Hell to Eternity
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Hell to EternityDirected byProduced byWritten byStarringMusic byCinematographyEdited byDistributed byRelease dateRunning timeCountryLanguageBudgetBox office
Original film poster |
|
Phil Karlson | |
Irving H. Levin | |
Gil Doud (story) Ted Sherdeman Walter Roeber Schmidt |
|
Jeffrey Hunter David Janssen Vic Damone |
|
Leith Stevens | |
Burnett Guffey | |
Roy V. Livingston George White |
|
Allied Artists | |
|
|
131 min. | |
United States | |
English | |
$800,000[1] | |
$2,800,000 (US/ Canada)[2] |
Hell to Eternity is a 1960 American World War II film starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and Patricia Owens, directed by Phil Karlson. This film biopic is about the true experiences of Marine hero Pfc. Guy Gabaldon (played by Hunter), a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese American foster family, and his heroic actions during the Battle of Saipan. Sessue Hayakawa played the role of Japanese commander at Saipan.[3]
Contents
- 1Plot
- 2Cast
- 3Production
- 4DVD release
- 5Novelization
- 6See also
- 7References
- 8Bibliography
- 9External links
Plot[edit]
In Depression-era Los Angeles, Guy Gabaldon gets into a fight at school when another boy snitches about his breaking into a grocery store. After Japanese-American Kaz Uni (the brother of Guy's physical education teacher and friend George) finds out Guy's mother is in the hospital and his father is dead, he invites Guy to stay with his family. As Kaz's parents speak little English, Guy begins to learn Japanese. Then, when Guy's mother dies, the Unis adopt him. He becomes especially close to Kaz's mother.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US entry into World War II, Gabaldon's foster family is sent to an internment camp: Camp Manzanar. Gabaldon is drafted, but fails his physical exam due to a perforated eardrum. When Gabaldon goes to visit the Unis, he learns that George and Kaz have been allowed to join the Army and are fighting in Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After making sure that "mama-san" does not object, he manages to enlist in the Marines on the strength of his language skills.
Gabaldon does not make a good first impression on Platoon Sgt. Bill Hazen at Camp Pendleton, but wins him over. When they are shipped to Hawaii to join the Regimental Intelligence section of the 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, he gets himself, Hazen and Cpl. Pete Lewis bottles of whiskey and dates with two Japanese-American women and standoffish reporter Sheila Lincoln. Sheila is disgusted by the behavior of the rowdy Marines, but eventually warms up to Gabaldon after a few drinks.
Going ashore on Saipan, he freezes at first when he comes under fire for the first time, but regains his composure. He uses his Japanese language skills to persuade Japanese soldiers to surrender. In fighting against a banzai charge, Lewis is killed, and later during the bloody campaign for the island, Hazen is shot in the leg and then killed by a Japanese swordsman. Gabaldon then gets mad, stops talking Japanese soldiers into surrender and starts killing them ruthlessly. After he sees two civilians kill themselves rather than surrender, he remembers George and "mama-san" and changes back to the way he was. During the final battle, he convinces the Japanese general to order approximately 1000 Japanese soldiers and 500 civilians to surrender.
Cast[edit]
- Jeffrey Hunter as Guy Gabaldon
- David Janssen as S/Sgt. Bill Hazen
- Vic Damone as Cpl. Pete 'Junior' Lewis
- Patricia Owens as Sheila Lincoln
- Richard Eyer as Guy, as a boy
- John Larch as Capt. Schwabe
- Bill Williams as Leonard
- Michi Kobi as Sono
- George Shibata as Kaz Une
- Reiko Sato as Famika
- Richard Gardner as Polaski
- Bob Okazaki as Papa Une
- George Matsui as George, as a boy
- Nicky Blair as Martini
- George Takei as George (as George Takai)
- Miiko Taka as Ester
- Tsuru Aoki as Mother Une (as Tsuru Aoki Hayakawa)
- Sessue Hayakawa as Gen. Matsui
- Frank Gerstle as Drunken officer (uncredited)
- Paul Togawa as Freddy (uncredited)
Production[edit]
Gramercy Pictures bought the screen rights of Gabaldon's story in June 1957. Previously, it had been featured on the TV show This Is Your Life.[4]
Phil Karlson called it "one of the most important pictures that I may ever make because it was the true story of the Nisei, what happened in this country. But Allied Artists, even at that point, looked at it as a great war story that you could make for a price. They had no idea what I was doing."[1]
The film was shot on location in Okinawa.[1]
DVD release[edit]
The DVD of the film was released on June 5, 2007 in the United States.
