglessness of it all and visually is stunning . Dealing with the inner thoughts , feeling and philosophical leaning of the soldiers , the picture sacrifices continuity to study several questions , utilizing records , memories and many other things . Combat images are naturally , well filmed and effective , getting spectacular scenes such as the impressive plane attacks on the ending . Atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Cecil Cooney . Sad and touching song sung by Jean Hagen , Cornel Wilde's wife . The movie has only one musical element , this song written by Antonino Buenaventura and it also is heard in other variations throughout the flick . Filmed in the Republic of Philippines and in Japan , the producer gratefully acknowledges the dedicated efforts and the cooperation of the entire cast , Department of National of Defense , the R.P. Marine Corps , the R. P. Navy , the R.P Army , the R.P Air Force , the R. P. Constabulary , the R.P. Research Institute , the R. P. Department of forest and a particularly the friendly and considerable people of the Philippines .

This harrowing motion picture was compellingly starred , written , produced and directed by Cornel Wilde , being released through United Artists . Wilde does a competent job both as actor and filmmaker . It's amazingly well done movie , being Cornel Wilde's best film . He is especially credited as a good actor but also known for directing some acceptable flicks . His later films were of varying quality, and he ended his career in near-cameos in minor adventure films . As he directed adventures as ¨Maracaibo¨ ,¨Lancelot and Guinevere¨, ¨Sharks' Treasure¨ but also Noir Cinema as ¨The Devil's Hairpin¨, ¨Storm Fear¨ and Sci Fi : ¨Blade of Grass¨. ¨Beach red¨ rating : 6.5/10 , good film , well worth watching . Essential and indispensable seeing for warfare fans . It's a good stuff for young people and war movie lovers who enjoy enormously with the extraordinary battles in the lush jungle.

Other fundamental tales based on Pacific landings were the followings : ¨Thin red line¨ by Andrew Marton with Keir Dullea and Jack Warden and ¨Thin red line¨ directed by Terence Malick with star-laden cast as Jim Cazievel as Private protagonist , Sean Penn as the Sergeant , and many others as George Clooney, Nick Nolte and Woody Harrelson . Furthermore , another important film about Guadalcanal battle turns out to be ¨Guadalcanal diary¨ by Lewis Seiler with Anthony Quinn , Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan and Richard Conte .

I was really delighted to see the DVD of "Beach Red" in a video store last week, and of course I immediately bought it. I see that several commentators here have said something like "where did this come from, and how come I never saw it before?" Indeed, it's become something of a rare film over the years. I saw it in 1967 with my uncle, who was a World War II veteran who served in Europe. I was about 14 then, and its style, which was strikingly progressive for that time, made a deep impression on me. To me it seemed moody and dream-like, and it's been so long since I saw it, or even any discussion of it, that I almost felt as if I had dreamed seeing it in the first place. I was bowled over by it at the time. My uncle didn't care for it, as I think he expected a more traditional war film. He was one of those "sees things in black and white" types of guys, and though he didn't bother to explain it to me, I think the internal monologues, flashbacks, sexual encounters, and humanizing of the enemy in a war film just didn't wash with him.

Now, close to 40 years later, I finally saw it for a second time. I can see some clumsiness in the characterization and dialog that didn't strike me way back then. But I can also see why it seemed so audacious in 1967 as well. From my perspective, this was the first of what I would consider a "modern" war film that I experienced, and as such I tend to regard it as sort of a landmark. I can appreciate it more now as a pure ANTI-war film than I could back then, when it just struck me as strange, exotic, and titillating both for its sexual content and graphic violence. Just like the Sergio Leone spaghetti-westerns made traditional American westerns seem old-hat overnight, I could never look at traditional war films with the same eye again after seeing this back in 1967. I'm very glad to make its acquaintance again after all these years.

"Beach Red" seams to divide the commentators into two distinctively different tribes, the ones that love it and the ones that hate it. There don't seem to be a middle of the road opinion on this movie, so there's mine. I've seen this movie after I heard some good words on it's originality, and I just glanced through user comments on IMDb missing all the bad reviews. I've seen this film on it's own merit and here is what I think.

