Sadly Over-hyped

Masterful Movie

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

In this story about the most decorated hero of WWII, Audie Murphy plays himself as only he can. He also conveyed the fact that anybody from the back of nowhere...and his boyhood in Texas seems to have been spent there...can really make something of himself, especially a great contributor to society by fighting diligently for his country. I've always wondered what some of the top-ranking officers of the various branches of the Armed Forces later thought after they rejected him, simply because they felt the boyish-looking young man was too small to even coming close to qualifying for military service, and moreover receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was...as he should have been...a consummate actor in this role. The movie was not without excitement and realism, since there was so much fighting...which took place in Germany, Italy, and North Africa...that was convincingly depicted. Susan Kohner was excellent in the role as his lover, and Charlie Drake acted well as his very good camrade and friend; Murphy grieved when he was fatally wounded. Here early in his career David Janseen played his role well as a soldier also. Additionally, .Jack Kelly and Denver Pyle gave good support in their roles. The scene which stood out in my mind was the one where Murphy "mowed down" several Germans while standing on a tank which was about to explode. The stark realism of war, the familial struggles among the soldiers themselves, as well as the story of the man Murphy himself were all portrayed well in this superior biopic.

Probably unique amongst the plethora of World War 2 films in that not only is it a true story but actually acted out by the man who was there. If this was fiction you'd think it was cheesy and unbelievable, knowing it is fact and having read his autobiography makes it all the more remarkable. This must be one of the few films which actually tones down some of the hero's actions because they're just so unbelievable. It isn't perfect by any means, it's clearly all shot in army training grounds in the US. The tanks are all wrong and some of the special effects pretty weak but you have to forgive that for the time and the budget. Having read Murphy's book the film very much sanitises many of the events, no lines of GI's queueing up at Sicilian brothels, no three wounded German soldiers left to die slowly in a quarry because there's nothing they can do to help them. No drunken officer ordering Murphy to make an ill-advised patrol which he ignores or platoon Sergeant becoming unglued in the face of a horrendous bombardment and suffering a breakdown in front of his men. In the movie Murphy's first combat is destroying a machine-gun post, an event which does happen but actually much later. In real life it's when a soldier in his platoon is killed by a random shell whilst marching to the front and his first kills are a pair of Italian officers shot in the back whilst they attempt to flee. One story I've heard is that General Eisenhower liked the film but disapproved of the choice of leading man saying he was too small for the role, unaware that actually Murphy was playing himself although that may be a myth.

Of course this movie "sanitizes" WWII, look at the year it was made, the Hollywood censors would NEVER have allowed a "Saving Private Ryan" film to be released. That said, this is a true story, starring the man who actually lived through everything it shows and much, much more besides. I knew Audie personally and I can tell you that he was, and could really do, anything you saw him do on the screen. He actually did kill 283 German soldiers, not as a unit action, but he, himself, with his own guns! If anything, this movie down plays his real life heroics to a large extent. Audie's book tells a lot more detail about what happened during the War. When I knew him, Audie suffered from severe PTSD, but the VA had not recognized that as a real medical problem, so he never got treatment for it. He did sleep with a pistol under his pillow every night of his life, and he carried a loaded gun on his person everywhere he went, every day of his life (I do the same thing btw...and the VA treated me for PTSD after 'Nam). Finally, this is a wonderful movie about all the brave heroes who fought in those campaigns, dying, maimed, or just lucky enough to come home at the end. Audie was a much better actor than he was ever allowed to be by Universal Studios. His Westerns made money, and that was the studio's bottom line. BTW...To Hell and Back was the BIGGEST money maker for Universal until Jaws was released...that's not a bad record for Hollywood...20 yrs. worth of Dollars in the bank.

It is difficult to imagine how a grade school teenager performed so brilliantly and courageously in World War 2 given the circumstances that he was part of all the major theaters of operation in Europe. He was and will always be remembered as a hero.Perhaps my viewpoint is tinted because of all the superior docudramas that have unfolded in Hollywood over the past 15 years. This was a 50s war movie and Hollywood didn't really capture realism even with Audie in the lead role.Knowing it is a true account of Murphy's unbelievable heroics, the director wandered through the film with with a typical script of the time that didn't give Mr Murphy the proper credit he so rightly deserved. The so-called Italian girl scene didn't help the movie.Realism was absent during critical scenes and the uniforms (so clean) did not help its' believability. God love Audie and God bless him and it is too bad, considering the subject, that that Hollywood didn't spend enough time making the story much greater than it was depicted.