Les Forçats de la gloire

I found this to be a particularly poignant film about WWII - no heroics, just the simple getting through the day & night of a company of US infantry. Much like Ernie Pyle humanized the 'G. I.' in his written pieces, Wellman does the same on film. The heat, dirt, cold, mud, rain...fear, uncertainty, waste - it's all here without the bombast and manipulation of "Saving Private Ryan'. The performances are wonderful - most of the performances were given not by professionals but by the soldiers themselves. There is one scene between Mitchum and Meredith that was apparently an audition film - it was so right, it was simply inserted into the film. There are human touches throughout, as well as the insanity of war. I would strongly recommend this film to anyone who has an appreciation for the director, actors, theme. It's not a grisly film, and it is slow, but overall well worth watching.

And war was fought in the rain and the mud and the cold....In today's wars fought on film there is very rarely a look at the true living conditions that existed. This movie does not clean up the actors (as most films do). You see here all of the gritty, day-to-day, living during the war. These guys did not clean up every day. This is a good story about WW2. Be sure to see it. 8/10

After searching for the best war films all my life, and after seeing so much tripe, I was completely flabbergasted by this film, of which I had heard, but had never seen until last night. Most films made during the Second World War were pure propaganda, all dash and glory, but with little resemblance to real battle. "The Story of G.I. Joe" is the real McCoy, especially considering that it was made near the end of the war. You can feel, taste and smell the muck and fear these men lived with. The dialogue is gritty, the combat scenes, especially of urban fighting bang on. One exceptional and rare scene was of an anti-tank gun crew swinging into action and firing 12 rounds a minute in a town. It was a battle ballet and an example of the lethality of a well-trained and seasoned team. In my opinion, this film ranks with Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" as the best film of infantry in combat ever made. In fact, I believe that Spielberg may even have made 'Ryan' as an homage to Wellman's great earlier film; many of the scenes and much of the dialogue is very similar. In 1945, General Eisenhower called 'G.I. Joe' the greatest war film ever made. I'm sure he would say the same thing today. This should be a must-see for every student studying this country's fighting history and every American in uniform should see it.

The Story of G.I. Joe chronicles the experiences of an infantry unit in Italy as told by war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who is played by Burgess Meredith. War weary Robert Mitchum plays the platoon leader. While we can see that the movie was largely made in the studio, the great photography and direction move it along. Cold feet, mud, frustration, and homesickness are effectively demonstrated at the expense of battle scenes.

War Correspondent Ernie Pyle (Burgess Meredith) joins an Infantry company led by Lt. Walker (Robert Mitchum) in North Africa. The men are surprised when Ernie decides to accompany them all the way to the front. After Kasserine Pass, they find themselves in Italy. They fight up the boot and is halted in front of Monte Cassino.

It is a relatively realistic portrait of war considering the times. Ernie Pyle is a real Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent killed in Okinawa two months before the movie's release. It uses many of his writing which contributes to the realism. He really paints a picture with his words. It doesn't always get the visceral grim reality with the interior studio sets. It always looks better outdoors. They create a great location which does look like a bombed out Italian town. Monte Cassino is mostly interior shoot as the fighters go underground. The monastery is no longer standing anyways but there is footage of the bombing. This is as real as it gets for its time.