"Beach Red" is surely one of the strangest and most different war movies of all times, and is particularly original for it's era. Up until the beginning 70's when all the Vietnam resentment started to flow over Hollywood,so the movies like Catch-22 and MASH started to appear, there simply was no war movie that didn't look like "Objective Burma", "Sands of Iwo Jima" or if you want complete silliness "Bridge on the river Kwai". "Beach Red" certainly moved boundaries, it has some school play acting, but the mood of the war is accurately portrayed. Flashbacks are the core of that different approach and look and feel of those is particularly good. One of the reviewers objected that flashbacks show the women of principal American characters with 60's makeup,hairstyles and their homes furnished in 60's style, but they missed that the Japenese women and children were all shown in traditional surroundings and clothes and that's just the point Wilde wanted to make, a great difference in the way of living and culture, and draw a parallel between all wars between cultures from WWII to Vietnam. So the soldiers fight in Phillippines but it looks like they were leaving their loved ones for Vietnam. There is a link between than and now, war is always the same only the settings are different, and that is very well shown in "Beach Red", in which Japanese soldiers don't conveniently speak English with Japanese accent, but Japanese and act like them. Give this movie a try, it may require some patience and understanding but it won't let you down.

This one emerges as Cornel Wilde’s second-best directorial effort after THE NAKED PREY (1966; still bafflingly M.I.A. on DVD). It’s an unflinching depiction of warfare – with a surprising amount of gore for the time, punctuated by touches of dark humor – which must have influenced Steven Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998), even down to having the first third of it consisting of one seemingly endless battle.

The film, however, also anticipates Terrence Malick’s THE THIN RED LINE (1998) by 30 years in its pre-occupation with the soldiers’ domestic lives (via multi-character narration and flashbacks) – but, commendably, takes care to show that of the enemy as well. Plot-wise, it doesn’t really lead anywhere; then again, that’s probably in order to show the futility of war itself and often resorts to creative i.e. showy, but now dated, Oscar-nominated editing to make its points. There’s also the occasional symbolism – for instance, a crushed beetle standing in for the decimation of untrained U.S. troops at the hands of the wily Japanese (at one point, disguising themselves en masse in American uniforms!).

Featuring a largely anonymous cast, the film tries to be contemporary by focusing on the exploits of two youthful soldiers – their sexual hang-ups and fear of dying. The only familiar names are Wilde himself (as the platoon leader – appropriately war-weary yet staunchly dedicated to his men), Rip Torn (as his tough-as-nails lieutenant) and “guest star” Jean Wallace (Wilde’s real-life spouse playing his on-screen wife as well in a few flashback instances and singing the film’s melancholy title song). Torn’s bloodthirsty character personifies the dehumanizing effect of war throughout the film: in the long run, cynicism gets the upper hand – brushing away even a poignant plea for tolerance at the finale!

This movie had heaps of potential, just a pity the execution was so clumsy.

Very gritty and realistic war movie, especially for 1967. At that time war movies painted a very romanticized view of war. Here we get to see the horrors of it.

Not only that, but writer-director-actor Cornel Wilde tries to humanize the soldiers, showing them in more peaceful times, and their thoughts and motivations. Even more ambitiously, he attempts to do this for soldiers on both sides, American and Japanese.

However, there's intentions, and then there's deeds. The actual execution is very clumsy. The attempt to show the human side of the soldiers is mostly a failure. The daydream-bubble-like home sequences don't really give away much of the soldiers' characters. It's like watching several unconnected home movies, and very bland ones at that. Plus, Wilde does this so often and for so many soldiers you end up with (bland) information overload, and the interjections become irritating.

There is also an attempt to show nature as counterpoint to war, but this is half-heartedly done.

