FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS: "FROM HERE TO ETERNITY"!

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Serendipity has caught up with "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" for a fourth time in 2007, with this feature and the recent loss of actress Deborah Kerr. Above and beyond how this past Summer and Fall has turned out with such "meant to be's"--as some might be inclined to judge--here is a tale of enlisted men just prior to the attack on Peal Harbor in peacetime Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Much like director Fred Zinnermann's epic "High Noon", he chose to similarly shoot this film in Black & White to capture the isolation and personal complications of the characters. Imagine the following reverse-casting: Donna Reed as a hooker, Deborah Kerr (who replaced Betty Davis) as an adulterous sexpot, and Montgomery Clift as a former boxer and an otherwise insubordinate soldier! The political corruption in the military finds Burt Lancaster cast as the rugged Sergeant. Based on the 1951 novel of the same name, Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn gambled with a complex story originally with raw violence and sexual content deemed unsuitable for the times. The task to clean it up was given to Oscar-winning screenwriter Daniel Taradash. However, Taradash's subjects of prostitution, adultery, military injustice, corruption and violence, alcohol abuse, and murder remained intact. It has long been rumored that Frank Sinatra's alleged Mafia ties pressured Columbia's Cohn from giving the role of Maggio to Eli Wallach. This was later fodder in 1972's "The Godfather" (with the alleged Al Martino singer and the "I'll make them an offer they can't refuse" line). Indeed, Sinatra's career had slowed considerably, and this movie worked to reignite his popularity. The most likely reason for his casting was due to the campaigning of then-wife Ava Gardner. Sinatra's popularity had waned so much, that he was paid just $8,000 for his role. Shot for three weeks in Hawaii's Schofield Barracks, this movie garnered 13 Academy Award Nominations and 8 Wins: including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed), Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra), Best Screenplay (Daniel Taradash), Best B/W Cinematography (Burnett Guffey), Best Sound Recording, and Best Film Editing. Yes, this movie won more Academy Awards since "Gone With The Wind" (1939). For the curious at heart, the 5 Nominations were: Best Actor (Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster, who split the votes), Best Actress (Deborah Kerr), Best Scoring, and Best B/W Costume Design.) The Cast: Director: Fred Zinnemann; Written by: James Jones (Novel); Daniel Taradash (Screenplay); Burt Lancaster is Sgt. Milton Warden; Montgomery Clift is Pvt. Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt; Deborah Kerr is Karen Holmes; Donna Reed is Alma "Lorene" Burke; Frank Sinatra is Pvt. Angelo Maggio; Ernest Borgnine is Sgt. James R. "Fatso" Judson and Jack Warden plays Cpl. Buckley. The name of both the book and movie are taken from Rudyard Kipling's 1892 poem "Gentlemen-Rankers", about soldiers of the British Empire who had "lost their way" and were "damned from here to eternity". The famous "beach scene" awaits you...and Pearl Harbor awaits this cast.

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THEY DON'T MAKE EM' LIKE THIS ANYMORE!