La famiglia Sullivan

This movie is a very tender, touching tale of a family's great loss during WWII. I believe it teaches not just the love a family should share, but also the horror of war. Too often we see people die in war and don't realize that they were once children with dreams, hopes and their whole lives ahead of them.

This movie (although the closing scene seems a bit silly now) is an excellent testament to the people who fought and died in war.

I grew-up in a working-class town much like the one depicted in this movie, and I was the product of a large Irish-Catholic family. I realize this movie is probably rather corny, especially by today's standards, but I always feel a strong sense of identification with the Sullivans. I have five brothers, and several of them have the same names as the brothers in this movie.

This was one of those movies that my family watched on a yearly basis, and seeing it recently after many years brought back many memories. It is really a family picture rather than a war movie, but the ending does bring 'home' the huge price we all pay during a crisis.

This film was made during WWII when the outcome was still uncertain. It served as a strong motivational film for the American theater going crowd much like "Guadalcanal Diary" and Wake Island" to name just two. Most of the picture concerns the brothers growing up and their strong bond with each other. The actual story of them serving in the Navy is very small in relation to the rest of the movie. The spirit of the five brothers is still alive today as the Navy recently named yet another ship after them i.e. USS The Sullivans DDG 68. The story would still make for a fine remake using 90's style film making and with the right director be up there with "Saving Private Ryan". Check this film out and look for a small role by the great character actor Ward Bond whose presence in films always makes a difference.

I first saw this film as an eight year old during the war. I regularly showed the video version to my high school history classes during my teaching career. Even though it was on the edge of being brutally hard to take when the Sullivan family learned of the death of all five of their sons, my students regarded the film as one which showed a great deal about the home front and about the sacrifices this generation made to the country.

This is one of the few movies I've seen that really made me cry. I agree with others who wrote about this and would definitely put it up there with The Best Years of our Lives as one of the great World War II pictures. Saving Private Ryan didn't move me as much as this mainly because we really don't get to know Private Ryan (or his brothers, for that matter). In this movie, we get to know all of the brothers, especially the oldest and the youngest. It did feel a bit like the Waltons in the first hour (were homes really that apple pie in Iowa in the 30s?) But watching the boys come of age and struggle with basic teenage issues, and then watching them enlist, made their fates all the more powerful. Yes, I knew what was going to happen but I was moved all the same. This movie should be required viewing for everyone who adored Saving Private Ryan.