Performances are mostly pretty poor, and are another aspect that brings the movie down. Wilde is so-so in the lead role. Rip Torn gives probably the best performance of the movie, but still seems one- dimensional. Worst of the lot is Burr Debenning as Egan - incredibly irritating and unconvincing.

Terrence Malick would later successfully execute the ideas of daydream sequences to humanize soldiers and nature as counterpoint to war in "The Thin Red Line" (1998). You can see the influences of this movie in that production. That might be Beach Red's lasting legacy, and that only.

This movie is like so many war movies, it is so full of heavy handed anti-war messages that it just plods along. It tries to be artsy but ends up just being paced slower than a glacier. This is, in part, because footage is repeated in several scene. The characters have many flashbacks that are presented in a very jarring manner. And, never did any director love closeups of muddy boots more than this one. A favorite quote, coming from a marine infantry officer, said to an over-zealous sergeant (who just broke both arms of a Japanese prisoner that killed several of his men in hand-to-hand combat,) "I don't want these boys to be professional killers!" The whole thing smelled so heavily of the sixties that I got a proximity high just being in the room with it.

REVIEW OF THE REGION 1 MGM DVD

Rarely does a low-budget film make a major impact on one's life. If one watched "Beach Red" and walks away unaffected, then I must say the fault lies with the viewer – not the film. With haunting images and unflinchingly honest dialog, director Cornel Wilde drops a great big bomb on the audience.

"Beach Red" tells a straightforward story of an American Marine company which assaults a Pacific island, held by fanatical Japanese troops. The main characters include Captain MacDonald (Cornel Wilde), a former lawyer who hates the war he's forced to fight, and loves his wife and simply wants to return home. He struggles with holding the lives of men in his hands and being responsible for their deaths. Sgt. Honeywell (Rip Torn) is a career soldier, whose only goal is to kill Japanese and get his platoon through the war alive. Pvt. Cliff (Patrick Wolfe) is a minister's son who is not prepared for the horrors of war; and his only friend, Pvt. Egan (Burr de Benning), is an uneducated southerner who spends his free time flashing back to sexscapades. Rounding out the group is Colombo (Jaime Sanchez in a non-stereotypical performance), an insecure, somewhat cowardly veteran who chooses to conceal his fear with excuses to avoid criticism.

Wilde fleshes out these character using two rare techniques: the first involves brief flashbacks, often told with still frames shot in surreal colors, set to soft, soothing music while the character in question narrates the action. Characters may be conversing, but they're really talking to the audience. Each of the leads also has a number of voice-overs, which put the viewer inside their head. These voice-overs are simple and match the way a character would talk out loud; unlike the 1998 version of "The Thin Red Line", in which voice-overs were deeply philosophical, these thoughts are haunting and simple. Wilde uses the same techniques in scenes involving the Japanese, which breaks down the barrier between the "good guys" and "bad guys". These are just ordinary men on both sides of the battle line, involved in a war they don't want to be fighting. Yes, there is definitely an enemy, but they are not demonized and stereotyped as in other war films of the period. The Japanese are a formidable, foe, yes – but ordinary men with lives and families just like the main American characters.

Wilde uses color cinematography ceaselessly and perfectly. The opening beach assault takes place on a sunny day, and characters bleed and die on a beautiful tropical beach and, later, in the middle of a lush jungle. The atmosphere doesn't appear deadly at first, and it's quite sad to see war ravaging and destroying such a stunning landscape. The combat sequences are superbly staged. The first half of the film focuses on an inch-by-inch assault on the beach, encounters with snipers and machine-gun nests. Wilde fills the screen with action at all times. Even though the focus is on one or two main characters, we can always see dozens – often hundreds – of extras in the background. As they crawl through tall grasses, we can hear rustling and heavy breathing. Men scream in pain when they get shot and the dialog is often lost amidst the deafening roar of explosions. All of the actors look like soldiers in the middle of a pitched battle: they wade through chest-deep water with forty-pound rucksacks and don't wear any makeup. They're genuine soldiers in the middle of a genuine battle. The on-location shooting in the Philippines really gives the battle scenes a look of authenticity not often found in similarly-themed films of the same time period.

