Absolutely brilliant

A Disappointing Continuation

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

It's never a promising sign when you find yourself checking the time to see how much of the film is left to go. I did that with this one, only 32 minutes in....which means I still had 90 minutes more of this train wreck. And believe me, at times it is a train wreck. Those reviewers on here giving this 8, 9 or 10 stars could use some introspection.What am I talking about? Well let's see...in the first 30 minutes, we watch the "hero," Al Schmid, kiss a preteen girl on the lips (his best-friend's daughter), then tell her that in 5-6 years he will marry her. If I did that to my best friend's daughter he would punch my lights out (and rightly so) before calling the police and reporting me for being a child predator. Then, Al is set up on a blind date with a woman named Ruth, apparently against his will, so his way of dealing with the situation is to attempt to loudly belittle and disparage his date in a bowling alley for all to hear. Quite mature for our hero, wouldn't you say? The next day he realizes the error of his ways....so he decides to make it up to her. How? By confronting her at a public bus stop and telling everyone present that she has abandoned their boy and is seemingly guilty of child negligence. Never mind the fact that they are not a couple and there is no child, he is making the whole thing up to shame her in front of a group of strangers. What an honorable guy, this Al. But she inexplicably gets in his car, anyway, instead of telling him to get lost, and he proceeds to drive her home. When he learns there is another man waiting at home to take her out on a date, he purposely crashes his car into the other man's in a fit of rage, anger and/or jealousy. And quite laughably, shortly after this incident Ruth decides "wow this is the guy for me!" It was at this point I looked at the time because I was saying to myself "how much more of this nonsense can I take?" Keep in mind you as the viewer are supposed to look upon the actions of Al as commendable - he is the subject of the film - the "Pride of the Marines." So the protagonist - our hero - is an ill-tempered, pompous, creepy, impulsive liar. And you are supposed to be sympathetic towards him...it is that bad.Not helping matters is the misleading title. Of the two-hour running time, only about 20 minutes concerns Al's active duty in the Marines. The rest is spent either establishing his "courtship" of Ruth (cough cough) or the bitterness he feels after suffering injuries in battle (about an hour and the bulk of the film). In between there is one action sequence set in Guadalcanal from which the film gets its title (I suppose). So dispel the notion that this is a war film or an action film, it is largely neither. It's a rather shoddy attempt to engender pride and rouse patriotic fervor, as this was produced in the latter stages of World War II. However, the callous and indifferent way Al treats other people, especially those close to him, both before and after that battle sequence is actually quite despicable and not worthy of anyone's pride. This film is based on a real person named Al Schmid. I can only hope the real Al wasn't as much of a cad as the one portrayed here. Ouch.

John Garfield plays Al Schmid, a single friend of married couple Jim & Ella Merchant (Jim Ridgely and Ann Doran) and their teenage daughter Loretta (Ann Todd). Like happily married people are wont to do, they set Al up on a blind date, against his will, with Ruth Hartley (Eleanor Parker). But, after resisting getting involved with her, they begin dating.One day at Al's workplace, where he is a welder, he learns of a friend's enlistment into the Marines and decides to sign up himself. Ruth and Al have a last date, with Al insisting that she forget about him, given his unknown future. However, when she goes to meet his departure train, he is overjoyed and gives her an engagement ring.In the Battle of the Pacific, Al and his squadron find themselves in a foxhole assigned to prevent the Japanese from breaching their line at night. We briefly get to know several of the soldiers, including Lee Diamond (Dane Clark), before the attack. During the attack, many of them are killed but Al ends up single-handedly saving the day. However, he is wounded by a suicide bomber in the final scene of the battle.Later in a hospital, Al learns that he can't see, a condition that doesn't change even after he has surgery. Feeling sorry for himself, he dictates a letter through a nurse to tell Ruth that he is relieving her of any obligation to marry him. Though his friend Lee, the nurse, the doctors, and others try, he will not be convinced or persuaded to try to return to a "normal" life, given his condition. Instead, he stays in the hospital until they no longer allow him to remain there.He returns home on a train, with Lee in tow. However, he does not want to see Ruth and, when he does anyway, will not accept her undying love regardless of her encouraging words. He does not feel that he is a real man anymore, and his pride will not allow her to take care of him. But when he is awarded the Navy Cross for his service in the Pacific, and his vision allows him to "see" a fuzzy red-topped taxicab as Ruth escorts him afterwards, we get our happy ending.This film's Screenplay was nominated for a Best Writing Academy Award.

I concur with a review by AtlasMB on "Pride of the Marines". This is an inspiring true story of Marine Al Schmid who heroically battled the Japanese on Guadalcanal, winning the Navy Cross but losing his eyesight in the process. The film covers his blue collar roots in Philadelphia, his sort-of courtship, the battle itself (a very short part of the film), then his recovery and rehabilitation. As a war film, the real subject is the reintegration of servicemen back into society. The best scene may be in the naval hospital, as Schmid and his fellow injured talk about what they expect from their country and - ultimately - themselves.The problem? It's just not written or acted very well. Tough guy Garfield plays Schmid as not particularly likable. His chemistry with girlfriend Ruth - well played by Eleanor Parker, as much as the script allows - isn't particularly good even before he enlists. Schmid is pretty much a jerk. Garfield isn't subtle, emotes little, and talks constantly in his clipped, tough guy manner. Dane Clark as his fellow Marine is much more emotive, likable, and believable. The battle scene isn't much of a battle, stagy, with the Marines simply continuing to fire their machine gun until dawn. (That the Japanese soldier held up the grenade in front of Schmid instead of throwing it into their bunker was a little ridiculous.) A decent wartime film with an important message. I just wish someone other than Garfield had been the lead.

What makes a great movie? Script, performances, direction, pace, credibility (watching it makes you *believe,* even if it's sf). An important theme, like the readjusment of wounded combat vets, doesn't hurt. "Pride of the Marines" has all these things. Star John Garfield, who specialized (mostly) in blue-collar roles, turns in possibly his finest performance; the rest of the cast is also excellent. Albert Maltz's screenplay deservedly got an Oscar nomination. The brief combat scenes are absolutely believable and the story never slows down - a tribute to Delmer Daves' directorial talents. "The Best Years of Our Lives" is far better known as a moving drama of returning WWII veterans, but "Pride of the Marines" was released almost three months earlier and is every bit as dramatic.There's nothing phony about this great movie, including the heroism - for which the real Al Schmid, LeRoy Diamond, and Johnny Rivers (KIA) were all awarded the Navy Cross."Pride of the Marines" finally came out on DVD in 2009. I haven't viewed that product, but you owe it to yourself to see this movie at least once.