His most electrifying role!
1961-12-27
N/A
108 min
Ira Hayes, a young Pima Indian, enlists in the Marine Corps. At boot camp, he is shunned and mocked by everyone, aside from a Marine named Sorenson, who he befriends. They happen to be two of the six marines captured in the famous photograph of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima, but Sorenson is killed soon after. Although he is hailed as a hero, Ira's life begins to spiral out of control after the war.
I never found Tony Curtis to be terribly versatile but he did have charisma, and that comes to his rescue here in what might be his best on-screen performance without the benefit of a comedy foil. Here he is "Ira Hayes" - a Native American who determines to join the US Marine Corps. Initially, he faces bigotry and bit of supremacy, but now nicknamed the "Chief" and befriended by his erstwhile antagonist "Sorenson" (the terribly wooden James Franciscus) he finds himself in the heat of battle and enjoying the rewards of victory and enduring the bitterest of tragedy. It's afterwards that the rot starts to set in, though. His superiors want some of their bravest soldiers to embark on a nationwide tour to help raise war bond cash, and he's drafted in. In the beginning thrilled by the adulation, it all starts to go to his head (and his liver) and he starts to become a bit of a liability. Returned to the front lines then back to his tribe where he takes a vow of sobriety, even tries for election, but somehow contentment evades him. He feels guilt for his fallen friend, he feels guilt for surviving himself, he feels truly alone - and... It's a poignant story that resonates well with Curtis putting great effort into characterising this brave, but flawed, man largely abandoned by the military authorities when he was of no further use on the battlefield or on the television. The booze or the bullets or both? Well worth a watch, this.
