Simply A Masterpiece

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a very well done movie. The casting is excellent, the acting is very good, and the action is well done. A tough, hard bitten sergeant trains his men for combat, during which he beats down a rebellious private, teaches a recruit to do the bayonet drill by dancing with him, and then leads them into battle. John Agar plays a career officers rebellious brat who enlisted and actually comes of age on Mount Surabachi. Unfortunately he does this after the sergeant is killed by a hidden sniper. I admit that I found the last scene a little hard emotionally as John Wayne is shot while he was reading a letter about his son. Earlier in the movie he went back to a women's place, obviously for a sexual liaison, found her child crying in the crib and threw down all his money so the baby could eat. This was a touching scene for me also.

I was five years old when the Marines landed on Iwo, my eldest brother however was at Pharmacist Mate 3d (now Hospital Corpsman), with 3rd Marines at Iwo. He seldom ever spoke of it. Was called back in Korea, got a Silver Star with King Co., 3rd Bn., 7th Mar. in the vicinity of Sintanni, Nov. 1951. I enlisted in the Marine Corps, Plt. 344, San Diego, July 1959. Remember seeing the Sands of Iwo Jima on my first liberty from Lima Co., 2nd ITR, CAMPEN, as I'm sure many hundreds of Marines did, especially us new guys, in Oceanside, Ca. I digress: Seems like most of the time in the actions scenes the actors were either wearing field marching packs w/short blanket roll, or light marching pack, no blanket roll. While in the actual scenes, mostly the ones at Tarawa almost all the Marines were with out 782 gear (web gear)? Also Sgt. Stryker told them to hit the "sack". as I recall, and it's been many years, we used the term "hit the rack"? Moot points I'm sure, I'll probably watch it again, if fact I'm sure I will, and maybe have some more info as I recall it. Semper Fi

When I watch this movie back to back with Clint Eastwood's "Letter from Iwo Jima" it really puts perspective of how the war looked from both sides.If you see both movies, it's sort of clear that all these killing were unnecessary. Both sides were good men, not viscous killers, but for stupid reason being that you must obey orders at all cost, and some brainwashing, all this carnage occurred. Many wars if viewed in hindsight I'm sure will look this way. The movie is shot very well, and probably one of the most authentic movie of this type until more recent production such as Platoon, and Saving Private Ryan. John Wayne is great as usual, and there's real story to the plot. This is classic on its own right, and one of the better John Wayne movie that was made.

This is a flag-waging and patriotic tribute to US marines .Very decent war scenes along with documentary footage that convey us the assault troops establish on the Pacific islands, but like the navy, the US army fought its way from island to island in the Pacific. Striker(Wayne) and his squad(Forrest Tucker, John Agar,James Brown,Richard Jaeckel,James Brown,Richard Webb, among others) are responsible for the capture of the Pacific islands. And, of course, the picture brings to life one of the most famous images of the Second World war- Joe Rosenthal's photograph of US marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima, on the morning of February 23, 1945 and with special appearance of the three living survivors of the historic flag raising of Mount Suribachi. John Wayne is top-notch as valiant but deranged sergeant Striker training rebellious recruits and soldiers in this believable war film . Wayne won his only Oscar nomination, before his obtaining in ¨True grit¨. Supporting cast is frankly magnificent. The motion picture is well directed by Allan Dawn.The film is based correctly on Iwo Jima battle in a hard-fought US operation, one of the most difficult campaigns of the Pacific theater . US capture of Japanese-held island in the Bonin group , about 1450 km south of Tokyo after intense fighting Feb-March 1945. Fortified by the Japanese, it held two airfields, with a third under construction, and was a valuable strategic target for US forces as it would provide a base for land-based bombers to raid the mainland of Japan. It was assaulted by US Marines 19 Feb 1945 after a prolonged air and naval bombardment. The 22000 Japanese troops put up a fanatical resistance but the island was finally secured 16 March. US casualties came to 6891 killed and 18700 wounded, while only 212 of the Japanese garrison survived.The film is dedicated to the United States Marine Corps whose exploits and valor have left a lasting impression on the world and in the hearts of their countrymen . Appreciation is gratefully acknowledged for their assistance and participation which made this picture possible.