From Here to Eternity

A story that all seems so pointless after being told. Most of the male characters are stubborn, thick headed macho idiots. Many of the performances were stiff and unnatural. The love affair between Lancaster and Kerr in particular felt forced. I might have liked Sinatra and Clift if their characters were not so stupid and hard headed. Made in the 50's but poorly written from the perspective of a bygone 1940's era. A few nice battle scenes almost saves it.

A story about people trying to fill voids in their life with toxic behavior. I don't particularly love characters who consistently make frustrating and stubborn decisions, but I look at this movie as some kind of metaphor about America at the time. Sinatra really impresses with his performance though and provides the most interesting subplot. Most importantly, even with some censoring by the Hays Code and the US Army, we manage to get a strong criticism of military bureaucracy.

This is considered a classic, and you can see why. It's romantic, without getting too sentimental. It's dramatic, without capitalizing on the melodrama. And, perhaps most importantly, it features good work from Hollywood stars Lancaster, Clift, Sinatra, Borgnine etc.. What more do you want?

Melodramatic epic with compelling characters and story. A lot of Cool Hand Luke seemed to be borrowed from this...

Great actors, but it wasn't really my thing--I found it too gloomy and depressing.

A very good and enjoyable film about several men stationed in Hawaii prior to WW2. THe acting is for the most part very good and the characters are interesting, as the film manages to touch many subjects beyond the obvious ones you'd expect in a film about the military. Even so, there's something I can't put my finger on that prevented me from truly getting into the movie.

Another great Zinnemann movie with great performances by Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. One of the best war movies that contains zero war in it.

This went on forever

For all that the beach scene is hyped up, I couldn't have cared less about the Lancaster/Kerr romance plot. Clift is very watchable but overall this feels somewhat like Rebel Without a Cause, groundbreaking for its time but not particularly compelling for contemporary viewers.

I can see why this won a lot of awards, mostly through the very strong cast (Sinatra and Reed were my favorites). But the film tackles so many different sub-plots that it's a bit hard to tie them all together at the end -- maybe with that powerful ending, it suggests none of it all mattered anyway.

Manages to get most of its point out even with the strict censors of the era. Many great performances as well.

Movie based on a novel, set on an army base in the leadup to Pearl Harbor. Sinatra and his wisecracking private got the Oscar, but Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster carry the movie as men caught in the sticky consequences of their principles. The movie falls flat in the final scenes during the bombing but its a wonderful character study. A special nod towards Donna Reed, who plays deliciously against type as a club floosy and has one of the great final scenes in cinema.

As classics (i.e. black and white films pre-1960s), I quite like this one as it has a good cast (Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra), interesting characters and some intriguing scenarios. There's some quite witty dialogue ('if you carry on drinking, you'll be as much use as a melted candle' etc.) and I found it to be an enjoyable watch for the most part. I suppose the plot partly reminded me of the recent drama series 'Catch-20'. I'd recommend this film.

"From Here To Eternity" has some excellent casting and a script that gives its characters a chance to come alive. This film is a classic thats well worth watching.

Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt: "Nobody ever lies about being lonely."

A nice wartime drama with an epic feel to it despite being primarily a character piece. Covers themes too numerous to list but including moral values, stoicism, brotherhood, revenge, love, patriotism and more - and manages not to get bogged down with all that. All the leading lights give a good account of themselves, but particularly Clift and Sinatra. Funnily, that kiss in the surf is barely in the top 15 moments in this iconic film.

So did the army spell out AWOL instead of pronouncing it? That's pretty silly.

I've not read any film criticism on or reviews of Zinnemann movies, so this remark may be cliché, for all I know, but: for all Z.'s attention to and [considerable] talent for framing and composition, I don't think he cared about editing, in the slightest. And, to me, if you ain't got editing, ye ain't got shit. Clift is good, obvs.

I'm going to get crap for this, but the writing in this Best Picture winning film shows its age.

I don't think this has aged well, you can see they put a bunch of A listers to make a blockbuster film, but the stories don't come together and the acting is over the top. Also when I was watching I couldn't stop thinking "well, that escalated quickly" because is a very dramatic film but the things that led to this story of gone wrong friendships and love seemed superficial

2x

A fun slice-of-life film until you're like "oh, yeah, Pearl Harbor." Not all of the plotlines are equal in compelling-ness (it's a word now, fuck you) but the good ones are good enough to buoy this above standard 50's melodrama. Frank Sinatra is the best part of the movie, too. And no, the mafia didn't force me to say that.

