Hell to Eternity

Hell to Eternity
Original film poster
Directed by Phil Karlson
Produced by Irving H. Levin
Written by Gil Doud (story)
Walter Roeber Schmidt
Starring Jeffrey Hunter
David Janssen
Vic Damone
Music by Leith Stevens
Cinematography Burnett Guffey
Edited by Roy V. Livingston
George White
Distributed by Allied Artists
Release date
  • September 30, 1960 (1960-09-30)
Running time
 131 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $800,000[1]
Box office $2,800,000 (US/ Canada)[2]

Hell to Eternity is a 1960 American World War II film starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and Patricia Owens, directed by Phil Karlson. This film biopic is about the true experiences of Marine hero Pfc. Guy Gabaldon (played by Hunter), a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese American foster family, and his heroic actions during the Battle of Saipan. Sessue Hayakawa played the role of Japanese commander at Saipan.[3]

Plot

In Depression-era Los Angeles, Guy Gabaldon gets into a fight at school when another boy snitches about his breaking into a grocery store. After Japanese-American Kaz Uni (the brother of Guy's physical education teacher and friend George) finds out Guy's mother is in the hospital and his father is dead, he invites Guy to stay with his family. As Kaz's parents speak little English, Guy begins to learn Japanese. Then, when Guy's mother dies, the Unis adopt him. He becomes especially close to Kaz's mother.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US entry into World War II, Gabaldon's foster family is sent to an internment camp: Camp Manzanar. Gabaldon is drafted, but fails his physical exam due to a perforated eardrum. When Gabaldon goes to visit the Unis, he learns that George and Kaz have been allowed to join the Army and is fighting in Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After making sure that "mama-san" does not object, he manages to enlist in the Marines on the strength of his language skills.

Gabaldon does not make a good first impression on Platoon Sgt. Bill Hazen at Camp Pendleton, but wins him over. When they are shipped to Hawaii to join the Regimental Intelligence section of the 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, he gets himself, Hazen and Cpl. Pete Lewis bottles of whiskey and dates with two Japanese-American women and standoffish reporter Sheila Lincoln. Sheila is disgusted by the behavior of the rowdy Marines, but eventually warms up to Gabaldon after a few drinks.

Going ashore on Saipan, he freezes at first when he comes under fire for the first time, but regains his composure. During a Banzai charge, Lewis is killed, and later during the bloody campaign for the island, Hazen is shot in the leg and then killed by a Japanese swordsman. Gabaldon then gets mad and starts killing Japanese soldiers ruthlessly, but after he sees two civilians kill themselves, he remembers George and "mama-san" and changes back to the way he was. During the final battle, he convinces the Japanese general to order approximately 1000 Japanese soldiers and 500 civilians to surrender.

Cast

Production

Gramercy Pictures bought the screen rights of Gabaldon's story in June 1957. Previously, it had been featured on the TV show This Is Your Life.[4]

Phil Karlson called it "one of the most important pictures that I may ever make because it was the true story of the Nisei, what happened in this country. But Allied Artists, even at that point, looked at it as a great war story that you could make for a price. They had no idea what I was doing."[1]

The film was shot on location in Okinawa.[1]

DVD release

The DVD of the film was released on June 5, 2007 in the United States.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Todd McCarthy and Richard Thompson. “Phil Karlson: Interview, November 19, 1973” Kings of the Bs; Working Within the Hollywood System, eds. Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975), pp. 327-345. Rpt. Cine Resort, Oct. 7 2014
  2. ↑ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
  3. ↑ Films and Filming. 7. Hansom Books. 1960. p. 43.
  4. ↑ "Hell to Eternity". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 21 February 2015.

Bibliography

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  • Niemi, Robert James (17 October 2013). Inspired by True Events: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 500 History-Based Films: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 500 History-Based Films, Second Edition. ABC-CLIO. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-61069-198-7.
  • Dick, Bernard F. (13 January 2015). The Star-Spangled Screen: The American World War II Film. University Press of Kentucky. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-8131-4895-3.
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  • Green, Paul (29 April 2014). Jeffrey Hunter: The Film, Television, Radio and Stage Performances. McFarland. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-4766-1441-0.
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  • Lott, M. Ray (1 January 2004). The American Martial Arts Film. McFarland. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7864-1836-7.
  • Freese, Gene Scott (10 April 2014). Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 1967. ISBN 978-1-4766-1470-0.
  • Fujitani, T. (2 October 2011). Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II. University of California Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-520-95036-8.
  • New York Media, LLC (18 November 1968). New York Magazine. p. 66. ISSN 0028-7369.
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