Wilde doesn't sanitize the graphic nature of war, either. Unlike many films of the 1960s, he uses graphic violence quickly and shockingly to help illustrate his themes. Quick, graphic moments are used only to shock and are not dwelt on or eulogized. One character has his arm blown off on the beach and we see a close-up of him staggering about in a delirious stupor, bloody stump gushing and severed limb lying on the ground. Close-ups of bayonet and knife stabbings are also pretty gruesome. There's another, tense scene in which the American infantrymen must storm a bunker complex and use flamethrowers to drive out the Japanese within; the aftermath is more-than-effective. These shots of death and destruction are shocking and rapid; then the focus moves on. Wilde makes his point with one or two frames, a line or two of dialog, or just a facial expression. He doesn't need to dwell on it. We get the message.

Wilde's film is a moving statement about the futility of warfare. The final foxhole scene, in which two enemies sit wounded facing each other and share cigarettes and water as they lay dying, is poignant without being an overstatement. The pain and sadness on each character's face is real as they realize that the only difference between them is skin color and uniform. At heart, they're both innocent kids, caught up in a conflict they don't want to be in. They should be at home with their girlfriends and families, not sweating, bleeding and dying in the midst of an inconsequential tropical island.

"Beach Red" is simply one of the great unknown war films. The ensemble cast never misses a beat, the battle scenes are grim and expertly staged, and the scenery is captured perfectly. This is easily the best fictional film about an island campaign to date, and one of the best war films ever made.

Released in 1967, "Beach Red" details a US Marine assault on a Japanese-held Pacific island during WWII, possibly Saipan (June-July 1944) or Guam (July-August 1944). Cornel Wilde stars as the captain in charge of a platoon; Rip Torn plays a sergeant who's allowed the war to fill him with hate; Burr DeBenning, Patrick Wolfe and Jaime Sánchez co-star as genuine young Americans struggling between fulfilling their duty and simply wanting to survive.

I call the film "Groundbreaking" because of the obvious influence it had on two popular war flicks made thirty years later – "Saving Private Ryan" and, especially, "The Thin Red Line." The first half hour chronicles the brutal beach landing, which is very reminiscent of the former film while the next 20 minutes show the troops infiltrating the interior a la the latter. After the first 12 minutes intro, the next 45-50 minutes are all action. The interior monologues of the characters, the flashbacks to life back at home and the contrast between war and the innocence & beauty of nature were all borrowed by Terrance Malick for "The Thin Red Line." That said, "Beach Red" itself borrows from previous films, like 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and the original "The Thin Red Line" from 1964, amongst others. Unfortunately, "Beach Red" lacks the budget of the renowned "River Kwai," but it ain't no cheap flick either.

The film typically gets mixed reviews with some people calling it a masterpiece and others a 1-Star piece of sheet. The former focus on the film's positives while the latter zero-in on its shortcomings, which revolve around its relative low-budget and datedness. I was able to overlook these deficiencies in favor of the movie's realistic, pensive and brutal tone and all-around ambitiousness. The single musical theme is a melancholic and moving folk song by Antonino Buenaventura sung by Cornel's wife Jean Wallace. Wilde impressively wrote and directed the movie. It's an action-packed war flick, but also artistic, reflective and haunting. Neanderthalic gung-ho types love the former, but are turned-off by the latter, which explains the mixed reviews.

The movie runs 105 minutes and was shot in the Philippines and Japan.

GRADE: B+

I just bought this DVD and settled in to watch it. I really had trouble sitting through this movie and not fast forwarding through it but since I bought it I actually wasted the full run time watching it.

It is a lot like A Thin Red Line (which I could not sit through either). However this movie was not nearly as self indulgent as Malick's film.

