Screenwriter Robert Rossen’s and director Lewis Milestone’s film is based on a book that was serialized in Liberty Magazine in October 1944.
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Theatrical release poster
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It deals intimately and in depth with the men involved, their thoughts and their feelings. It was a compelling and honest account of humans caught in an inhuman situation.
Narrowly scoped, A Walk in the Sun focuses on one battle in WWII: the attempt to overcome a Nazi stronghold a few miles inland of an Italian beachhead.
The film’s impressive ensemble stars Dana Andrews and features Sterling Holloway, Norman Lloyd, Herbert Rudley and Richard Benedict, with narration by Burgess Meredith.
In September 1943, the diverse group of fifty-three soldiers comprising a lead Platoon of the Texas Division anxiously await their Allied invasion of Italy on a beach near Salerno, Italy.
Their young platoon leader, Lieutenant Rand, is wounded by shell fragment that destroys half of his face. Platoon Sergeant Pete Halverson takes over and orders Sgt. Eddie Porter to lead the men to the beach while he trying to find the company commander and confirm their orders.
McWilliams remains with Rand, and the rest of the men hit the beach and dig in while trying to elude the gun fire. Sgt.
Bill Tyne wonders what they will do if Halverson does not return, and later learns from McWilliams that both Rand and Halverson are dead. Soon after, McWilliams is shot by enemy airplane when he goes to a bluff to view the aerial attack on the beachhead.
Tyne discovers that three other men have been hit, including Sgt. Hoskins. Porter, Tyne and Sgt. Ward then lead the men in three squads along a road toward their objective, a bridge that they are to blow up that is near a farmhouse.
Two retreating Italian soldiers surrender to the platoon and confirm that they are on the right route.
When Porter begins to break down, he tells Ward (also called Farmer) that he is putting Tyne in charge.
The bazooka men, who Tyne had sent ahead to search for tanks, blow up two tanks and another armored car, but expend all of their bazooka ammunition.
The bridge is blown up, and despite heavy losses, including Archimbeau, the platoon captures the house.
At noon, Windy, Ward and the remaining men wander through the house as Farmer fulfills his dream of eating an apple and Tyne adds another notch to Rankin’s pet Tommy-gun.
Critical Status:
In 2016, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.
Cast
Dana Andrews as Staff Sgt. Bill Tyne
Richard Conte as Pvt. Rivera
George Tyne as Pvt. Jake Friedman
John Ireland as PFC. Windy Craven
Lloyd Bridges as Staff Sgt. Ward
Sterling Holloway as Pvt. ‘Mac’ McWilliams
Norman Lloyd as Pvt. Jack ‘Arch’ Archimbeau
Herbert Rudley as Staff Sgt. Eddie Porter
Richard Benedict as PFC. Tranella
Huntz Hall as PFC. Carraway
James Cardwell as Sgt. ‘Hosk’ Hoskins
George Offerman Jr. as Pvt. Tinker
Steve Brodie as Pvt. Judson
Matt Willis as Plt. Sgt. Pete ‘Hal’ Halverson
Chris Drake as PFC. Tim Rankin
Alvin Hammer as Pvt. Johnson
Victor Cutler as Pvt. Cousins
Jay Norris as Pvt. James
John Kellogg as Pvt. Riddle
Burgess Meredith as Narrator
Credits:
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Screenplay by Robert Rossen, based on A Walk in the Sun, 1944 novel by Harry Brown
Produced by Lewis Milestone; Samuel Bronston (uncredited)
Cinematography Russell Harlan
Edited by W. Duncan Mansfield
Music by Score: Fredric Efrem Rich
Song: Millard Lampell, Earl Robinson
Company: Superior Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date: December 3, 1945
Running time: 117 minutes
Budget $1,250,000
Box office: $2,250,000