Not as good as the legacy suggests, but it makes me happy to see Frank Sinatra hit on a woman taller than him with a double-chin.

Early on, I started thinking this was just an average melodrama, but by the end, it was actually really good. I can see why it won the Oscar for best picture at the time. The performances from Clift and Lancaster were a little understated for my liking, but Sinatra was great. The Pearl Harbour scenes at the end were good, and even though they were short, they were far better than the entirety of Pearl Harbor (2001). It's not a perfect film, but it's good, and worth watching, for sure.

Filmde Amerika propagandasi yapiliyor diyenler var ama ben yancı bir bakis goremedim. Bu sebepten puanim yuksek oldu zaten. Senaryo ve yonetmen de cok basarili. Askeri dayatmalarin ve militarizmin bireysel ve toplumsal tahribati cok iyi ortaya konmus. Benim izleyip de gordugum, bu filmin savas karsiti ve olabildigince tarafsiz oldugu.

Well, it's not Pearl Harbour, but it's not Thin Red Line either. Spends a lot of time on developing characters in the lead-up to the war the viewer knows is coming; just runs a little too slow a little too long for my taste.

Well acted drama that takes place before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Not amazing, but it is pretty good.

#727

A classic...great acting all around. Although Sinatra is fantastic, Montgomery Clift may give the best performance. His transformation throughout the film is quite good. Ernest Borgnine makes a short, unforgettable appearance.

This movie was absolute cameo heaven (everywhere you looked, you knew somebody!). I was surprised to find that the legendary moment in the surf didn't even last all that long. Deft handling of the December 7th attack--especially early on, when it doesn't even occur to anybody that what might be happening is indeed what is happening.

a bit disappointed because of lousy acting (except Sinatra) but still a powerful movie...

Slowly conducted to a great ending.

Extremely well judged, written and produced.

I keep forgetting that I've seen this film; I can barely remember what happens in this film. I know that there is a couple canoodling on the beach, but that's the film's iconic image, and the rest of the film takes place at an army reserve, the complete opposite of that iconic image.

The film has a slightly episodic structure as it follows a handful of characters as the endure interpersonal travails, unaware of the cataclysmic thundercrack of history awaiting them at the end of the year. Guided by the expert hand of Zinnemann, the film works marvelously, shifting threads with an efficiency that keeps it all compelling even when a storyline is heading down a familiar route. Lancaster's stolidness is countered nicely by Clift's raw nerve urgency.

The REAL Pearl Harbor movie. Just brilliant. Montgomery Clift is a revelation.

aside from all the drunken scenes (which are pretty good), this movie sinks to average, just average. when the japanese actaully attack it's a drama on steroids. the final 20 minutes are definately worth the wait.

It figures the most acclaimed Zinnemann I've heard about is the worst.

All the faults of a film over half a century old: pretentious acting, artificial dialogues, in-studio filming and heavy propaganda can't change the fact that it's hell of a good story: strong characters, real-life problems and no easy resolutions.

878

Stunning landmark film with a real plot and excellent acting (although for me Montgomery Clift is so under-rated in this story). Romantic, deeply of its time and with a believable backdrop of World War II. A great Sunday afternoon film.

While it's not really boring to watch, you keep waiting for the film to get to the point where you think "Wow, this is really a great, great film", which is the general feeling you should have with any film that has been designated as the Best Picture of an entire year.

It was a classic long before I saw it.

Is this for real? What a goofy, hokey film, even by the period's standards. Sinatra is golden, as usual, and keeps this from being a mess. Unrealistic dialogue, lazy acting, and an over-dominant musical score.

Rather less satisfying than its rep would suggest. So much like a soap opera that no wonder it later became a TV series

Great film.

A character study on the eve of war - compelling, not for the portrayal of Pearl Harbor, but for how this event, as a backdrop, catalyzes flawed individuals. This is not a happy film, but one that most people can related to, at least in part. James Jones knew how to build a melodrama that inspired a generation of films and TV. Douglas Sirk perhaps?

Other than Clift, this doesn't do much for me. It's okay, I guess... the story moves briskly and there's nothing terribly wrong with it (except loads of acting drunk, which I hate, but even that isn't too bad). I even cared about the characters. I just wouldn't ever bother with it again.