Novelization[edit]
A worthwhile novelization of the screenplay was written by American writer Edward S. Aarons (1916-1975), published in a mass market, tie-in paperback edition (first printing cover price 25¢) under the Gold Medal Books imprint, with 1960 copyright assigned to Fawcett Publications. The book's presentation falls under the category of "implied novelization," as there is no attribution anywhere to the screenplay, the screenstory or their respective authors, and the front cover action illustration of two soldiers only suggests star Jeffrey Hunter in the foreground; however the back cover contains, along with brief descriptive info, a romantic still from the movie and a blurb about the film, naming the studio, the production company and the stars. Even these indicia were removed, however, with the release of a second printing, probably a year or two later. Save for the uptick in price (40¢), the front cover illustration is identical, but the back cover is white, displaying only the brief descriptive info and the symbol of the U.S. Marine Corps. Implications of the film as source material were no doubt obliterated from the book to make the most out of the by-line, as Aarons was one of Gold Medal's most popular (and prolific) authors, and would remain so until the end of his career. (Aarons is best known for his prolific "Assignment" espionage series, featuring agent Sam Durell.)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Todd McCarthy and Richard Thompson. “Phil Karlson: Interview, November 19, 1973” Kings of the Bs; Working Within the Hollywood System, eds. Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975), pp. 327-345. Rpt. Cine Resort, Oct. 7 2014
- ^ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
- ^ Films and Filming. 7. Hansom Books. 1960. p. 43.
- ^ "Hell to Eternity". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
Bibliography[edit]
- Niemi, Robert (1 January 2006). History in the Media: Film and Television. ABC-CLIO. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-57607-952-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Niemi, Robert James (17 October 2013). Inspired by True Events: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 500 History-Based Films: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 500 History-Based Films, Second Edition. ABC-CLIO. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-61069-198-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Dick, Bernard F. (13 January 2015). The Star-Spangled Screen: The American World War II Film. University Press of Kentucky. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-8131-4895-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Creef, Elena Tajima (1 January 2004). Imaging Japanese America: The Visual Construction of Citizenship, Nation, and the Body. NYU Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8147-1622-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Rowan, Terry. WOrld War II Goes to the Movies & Television Guide. Lulu.com. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-105-58602-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Goldberg, Harold J. (2 May 2007). D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan. Indiana University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-253-11681-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Kluge, Paul Frederick (1991). The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia. University of Hawaii Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8248-1567-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Rosenberg, Emily S. (25 August 2003). A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory. Duke University Press. p. 146. ISBN 0-8223-8745-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Hamamoto, Darrell Y.; Liu, Sandra (2000). Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism. Temple University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-56639-776-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Miyao, Daisuke (7 March 2007). Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom. Duke University Press. p. 279. ISBN 0-8223-8982-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Green, Paul (29 April 2014). Jeffrey Hunter: The Film, Television, Radio and Stage Performances. McFarland. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-4766-1441-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Sharp, Jasper (13 October 2011). Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-8108-7541-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Lott, M. Ray (1 January 2004). The American Martial Arts Film. McFarland. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7864-1836-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Freese, Gene Scott (10 April 2014). Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 1967. ISBN 978-1-4766-1470-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Fujitani, T. (2 October 2011). Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II. University of California Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-520-95036-8.
- New York Media, LLC (18 November 1968). New York Magazine. p. 66. ISSN 0028-7369.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hell to Eternity. |
- Hell to Eternity on IMDb
- Hell to Eternity at AllMovie
- Hell to Eternity at the TCM Movie Database
- Hell to Eternity at the American Film Institute Catalog
Films directed by Phil Karlson
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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hell_to_Eternity&oldid=957494012"
- 1960 films
- English-language films
- 1960s war films
- American films
- American war films
- American black-and-white films
- Pacific War films
- Films about the internment of Japanese Americans
- Films set in the Northern Mariana Islands
- Films shot in Okinawa
- Films directed by Phil Karlson
- Films about the United States Marine Corps
- Films scored by Leith Stevens
- Films set in Hawaii
- Allied Artists films
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