Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD EAN: 9780782010046 Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, NTSC ISBN: 0782010040 Label: Lions Gate Home Entertainment Manufacturer: Lions Gate Home Entertainment Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Lions Gate Home Entertainment Region Code: 1 Release Date: July 14, 1998 Running Time: 100 minutes Sales Rank: 11181 Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment Theatrical Release Date: March 01, 1950
Amazon.com essential video: John Wayne's old studio home, Republic, made this 1949 drama about the heroic capture of an important island in the Pacific by marines in World War II. Director Allan Dwan (Brewster's Millions), a pioneering filmmaker from the silent days of cinema who easily crossed over into sound, handles the action sequences like a consummate pro, while Wayne works hard as the tough sergeant molding new recruits into fighters. John Agar plays a contentious surrogate son to Wayne, though the relationship is hardly the stuff of Red River. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com: This classic World War II actioner has Wayne as a tough but compassionate Marine Corps sergeant, John M. Stryker. Tough name, too. Stryker's job is to turn a bunch of raw recruits into a fighting machine. His no-holds-barred approach causes a great amount of friction, not to mention a running subplot concerning his personal life that makes him something of an enigma to his men. The mystery of his past is not fully resolved until the very ending, by which point Stryker is decidedly a war hero. The supporting roles of those who hate Stryker's guts, and who are inevitably won over, are played handsomely by John Agar and Forrest Tucker. Veteran film director Allan Dwan helmed this one, and used real war footage and three of the surviving soldiers who raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi to reenact that momentous event. An engrossing and entertaining war flick all around, boasting one of the Duke's finest, most measured and layered performances. The DVD includes a wonderful making-of featurette hosted by Leonard Maltin, interviewing Wayne's son, John Agar, and some of the military personnel who served as advisors on the film. --Jim Gay
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - An admirable tribute to the U.S. Marines
''The Sands of Iwo Jima'' covers far more than the Marine invasion of Iwo Jima in World War II. The film follows the seemingly real Sergeant John Stryker (John Wayne) and the men he was commanded over a period of a year or so in the South Pacific. While the film's script is only loosely based on actual events, it's not hard to believe the men in the film and events that they experienced could very well have happened in real-life.
The film opens with the U.S. Marines regrouping in New Zealand after the fight for Guadalcanal had ended. Sergeant Stryker is assigned to command a platoon of Marines who are anxious to see some action. Stryker's hard-bitten, by-the-book command style (''Saddle-up! Saddle-up!'') soon rankles many of the men, especially Private Thomas (Forrest Tucker) who had fought alongside him before, and Private Conway (John Agar), whose recently killed-in-action father was a carbon-copy ... Read More
Rating: - GREAT MOVIE
This is one of John Wayne's best war movies with 4 Academy Award Nominations including Best Actor. He is a tough Marine Sergeant with a tough job: to take men and make them Marines.
Rating: - The Best Film of the Pacific War
This film had the three surviving flag raisers: Pfc. Rene A. Gagnon, Pfc. Ira H. Hayes, PM3C John H. Bradley. This film was dedicated to the USMC, who aided in its production. The screenplay was written by Harry Brown, the author of "A Walk in the Sun", and has some of the actors from that earlier film. It begins after the Battle of Guadalcanal. The men are sent to New Zealand to rest, retrain, and get more replacements. Sgt. John M. Stryker is the squad leader. He will learn the men what isn't in the books; their lives will depend on this. Sgt. Stryker leads the men in their drills and exercises. One soldier, Conway, joined for the family tradition. Stryker drives his men hard, they need training. He also has a family problem. The men have liberty in Wellington.
Stryker advises Conway against a long-term commitment. Stryker uses a novel training technique for bayonet drill [comic relief?]. Then the men ... Read More
Rating: - A Realistic Portrayal of WWII Pacific Combat
Sergeant Stryker (John Wayne) must prepare his men for combat. He does! He subjects his men to rough bayonet drills and other forms of combat.
Many modern war movies are sanitized of the realities of war. Not this one! There are numerous scenes of soldiers suffering and dying. There is a scene where a Jewish soldier says his last prayers in Hebrew. There is no happy ending for Sergeant Stryker himself.
The viewer sees the progression of the US island-hopping campaign. The islands of Tarawa and Iwo Jima are seized from the Japanese. In each case, there first is the "softening" of Japanese positions by massive bombing by airplanes and shelling from battleships. Then comes the invasion by amphibious craft. The US soldiers are under constant fire. They must crawl from one hiding place to another in their advance against Japanese positions. The Japanese have a habit of jumping out of their hiding ... Read More
Digital
Life Shop
Allan Dwan items subject to availability. Some restrictions
may apply. DVD
Sands of Iwo Jima presented by digi2005.com Digi2005.com is
an Amazon.com
Associate
- An admirable tribute to the U.S. Marines
- GREAT MOVIE
