Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Leopold Atlas (writer) and
Guy Endore (writer) ...

Release Date:

13 July 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | War

Plot:

War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins Company C, 18th Infantry as this American army unit fights its way across North Africa in World War II...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Italy | Infantry | Army | War Correspondent

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Burgess Meredith	...	Ernie Pyle / Narrator (voice)
Robert Mitchum	...	Lt. / Capt. Bill Walker
Freddie Steele	...	Sgt. Steve Warnicki
Wally Cassell	...	Pvt. Dondaro
Jimmy Lloyd	...	Pvt. Spencer
John R. Reilly	...	Pvt. Robert 'Wingless' Murphy
William Murphy	...	Pv. Mew (as Bill Murphy)
Sicily and Italy Combat Veterans of the Campaigns in Africa	...	Themselves
Don Whitehead	...	Himself (A.P.)
George Lait	...	Himself (International News Service)
Chris Cunningham	...	Himself (U.P.)
Hal Boyle	...	Himself (A.P.)
Jack Foisie	...	Himself (Stars and Stripes)
Bob Landry	...	Himself (Life)
Lucien Hubbard	...	Himself (Readers Digest)

Also Known As:

Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe (USA) (complete title)
G.I. Joe (USA) (short title)
War Correspondent

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | USA:Approved (PCA #10863) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Selznick International Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Lester Cowan Productions

Trivia:

William A. Wellman, nicknamed "Wild Bill", was a fighter pilot in World War I and hated the infantry, and therefore had no interest in making a film about them. Producer Lester Cowan tried several times to convince Wellman to direct the film, including showing up uninvited at Christmas with gifts for Wellman's children. Wellman finally agreed to take the job only after meeting and spending several days with Ernie Pyle at Pyle's home in New Mexico, where he saw how much former infantrymen revered him.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The unit Pyle is with -the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division- never fought in the Italian campaign. After the Sicilian campaign ended, it was brought back to England and began training for the D-Day invasion in Normandy. The 1st Division would eventually spearhead the assault on Omaha Beach.

Quotes:

Pvt. Dondaro: Hey Pop, why wasn't you born a beautiful dame? Or even an ugly one?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Private Screenings: Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Linda

Maybe the best American WWII film

William A. Wellman is one of the American cinema's greatest craftsmen. The Story of G.I. Joe is one of his best, if not his best. It presumably inspired a lot of later films. It especially reminds me of Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam film, Full Metal Jacket (the second half of it, anyway). This film should also be praised for its dedication to realism, and its lack of propaganda, surprising in such a vivid war film that was being made in the thick of the action in both Europe and the Pacific.

I also really love the script. The structure is very tenuous. Unlike most American films, it has no real "goal." Take a look at the infinitely inferior Steven Spielberg film Saving Private Ryan. In that film, the story centered around the search for Private Ryan. In The Story of G.I. Joe, the goal is simply the arrival at Rome, but this isn't at all what the film is about. It concentrates mostly on how the soldiers passed the time and how they felt. In this way, it's the second most sensitive war film I can think of, only following Jean Renoir's unsurpassed The Grand Illusion. There are some excellent battle scenes, as well.

As with most war films, there isn't a lot of overt characterization. It works really well here, though. Instead of opting for the old two-dimensional types of soldiers - you know, the "tough guy" the "young guy" the "religious guy" and what have you - Wellman just lets the characters develop within the actors. We may not know all of their names, or even recognize the same characters throughout the film, but, with each close-up of a soldier's face, we know as much about that person as we could know. The acting is very good. The three who stand out are Burgess Meredith, who plays Ernie Pyle, the writer whose works the film is based on, Robert Mitchum, wonderfully sensitive as the troop leader (he was probably never better; he received his one and only Oscar nomination for the role), and Freddie Steele. Early in the film he receives a phonograph recording of his young son speaking. He spends most of the film first looking for a phonograph player and then trying to repair it. This subplot is especially touching.

Wellman's direction is superb. The cinematography is, as well, and so is the music. The only problem that the film has is that it runs into war movie cliches, but one would expect that those cliches probably existed in real life, as well. 10/10.