Touches You

Great Film overall

Best movie of this year hands down!

The acting in this movie is really good.

"The Story of G.I. Joe" is a tribute to the anonymous grunts who made up the U.S. infantry during WWII. It's an odd film in many ways compared to other war movies of the time. It's light on the propaganda and morale boosting, and doesn't really even have a plot. It's rather an episodic series of vignettes that shows what a day in the life of an infantry soldier could consist of. It's even a bit surreal in the way that I imagine war can be, where one moment you're having a conversation about something mundane, the next moment you're dodging bullets and bombs, and the moment after that you're back to your mundane conversation. There's not a mission to anchor the plot, and there's no conclusion either. These guys just wander around, doing what they're told and never really seeming to be sure (or really care for that matter) what they're objective is. I imagine that also is very much the way war is for the average soldier.If you need main characters in your movies, I suppose those played by Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum will do, but this film isn't really about those two men any more than it is about any one of the other men. We get to know the soldiers the way another soldier in the company would, by one or two defining traits, not by any intimate knowledge of their inner lives. Makes it easier to say goodbye to them when they die.The always reliable William Wellman directed "The Story of G.I. Joe," and he gives it a realistic, newsreel look that's also very different from the usual studio sets of the era."G.I. Joe" was nominated for four Oscars in 1945: Best Supporting Actor (Mitchum), Best Screenplay, Best Dramatic or Comedy Score, and Best Original Song, for the short tune "Linda" that hauntingly is used in the film as part of a German radio broadcast designed to demoralize American troops.Grade: A

Forget all those heroes in war movies that telling untruthful facts and things to the audience,this one is about a real guys with fears,dreams and hope to go back alive to their homes.they talk about your parents.brothers and girlfriends,but in war they meet death and hopeless,an old newspaperman as war correspondent played magnificent by Meredith follow them and wrote all those terrible happenings,Mitchum plays an ordinary Lieutenant which everybody trust,the infantry has a best good mascot a white little dog...touching picture!!Resume:First watch: 2018 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.25

I am currently reading an excellent biography of Robert Mitchum, "Baby I Don't Care." The book led me to this movie. Mitchum is Captain Walker. He leads his ground troops through Italy, on their way to Rome while fighting Germans during WWII. The story is based on Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ernie Pyle's coverage of the war. Pyle was a consultant on the set which used real military personnel to maintain authenticity. Burgess Meredith is Ernie Pyle and he is well cast. Meredith and Mitchum are tremendous and a scene about 3/4 of the way into the film is the height of this gritty war story. Captain Walker is writing the standard sorry to inform you letters to families back in America when Pyle joins him for a drink from a bottle of Grappa. They discuss the endless rounds of battle and death with more and more kids sent to die for their country. Mitchum received his only Oscar nomination but did not win. It is a shame, as he was a vastly underrated actor. G I Joe has an emotional impact which caused Dwight Eisenhower to call it the greatest war film he he had ever seen. I agree.

WE RECALL SEEING this in the very early 1950's on our Dumont B & W. At that time this was barely a 5 year old film. Even though the old birth certificate still reads 11/02/46, we're able to pinpoint the approximate time by these two incontrovertible facts: a) our family still lived at 4402 S. Shields in Chicago's Fuller Park neighborhood (moved out Labor Day weekend, 1952). b) We had gotten our TV set not long before, it was early 1950.WE HAD THE good fortune to have parents who took the time to both share viewing times as well as explaining to us what was the relationship of such a film, as THE STORY OF G.I. JOE. to our recent history I should not be any surprise that the name of Ernie Pyle (1900-45) should forever be emblazoned in our memory.HAVING JUST SCREEND this production for we the first time in years, we must commit our impressions to the page for even our highly limited posterity.FROM THE GET go, it is obvious that there was a great deal of painstakingly tedious effort to make this as realistic a war picture as was possible. Although no one could call kit a "blockbuster", neither was it a poverty row-type pot boiler. Never do either the sets, the equipment nor the combat troops look like anything other than what it's supposed to be. In this case, the setting is Southern Italy, along the Apian Way headed to Roma. (As well as the previous Tunisian & Sicilian locales)THERE IS Absolutely no sugar coating of the grim and fate driven story of what we've come to know as the "Citizen Soldier"; being the millions of ordinary guys who took time out from their lives back home in order to free a world held captive to internal conspiracy called Fascism; being served fresh by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and their satellite states.THE MAIN STORY element of the story is the concentration on the individual. In keeping with the style and subject matter that Mr. Pyle committed in Pulitzer Prize winning fashion, it was done as a both a chronicle as well as an homage to all those who'd walked the walk.ONE PARTICULARLY INTERESTING dramatic device was used to serve as a link between various characters' stories and at the same time present all of us in the audience a metaphor about survival. That would be (and is) the use of a little orphaned puppy. He is at first forbade by Lt. Walker (Robert Mitchum), who relents almost immediately. The original soldier caring for the little pooch is killed and the pup finds himself being passed around from soldier to soldier, never finding himself in harm's way. (We'd have named him 'Survivor.')THERE ARE SOME outstanding performances turned in here. Mr. Mitchum received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and no one could have done a better characterization than Burgess Meredith's interpretation of Ernie Pyle.BUT IT IS clearly evident that Director William Wellman's influence brought out the best in everyone. But we'd like to make special mention of the portrayal of Private Donardo as visualized and realized by Wally Cassell. His work seems to be under-appreciated today and we'd like to do our small part in helping to eradicate such an injustice.THE FILM ALSO makes use of large numbers of actual veterans of the Italian Campaign as extras. It would also appear that their consultation was sought in the role of technical adviser.THE SOUNDTRACK WAS adorned with an original score attributed to Louis Applebaum and Anne Ronnell. Its incidental music included some variations on THE PLANETS by Gustav Holtz; as well as incorporating such well known and in the Public Domain songs as SILENT NIGHT, DIXIE, SANTA LUCIA, MY DARLIN' CLEMENTINE, OH MARIE and THE BRIDAL COURUS. Its original song, LINDA, by Ann Ronnell, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.ALONG WITH JUST a few other great War Films (BATTLEGROUND, THE LONGEST DAY, PATTON & others), THE STORY OF G.I. JOE is the celluloid counterpart to the battlefield cartoons done for the Army Newspaper in the European Theater of Operations, THE STARS & STRIPES; which were done by Bill Mauldin. (UP FRONT with Willie & Joe that is).OUR RATING: ***** 5 Stars (ten if they'd allow it).