James Garner's first starring role has him playing William Orlando Darby, and his career from the Pentagon to his training and leading the first battalion of Army Rangers, through their disbandment after most of them were killed in action. Everyone seems a little erratic from Garner to Jack Warden as his Jewish staff sergeant, on down. Only the old hands on view for the scenes with civilians -- Torin Thatcher, Frieda Inescourt and Reginald Owen seem comfortable in their characters' skins, offering the stereotyped comedy straight out of movies produced during the war, awkward and cynical.
Perhaps that was a deliberate choice, because the movie lives and breathes in the battle sequences, clearly shot on sets, and clearly designed to be as ugly as possible. There's an air of exhausted tension in the performances there, of men doing their jobs, but ready to fall down dead when the order is given.
The real Darby is shown entering an LST, heading to the newly-opened Pentagon. He would return to Italy on an inspection tourl; when the deputy commander of the 10th Mountain Division was wounded, Darby replaced him..... and was shot dead on 30 April 1945.
Perhaps that was a deliberate choice, because the movie lives and breathes in the battle sequences, clearly shot on sets, and clearly designed to be as ugly as possible. There's an air of exhausted tension in the performances there, of men doing their jobs, but ready to fall down dead when the order is given.
The real Darby is shown entering an LST, heading to the newly-opened Pentagon. He would return to Italy on an inspection tourl; when the deputy commander of the 10th Mountain Division was wounded, Darby replaced him..... and was shot dead on 30 April 1945.