Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
martin-fennell
Very violent and at times, sensitive anti war film. Wilde proves once more his talents as a director. This is one of those movies, that although it isn't a favourite, I return to periodically. Many critics on IMDb have mentioned it's influence/similarity to saving private ryan and The thin red line. You can see where they're coming from. Although I don't tjhink it's in the same league, it's still a worthwhile companion piece. One thing I noticed. Rip Torn was the only actor who had what would be considered an army haircut.
TankGuy
At height of the Second World War, US marines storm the beach of a Japanese held island. Suffering heavy casualties, a platoon led by Captain MacDonald(CORNEL WILDE)pushes inland toward the thick jungle. MacDonald and his men are profoundly affected by the dangers they face, as are the Japanese. Soldiers fighting on both sides can only ease their deep emotional pain by reflecting on their peaceful pre war lives...Directed and produced by Cornel Wilde who also co-wrote and starred as the main character, Beach Red has a few very minor flaws which can be overlooked because of this. Despite being a murky film which is unflinching in it's brutality, Beach Red is extremely colourful for a war movie. The use of colourised wartime stock footage was aesthetically pleasing to say the least. This succeeded in humanising the battle sequences. The scenes of Soldiers trudging through the lush jungle were impressively photographed. The film's title sequence, which comprised of gorgeous watercolour paintings of soldiers in the hell of combat, was just breathtaking. These paintings are juxtaposed by the lyrics of the title song, "My Enemy And I". Describing what will inevitably happen at it's climax, the song's lyrics serve as a kind of synopsis for the film. Wilde forces the viewer to feel the seething heat of battle by showing a soldier deliriously staggering around after having one of his arms blown off by an explosion. Unfortunately, most of this scene was cut from the TV print, but even when simply talked about is equally shocking. Apart from this scene and a few other exceptions, Beach Red is not an excessively gory film, although the use of bloody closeups when characters are wounded really added to the realism. Wilde also allows the viewer to experience the fear of the characters as they kill each other like animals. The beginning sequence depicting the Marines inching toward the beach in the landing craft was particularly taut. The first time I saw this film I personally felt rather nervous when watching this scene, as if I was a Marine about to storm the beach.The film's anti war overtones evoke a Vietnam allegory. The scene showing Sergeant Honeywell(RIP TORN)stomping on a Japanese Captain's arms and breaking them in a fit of sadistic rage echoes the frustration and despair of American soldiers fighting in Vietnam. However, what really makes the film unique is Wilde's use of flashbacks. These add vicious bite to the film's narrative and when combined with the internal monologues of the characters, engage the viewer. These flashbacks also give the Japanese and American soldiers something in common, it basically says that everyone is human. They are quite dreamlike in form, at times manifesting themselves as brief stills. Either way, they add to the colour and depth of the film and it's story. I was completely drawn in by the inner conflicts of the characters which made it impossible for me to take my eyes off the screen. Cornel Wilde gives a sturdy performance as the sympathetic Captain MacDonald. It is Rip Torn who really steals the film as well as some of it's greatest lines. After breaking the Japanese Captain's arms, Honeywell is chastised by MacDonald and the dialogue exchanged between the two characters makes this scene probably the best in the film. Burr DeBenning also has some of the best lines and his character provides a slight pinch of comic relief in an otherwise gritty film. Genki Koyama turned in a robust performance as Colonel Sugiyama. This unknown Japanese actor made the character his own. The scenes in which the Colonel vows to crush the advancing American forces and plots their positions on a scale model of the island were truly fantastic. Apart from the flashbacks, Beach Red is crammed with meticulously detailed battle sequences which are epic in both scope and execution. The first battle on the beach was bone chilling, tight and exhilarating. The second battle in the rice field depicting tanks, flamethrowers and pillboxes in action was just as rigid, not to mention being masterfully shot. The brief utilisation of first person view in this battle and the first one made me feel as if I was part of the action. The strafing of hundreds of Japanese troops by American bombers near the end of the film was also truly gripping. The hand to hand combat sequences in the jungle were magnificently choreographed. Overall, the action sequences were packed with amazing special effects and stunts!. This explosive action builds to a dramatically affecting climax.Cornel Wilde addresses the topic of war in an intelligent and unique way. Thoroughly engrossing from beginning to end, brought to life by a moving narrative and containing some of the most amazing battle sequences ever shot, Beach Red was way ahead of it's time. Today's lacklustre war movies owe much to it. 10/10.
Milan
"Beach Red" seams to divide the commentators into two distinctively different tribes, the ones that love it and the ones that hate it. There don't seem to be a middle of the road opinion on this movie, so there's mine. I've seen this movie after I heard some good words on it's originality, and I just glanced through user comments on IMDb missing all the bad reviews. I've seen this film on it's own merit and here is what I think."Beach Red" is surely one of the strangest and most different war movies of all times, and is particularly original for it's era. Up until the beginning 70's when all the Vietnam resentment started to flow over Hollywood,so the movies like Catch-22 and MASH started to appear, there simply was no war movie that didn't look like "Objective Burma", "Sands of Iwo Jima" or if you want complete silliness "Bridge on the river Kwai". "Beach Red" certainly moved boundaries, it has some school play acting, but the mood of the war is accurately portrayed. Flashbacks are the core of that different approach and look and feel of those is particularly good. One of the reviewers objected that flashbacks show the women of principal American characters with 60's makeup,hairstyles and their homes furnished in 60's style, but they missed that the Japenese women and children were all shown in traditional surroundings and clothes and that's just the point Wilde wanted to make, a great difference in the way of living and culture, and draw a parallel between all wars between cultures from WWII to Vietnam. So the soldiers fight in Phillippines but it looks like they were leaving their loved ones for Vietnam. There is a link between than and now, war is always the same only the settings are different, and that is very well shown in "Beach Red", in which Japanese soldiers don't conveniently speak English with Japanese accent, but Japanese and act like them. Give this movie a try, it may require some patience and understanding but it won't let you down.
Woodyanders
A platoon of American soldiers lead by the rugged, but humane Captain MacDonald (superbly played by Cornel Wilde) and the mean, bloodthirsty Gunnery Sergeant Honeywell (a chilling performance by the always excellent Rip Torn) embark on a dangerous mission to find a Japanese base on a remote island in the Pacific. Wilde's steady, assured, if rather ragged direction and the gritty, incisive script by Wilde, Don Peters and Clint Johnston astutely nails the chaos, horror and brutality of war: the movie opens on a gripping note with a fierce and harrowing protracted battle sequence, the violence is shockingly gory and graphic (arms are blown off, severed limbs litter the ground, mangled bodies are strewn about, and so on), the characters' thoughts serve as philosophical narration, the tone remains stark, frank and unflinching throughout, and there are poignant flashbacks for both the American and Japanese soldiers alike in order to show how everyone is basically the same. This picture further benefits from strong and convincing acting by a tip-top cast, with especially praiseworthy work by Burr DeBenning as hearty country boy Private Egan, Patrick Wayne as the naive, amiable Private Joseph Joshua Cliff, Jean Wallace as McDonald's sweet, bubbly wife Julie (Wallace also sings the hauntingly melancholy theme song), and Jaime Sanchez as easygoing smartaleck Private Columbo. Cecil R. Cooney's plain, no-frills cinematography really throws the viewer into the thick of the bloody combat and frightening carnage. Moreover, this movie earns extra points for its even treatment of the Japanese, who are shown as being just as scared and human as the American soldiers. It's this latter admirable component of compassion for all humanity which in turn makes this film so incredibly powerful and provocative.