Beach Red was slow moving and riddled with historical inaccuracies. Much of the equipment worn by the actors were very late WWII vintage or Korean war era. Flash-backs to loved ones and girl friends showed women that looked like they stepped out of a 1960's go-go booth. Hair styles, make up, fake eyelashes, room interiors were all 1960's...no thought to historical accuracy. The combat scenes are something straight out of a 1960's Italian Western with blood the color of a nice Vodka sauce.

As I recall in the mid to late 1960's the big thing in film making was to push the edge on violence and blood content, also there was a heavy anti war message and anti-hero bent. As I watched Beach Red, I couldn't help but think that no one would have a problem dating this picture as a product of the 1960's.

This is not Band of Brothers or As Trumpets Fade (two of my Favorite War movies). If you want to see a good Pacific theater war movie, then watch Sands of Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal Diary or Wake Island. All are superior to Beach Red in my humble opinion.

Long before Saving Private Ryan and the notice taken of the rather graphic combat sequences, Cornel Wilde produced, directed, and starred in Beach Red which was 30 years before Saving Private Ryan. Wilde got the same knocks and criticism for his film. And he also received a lot of deserved acclaim.

The plot such as it is a study of a campaign on some forgotten Pacific island that the US Marines are trying to take from the Japanese. Wilde plays the captain of a platoon and his gunnery sergeant is Rip Torn. Wilde also narrates the film from flashback and within the film itself are flashbacks into civilian life both the Marines and the defending Japanese soldiers have. Also in Wilde's own flashback is his wife Jean Wallace whom he always tried to have parts for in his films.

The marines land and the Japanese retreat as per usual in Pacific war films and the war itself. However the Japanese captain, Wilde's opposite number Dale Ishimoto has a rather clever idea for a counterattack. I won't reveal what it is you have to see Beach Red for that.

Wilde himself plays a tough, but fair commanding officer. Two marine privates Patrick Wolfe and Burr DeBenning present an interesting contrast in enlistees. Their good natured rivalry carries a lot of the film.

As a harbinger of Saving Private Ryan, Beach Red was years ahead of its time. If you are a fan of war films, you cannot go wrong with Beach Red.

I can't imagine this movie escaping my notice, as I'm something of a war-movie buff but this was a new one to me. First of all, the violence is shocking. This movie does not conform to what Paul Fussell (A WWII veteran) has described as Hollywood's sanitizing of combat. Men's limbs come off. People bleed out after getting stabbed. You are made to care for the soldiers on both sides. You witness seppuku (ritual disembowelment). It's an utterly unorthodox take on Pacific-island combat, replete with unbelievably accurate on-screen ordnance. Flamethrowers, mortars, chattering water-cooled guns. It's harrowing and deeply touching, reminding the viewer how wasteful but ultimately necessary it may be to kill fanatics. Awesome. The flashback scenes are weird; the lock-down focus zooms are quite strange but somehow appropriate. The combat footage is indistinguishable from actual War Department stuff. Indeed, a cameraman plays a key roll. The fact that there is a not a sanitized ending merely strengthens this movie, in my opinion. Being a US Marine has never been easy, I would guess. But taking an island defended by soldiers who would die to a man is even tougher. It humanizes the war; puts a face on it. Then part of that face is blown off. I've never seen anything like it. It's more "Band of Brothers" than "Saving Private Ryan" and, given the context of 1967, even more amazing. A must-see.

Obscure, gritty independent war pic that I saw 20+ years ago on TV has remained vivid for good reason. Wilde dispensed with his Hollywood profile some years before this directorial effort, but nothing he did matches this for sheer intensity, and, graphic content.

I was most impressed with (at the time) newcomer Burr DeBenning who went on to become a TV staple over the next decade, his youthful Southern simpleton perfectly characterises the faux bravado of a naive debutante. Torn reminded me of an Aldo Ray type in this film, rough edges down and dirty - a very workmanlike performance - whilst Wilde was more or less the typical clichéd leader, and a good neutral base for the other characters to expand.

