Just what I expected

Absolutely the worst movie.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

As much as I admire John Ford, I found this film a little overly sentimental and with far too much Fordian Irish humour in the first half of the film.The film tells the story of Martin "Marty" Maher, an enlisted man who spent over 50 years at the West Point Military Academy as an instructor. It covers the period from his arrival at West Point as a newly landed immigrant to his meeting with President Eisenhauer some fifty years later.Tyrone Power does a excellent job as Maher aging as he does from a young man in his 20s to his 70s. His makeup is quite convincing and realistic for the time. The ever beautiful Maureen O'Hara plays Mary O'Donnell, Maher's wife. The film follows their relationship from their first meeting to their last.Ford's affection for the military is quite evident. He gives us seemingly endless march pasts featuring "long gray lines" of cadets along with their marching band. The film is beautifully photographed with plenty of green grass in evidence. There are a couple of beautiful framed shots, one of the wedding of the William Leslie and Betsy Palmer characters and another at a tragic moment in Maher's life.The John Ford stock company is well represented in this picture. Included in the large cast are Ward Bond as Maher's first commanding officer, Donald Crisp as his father, Sean McClory as his brother, Harry Carey Jr. as Dwight Eisenhauer and a very young Patrick Wayne in his first film as the cadet "Cherub" Overton. Willis Boucher and Jack Pennick also have smaller parts.Also in the cast are Robert Francis, who died tragically shortly after completing this film, Phil Carey, Martin Milner, Peter Graves and Milburn Stone.Be sure and have some Kleenex handy for the finale.

None of John Ford's films are exactly poorly made, and this one is competent enough as it goes. Basically it's the story of Marty Maher (Tyrone Power), a fresh immigrant off the boat from Ireland who finds a home in America's West Point military academy. Starting off in the kitchens and working his way up to an instructor in football and swimming, Maher finds love with a saucy Irish woman (Maureen O'Hara) and finds himself continuously renewing his enlistment although often against his better judgment. He sees some of the boys he trained go off to die in the war and he has to deal with the emotions of those consequences as well as his duty to the academy. When a favorite student dies in WWI (William Leslie), Maher and his barren wife take in his wife (Betsy Palmer) and help raise his son (Robert Francis).Power's performance is excellent and he manages to carry the film. The process of his aging through the film is admirably handled. But I found the film in general to be somewhat corny and heavy-handed. The message of the film seems to be to reinforce a certain brand of military patriotism that I personally find distasteful. That's not to say that the film is a bad film, but it is what it is. It's very much concerned with propagating the idea of "noble sacrifice", and Power's character barely questions the wisdom of training these young men just to send them off to die. It's as if he brings up the idea that it might not be worth it, just so that Ford and his writers can put that idea to rest as soundly as they can.I like the film for its depiction of the main character as a humble man who often lashes out at others in anger but learns to temper his passions with growing wisdom. But I just can't get into the film -- let's just say that if you're not a huge fan of Irish jigs and military marching bands (or the combination of the two), then you will get just as sick of this movie by the end as I did. There's practically no subtext to the film that I can detect, and in the final analysis it's no more subtle than Ford's wartime pro-Army films. I can't make myself feel happy that the son is going to go off to war and risk death just like his father did, or that there's this great honor and nobility in it all. I won't cheer with Power's character as he rudely dismisses the idea of West Point modernizing its approach to military training. The whole film is basically telling us to resist change and to cherish tradition, and that's an aspect of Ford's personality that I just don't appreciate. But I do appreciate the amount of skill and care that went into Power's performance in particular.

The film is supposed to be a real-life account of a soldier who was on staff at Westpoint for about 50 years--so long that he became a bit of an institution through the first part of the 20th century.The first 20 minutes or so of the movie didn't particularly impress me. Unlike the rest of the film, this was all played for laughs and Tyrone Power played this portion very broadly. Some might like this, but I thought the "dumb newbie" routine wore thin very, very quickly. We get to see Tyrone drop some plates, get in a fight by mistake and be one of the biggest screw ups in army history. Frankly, he was so obnoxious and stupid that I really wondered if this even remotely had any similarity to anyone--let alone the real character. In many ways, these aspects of the film reminded me of the "funny" moments from WINGS OF EAGLES and PATHS OF GLORY. Many like this stuff, but I think the different moods of the film don't work out all that well--as if the movie can't decide whether it's a drama or a comedy (would this make it a "dramady"?).Fortunately, after a very inauspicious start, the film slowed down and dropped the pratfalls and became an excellent film--full of the usual John Ford sentiment and style. I was surprised that Tyrone Power did such a good job with the role--and his Irish accent was also pretty good. He was ably assisted by some of the usual Ford actors--Ward Bond, Donald Crisp and Maureen O'Hara. The overall effect is very inspiring and will nearly bring a tear to your eye--it was exceptional film making after a somewhat rocky start.

I caught the end of this movie on one of those late night movie channels. Immediately the search began for this movie ... I had to own it. This movie tops my all-time favorites list just edging out "Its a Wonderful Life" and that is only because it is based on the real life story of Martin Maher. This movie should be shown in every high school/college ethics class in America. The humbling integrity of the West Point Cadets to the dedication and devotion that Marty shared with each and everyone of them over his 50 years of service in the US Army truly depicts humankind at it's best. It will make you laugh, smile, and cry all at the same time while making you feel good about the world. I know that you will come away from this movie with a new outlook on life. It's a shame that this 50 year old movie is hidden on late night movie channels ... it should be played during the holidays right along with "Its a Wonderful Life". Enjoy it with friends and family.