Reminiscent, at least to me, of
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, IN HARM'S WAY also tells the story of various military personnel and their
wives, husbands and lovers in Hawaii during 1941/1942. And at 165 minutes
it packs in a lot of story.
U. S. Navy Captain John Wayne is on duty during the attack on Pearl
Harbor. Kirk Douglas is his executive officer. They manage to get
their ship safely away, but other problems arise when Wayne disobeys orders
while trying to track down an enemy vessel. He's stripped of command and
sentenced to desk duty. Kirk has it even worse when he finds out that his
wife was off screwing some dude on the beach during the attack and killed!
Other characters include John Wayne's estranged son who is also in the Navy and
has thrown in with a seedy officer; the seedy officer himself; a nurse who's
wanting to knock boots with The Duke; Burgess Meredith as Wayne's roommate;
Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews and Franchot Tone as officers and the ridiculously
sexy Jill Haworth as a nurse involved with both Wayne's son
and Douglas. There's also a side story about officer Tom Tyron and
his wife Paula Prentiss, but it could have been cut completely.
IN HARM'S WAY is a good watch. Most of the dramatic scenes were excellent,
but unfortunately the action scenes towards the end are terribly dated and kinda
boring. The film had my total attention when Kirk and Jill were on the
beach or when Wayne was making googly-eyes at Patricia Neal, but then the model
boats come out with water splashing around and I felt my attention fading.
Also, IN HARM'S WAY just lacks the sheer acting power and emotional charge of
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. That movie was dynamite! (Yes, I wrote that
in Graham Chapman's voice.)
Entertaining watch with a impressive supporting cast, but dated.
Recommended for classic movie fans.