The opening scene is shocking (especially considering its vintage) and whilst it does sometimes lose momentum in parts, there's always the promise of something unpredictable, such is Wilde's unorthodox approach to filmmaking. It's unconventional, rejects any jingoistic notions or romantic interludes, and really stays true to its central theme sans the Hollywood gloss which is a welcome diversion from the norm. Expect the unexpected.

Cornel Wilde directs, writes and produces this story of a U.S. Marine invasion of a Japanese held island. Wilde plays Capt. MacDonald who with the help of Gunnery Sgt. Honeywell(Rip Torn)leads anxious troops against savvy Japanese snippers. The use of stop motion and flash backs adds to the look of this war drama full of factual looking fighting. Also in the cast are Dewey Stringer, Jean Wallace, Burr DeBenning and Patrick Wolfe. BEACH RED proves its point.

This is far from the best WW2 Pacific Theatre movie but it'll do until "Letters From Iwo Jima" or "Thin Red Line" comes along. It kinda reminds me of "Naked And The Dead", made ten years earlier, in its combination of brutal jungle combat with anti war philosophizing. Not as good as "Dead", though, mainly because, to put it kindly, Cornel Wilde is not the director Raoul Walsh is. Where Walsh is a master at combining and weaving action with character so that the film is constantly moving toward its inevitable, tragic conclusion (Walsh rarely provides happy endings), Wilde seems, periodically, to stop the flow and pacing to let his characters opine or recall or muse or whatever the hell they do to slow things down. The result is a herky jerky affair, quite effective in transmitting the horrors of island hopping warfare but, frankly, a bit of a bore, especially the banal voice overs and the even more cllche flashbacks to pre war life with the wife and kids (although I did enjoy Egan's stripper/floozie memories). And while it's commendable that Wilde gives us the domestic recollections of the Japanese soldiers as well as the Americans, it does not make them any the less hokey. Still, for all its faults, which include a rather crappy performance from the guy playing Egan (basically a bad L. Q. Jones imitation) and merely ok turns from Wilde and Patrick Wolfe, as the sensitive soldier, you do feel as if you are on that hellish island with the benighted combatants and that is not an inconsiderable thing. B minus.

PS...Finest performance, by far, is Rip Torn's homicidal sergeant. Much better than Aldo Ray's similar character in "Dead". Wish that the scenarists and Wilde had used him more and soft peddled Egan and Cliff.

Where to start on this film. This was a truly horrible film. The acting was abysmal and confusing. The narration from the characters where so bad that it was funny. The worst thing in this movie besides the wasted money on effects for the "authentic" beach landing was the flashbacks. The flashbacks where the worst i have ever seen. i cannot believe this is not in the bottom 100. You know your movie is struggling when the star is Rip Torn.

Please don't see this movie if you want to watch a good war movie. Only ever watch this when you accidentally flick onto it on your TV and want to have a good laugh at how bad this movie is. 1 out of 10. go see a good war movie like kelly's heroes

This movie is just starting to get released to the mainstream. If you like WWII films and find it at a cheap price, buy it- you won't be disappointed. It's the Castle Keep of the Pacific- only it makes a little more sense This is a great quasi-anti-war movie that was created during the earlier stages of the Vietnam war. Though it focuses on the American forces, it gives pretty fair treatment to the Japanese soldiers. The music and the dialogue is great, and the action is decent.

I really like Rip Torn as Sgt Honeywell in this. I'm used to him playing the tough old guy Arty in The Larry Sanders Show. Arty acted like a tough guy, but he was old and I think everyone knew he was soft. BUT he is much younger here, and tough as nails- an intimidating character- his justification for fighting the Japanese and breaking both arms of a prisoner is bad-ass -"I'm a kill 'em, I'm a stab 'em...." Cornel Wilde plays the lead officer- pretty similar to Staros in The Thin Red Line- but he's solid The climax is a bit contrived and perhaps too overly-melodramatic, but it's fine for its time

My two knocks- there is a bit too much stock footage in the beginning, and the two main NCOs are boring backwoods idiots

