Baby Blue Marine

Baby Blue Marine
Directed by	John D. Hancock
Produced by	Leonard Goldberg Aaron Spelling
Written by	Stanford Whitmore
Starring	Jan-Michael Vincent Glynnis O'Connor Katherine Helmond
Music by	Fred Karlin
Cinematography	László Kovács
Edited by	Marion Rothman
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	May 5, 1976 (1976-05-05)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Baby Blue Marine is a 1976 Metrocolor film set during World War II that was directed by John D. Hancock. It stars Jan-Michael Vincent and Glynnis O'Connor. The feature film was produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, both of whom were better known for their television work. (1976 was also the year that O'Connor appeared opposite John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, a TV movie produced by Spelling and Goldberg).

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 2½ out of 4 stars.^[1]

Plot

Marion “Hedge” Hedgepeth, a Marine recruit during World War II, washes out in basic training in San Diego. He is sent home in an unadorned baby blue uniform, leftover military surplus, as most recruits sent their civilian clothes home, thus the derogatory designation Baby Blue Marine.

Traveling by bus to his home in St. Louis, Hedge meets a Marine Raider at a stopover. The young, battle-scarred and highly decorated Marine has aged beyond his years with prematurely gray hair. As the Raider doesn't wish to return to the war, he knocks out Hedge and trades uniforms with him.

Now penniless, with only the Raider uniform for clothing, Hedge hitchhikes towards St. Louis. He enters the idyllic small town of Bidwell, California, below Mount Shasta. His uniform’s decorations and Raider shoulder-sleeve insignia make him a hero to the community, whose own young men are away at the war.

At the local diner, Hedge is befriended by waitress Rose, a recent high school graduate, and Mr. Elmore, a local who lost his son in the attack on Pearl Harbor. He also meets Army Private Danny Phelps, a neebish local who just finished basic training and is awaiting assignment to the army typing pool.

Rose invites Hedge to stay with her family for a few days, where Hedge bunks with her brother, Barney. Rose and Hedge fall in love, and he eventually tells her the truth of his story, saying that he has chosen to stay quiet because he does not want the real Raider to get in trouble for deserting.

When three American-born teenaged boys escape from a local Japanese American internment camp, the camp’s small and inexperienced army troop is joined by the locals in searching the woods. Mr. Elmore reminds everyone that these are young American citizens, but some of the locals, particularly Private Phelps, seem hellbent on killing the “Japs”.

Hedge finds the boys first, and they admit that they are sick of being unfairly held and are (naively) trying to get home to San Francisco. Phelps spots the scene from a nearby ridge and shoots, hitting Hedge, who falls into the rapids of a rushing mountain stream. The Japanese-American boys, aided by Mr. Elmore and a repentant Phelps, barely save the heavily bleeding Hedge from drowning. Thinking he might die, Hedge tells Rose to tell everyone his true story.

When the war ends, Hedge returns to Bidwell and Rose, having served as a corporal under General Patton in the U.S. Third Army.

Cast

Film locations

Baby Blue Marine was primarily shot in Siskiyou County, California. Most elements were filmed in McCloud, California with the scene at a local football game filmed in Weed, California at the high school. A couple of scenes were shot at the old Amtrak Museum, at mainside at Camp Pendelton. It showed one of the rare times Mount Shasta was shown in a motion picture. Other elements were shot in Hollywood.

Vincent also stars in Tribes, another film that features the Marine Corps.^[2]

References

External links

• Baby Blue Marine on IMDb
• Baby Blue Marine at Rotten Tomatoes
• Baby Blue Marine at AllMovie
• Baby Blue Marine at the TCM Movie Database
• Baby Blue Marine at the American Film Institute Catalog