Beach Red tells a war story with an added depth of the human psychological aspect such as how soldiers miss home as they fight to survive the chaos of war. I like how both sides are given more depth with flashbacks scene, it's hard to not care even for the Japanese soldiers. The movie is fairly entertaining. The opening beach-storming is well staged and intense, it uses military aircrafts, tanks, missiles, and numerous ammunition which makes it more atmospheric and realistic, tho it runs a bit too long for my taste. Second half focuses on the soldiers' imagination with montages and extreme freeze frame and internal monologues, which is kinda creative. But despite the film's intriguing ideas, the execution just kinda feels off, I tried to be artsy in some parts but falls flat. Nonetheless, This is a fairly entertaining movie with a good mix of action and war with some drama.

For the first few minutes i thought this might be good but during the landing i knew it was just gonna be a wreck.......i even kept watching while cornel wilde held his .45 like an ice cream cone.......constantly......i've never seen a handgun held that way except by a small child......it is just sad with all the money he must have spent on this it is just incredible that everyone who hated this movie was absolutely correct..........i was gonna keep watching so i could see the goof with the guys running around in the background in blue jeans and sneakers but i couldn't stand the awful dialogue, the terrible direction, the goofy narration and the us marines portrayed as girl scouts any longer so i'll never know or care how it ends..........i did get to the plastic spoon used for the canned bean eating though........that was funny......1945....white plastic spoon.....ha!.......i actually have my uncles 3 utensil METAL cutlery set he used in the pacific......the kind that fits together and slides apart while in use.......i also enjoyed whenever an actor was going to shoot a weapon in a number of scenes and the gun didn't or wouldn't fire when in the context of the scene it was clearly supposed to...........and i'm sure they said we'll just leave it in because it looks real when in actuality the actor made no effort to "clear" or un-jam the thing as would a real marine......it just looked so stupid..........something that should have been re-shot or left on the cutting room floor.

All in all, just a waste of time..........a real boring, kind of weird stinker and probably the reason wilde only directed two more films after this.

A fair screen performer, Cornel Wilde occasionally appeared in more interesting fare, such as the cult B-noir The Big Combo (1955), a title held today in greater esteem these days than his other mainstream successes. Of greater interest still is Wilde's career as a director that, with the tense drama of Storm Fear, started the same year as Combo. Although not a fully mature work, it still suggested some of the themes that would inform Wilde's later films: a concern with man confronting the elemental, whether externally or internally, and a fondness for extreme situations.

From the mid 1960s onwards Wilde made a remarkable trilogy of work in quick succession: The Naked Prey (1966), Beach Red, and No Blade Of Grass (1970), which are the films upon which his directorial reputation rests principally today. Each concerns a journey of one sort or another, in which men must differently face up to the primitive impulse within themselves as the comforting supports of civilised society stripped away. Thus in The Naked Prey a European is pursued by relentless natives across a bleak African wilderness. In No Blade Of Grass a party of English refugees and survivors have to navigate a post-catastrophe landscape. Beach Red sees soldiers face up to their innermost fears and regrets during the bloody battle for a Pacific island. Typically in Wilde's work, a stricken or unforgiving world reflects back the straits in which the main characters find themselves whilst any final resolution is, at best, ambivalent. In Beach Red this environment is lush and dangerous, full of both natural and human perils (at one point the director gives a litany of killer flora and fauna), but one where the greatest threat to man is Man himself.

Some critics have compared Wilde's cinema to that of Sam Fuller. Both forge personal cinema with an own, urgent vision. Fuller is the more assured stylist, with his tabloid-inspired contemplation of events. Wilde, too, often wears his message unashamedly on his sleeve - most obviously in the weaker No Blade Of Grass, or in some of the regretful soliloquizing of Beach Red. Like Fuller, Wilde produced and directed, but also scored and acted in two out three of his best works. (He's also heard as the narrator in the present film, and performs a similar function as a radio voice in No Blade Of Grass). Beach Red was the only one he also co-wrote, which leads one to think it had particular interest for the director. Unlike Fuller, Wilde never served in the armed forces. And unlike Fuller's war movies, Wilde's single martial opus is distinguished by its even-handedness. While the gritty realism and hard-wrought bravery of Wilde's soldiery is never in doubt the same, just, eye is applied to both sides.

The humans in uniform place the blame for the ensuing cruelty and pain not, as a rule, on individuals but on a wider commitment to duty, outside of any immediate questioning. When a soldier is guilty of any unnecessary cruelty, such as the Sergeant who breaks both the arms of a dangerous Japanese prisoner to subdue him, Captain MacDonald condemns the action outright. "We must never forget why we are killing...". In all of his major films Wilde's world is often cruel and hard - but never sadistic, his main characters determined, never cynical. MacDonald, John Custance, or the unnamed runner of The Naked Prey, do not manipulate others, but only try and survive, making the best of a bad world. (A difference in worldview that explains why Fuller made a string of excellent noir films while Wilde only made one.)

Those who have seen Saving Private Ryan will feel right at home here, and not just with the painful introspection of MacDonald as he struggles with duty. (Others have felt the flashbacks and narration anticipate Malick's The Thin Red Line, 1998.) Here, too, we see men dying in the water during a beach landing, pinned down beneath murderous machine gunfire, eviscerated, half burnt by flame throwers. Limb parts float in the water, while the young warrior 'Mouse' stands in horror, his arm ripped from his side. It's no romanticised version of war and the ending of Beach Red is less compromising than Spielberg's that, catering to different tastes, felt compelled to offer. More than in No Blade Of Grass, Wilde feels free to indulge in stylistic tricks and methods to achieve the peculiar dream-like intensity which accompanies combat experience, using stills, visual distortions, voiceovers and flashbacks. These highlight the interior life of his characters, some of these 'internalised' moments being almost as explicit and powerful as dynamic scenes elsewhere, such as during one of MacDonald's sensual reveries about his wife, when we see her presumably on the point of orgasm. There's sexual content too in the conversations between Private Egan (Burr de Benning) and minister's son Private Cliff (Patrick Wolfe), including at one point fantasising over a woman's torso fashioned from coconut shells and soil.

Memories of sensuality provides nostalgia for the soldiers. But Beach Red offers no real solutions to the horrors of war, and is unflinching. If MacDonald's supporting narration during combat is sometimes a little too matter of fact then this can be ascribed to Wilde's naiveté, in the best sense, as a director, an ongoing quality marking his best work. MacDonald, a lawyer by profession, is just a man who wants to get back to his wife. John Custance just wants to reach his brother's refuge in Scotland. 'The Man' in The Naked Prey just wants to elude his dogged pursuers. Characters are boiled down to essentials through their desires, offering a simple focus on key, almost primitive, issues in times of great adversity. When necessary, then narrator Wilde can provide the hand-on-heart commentary. This honesty means that we can overlook the odd cliché in his Beach Red, and enjoy it as one of the best war films.

American Marines are ready to land on a Japanese occupied island during WWII. This uses old war footage to accentuate the battle action. They try to do some big set pieces, but the smaller personal scenes often come off as inauthentic. At other times, they hit it out of the park. It's a mixed bag, but the effort is there. Same goes for the equipment. It's not all WWII era, but I'll give it a pass. This movie does have the Japanese side for a few times although I would like for them to have more story. This is basically war, war, and more war. It's action with some walking and talking. I actually don't like the flashback section with the wife which comes off very melodramatic. Unless one recognizes these actors, nobody is going to stand out from the crowd. It's an interesting exercise if nothing else.

What was worse? The acting, the directing, or the editing? I really liked the nice stroll onto the beach during an the initial assault. Don't worry about the enemy on the island, forget about those artillery shells. It was like the special marine corps slacker brigade was ordered into the fight. And it really looked like an island in the sough pacific. I think that if the marines pushed hard, they could have made if all the way to West LA. I really wanted to pull an Oedipus after seeing this movie; better to rip my eyes out than to put them through another movie like this.