L'Enfer des hommes

I liked this movie not so much because it is a great movie ( it is an average war movie of this era) but because it made me reflect about reality versus perception and how you can be very wrong about something by taking it at face value. Let me explain. My perception, If I had to pick a platoon for battle I would never pick Audie Murphy. At 5'5", maybe 110 lbs, a high tinny voice, and hyper-kinetic motion, he seems more like someone that would get killed early and easily, or worse get you killed. The reality, he was the man you wanted in your platoon when the battle started. He was made of heroic stuff. He wasn't a tough talking braggart. He was just a soldier that would do anything to save his brothers and get home alive. He of course isn't the only example of this. He just got his own movie. It was a good thing that he was an actor because John Wayne would have played his part if he hadn't been, which would have been a real shame because you would have lost the true meaning behind the story. Hollywood prefers style over substance. It would have been a true

disservice to all of the short, underweight chirpy men in the world.

Think about Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne, who would you want in your platoon. John Wayne is your probable choice. Now compare Jimmy Stewart's military career with John Wayne's. John Wayne avoided WWII instead using it to advance his career when many of his contemporaries went to war. Jimmy Stewart on the other hand joined the Air Force 9 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He had to force the Air Force to let him in because he was under weight. He was a bomber pilot that flew 20 missions. "His wartime decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, four Air Medals, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm." Now who do you want on your side. I'll take the battle hardened, frail looking, stuttering veteran over the tough talking, strapping, strutting Hollywood pretender any day.

So when I watch the movie I think about the reality of Audie Murphy. Which leaves me with the feeling that if you put your heart into it you can do anything. So when you watch the movie think about the reality. You have a 5'5" war hero that actually became a Hollywood action hero which is improbable in itself.

This is the thrilling and exciting true-life story of America's most decorated . The authentic WWII story of Audie Murphy , the most decorated soldier in U.S . history . Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film from his up-bringing as the son of Texas sharecroppers , as his mother dies and he remains orphan and caring his kiddies brothers . He , then , applied for service with the Navy , the Marines and the Army he was turned down by all three branches . However , when he joined his combat unit, one of his superiors considered transferring him out of the company for being unfit for combat . As Audie wages war in Casablanca , Tunez ; he and his detachment (formed by Marshall Thompson , Charles Drake , Jack Kelly , among others) go to Sicily , Palermo until Messina . Later on , they land at Salerno , Naples , Anzio and MountCassino . After that , Murphy and his III Infantry Division formed by valiant ¨Dogfaces¨ (it was a term used during World War II to describe US Army combat infantrymen) disembark in France where take place other bloody battles . As Audie takes on hundreds of enemy soldiers with a machine gun mounted on a tank and he fought in seven major campaigns during World War II .

Acceptable picture based on actual events about about Audie Murphy who plays himself following his Army career in WWII . Murphy won more tan 20 medals , being the most decorated American soldier , including the Congressional Medal of Honor and he was also awarded five decorations by France and Belgium . Features impressive as well as realistic battle scenes punctuated with great heroics sequences . This rendition of Murphy autobiography was professionally directed by Jesse Hibbs and it was a box-office hit for Universal Pictures and its record was apparently not broken until Jaws (1975). Hibbs was an American director of second features , primarily westerns , at Universal in the 1950's . Being especially known for TV series as ¨Perry Mason¨ (1957) , ¨Gunsmoke¨ , ¨Laramie¨ and ¨F.B.I.¨ (1965) as well as Westerns and Thrillers . He directed various Audie Murphy vehicles such as : this ¨To hell and Back¨ (1955) , ¨World in My Corner¨ (1956) , ¨Ride a Crooked Trail¨ (1958) and ¨Medal of Honor¨ .

Based on facts , these are the following ones : The film describes especially the Italian campaign , when Eisenhower and the Allied command is convinced by Winston Chuchill and his General Brook to carry out the Italian invasion . Then , there takes place the ¨Husky Operation¨ (July , 1943) , but it didn't coordinate Montgomery's 8ª Army and Clark's 5ª Army against German General FeldMarschall, Albert Kesselring , and it resulted in a disaster . Kesselring designs the impregnable ¨Gustav line¨ in South Rome and the main bastion : Montecassino . Then , there happens the famous disaster of Anzio and Nettuno under command of General John Lucas . The Allied army formed by 28 Divisions have a hard and complex mission to their destination .

I've always Liked watching Audie Murphy's movies since I was a child. I guess it also had to do with the fact that he had that baby face. Being a combat wounded Viet Nam vet, I can relate to his ordeal during and after the war. This man was a caring man who thought of others. Like many other "Medal of Honor" winners; he like the others are not the movie RAMBO hero. They Are "THE REAL McCOYS" It's ironic, though. His last movie in 1971 was called "A time for dying"[A Jesse James movie.] In that same year he died in a small plane crash. A friend of his had once said," all those Germans could not kill him,yet a plane crash near home took his life." My last words are, "May he be with the Lord."

It's a shame that more people haven't seen this movie in recent years. As much as Saving Private Ryan introduced a new generation to horrors and heroism of World War II, "To Hell and Back" introduces you to one of the men who lived through it. It doesn't attempt to glorify the War, it simply relates what happened to America's most decorated soldier based on his own story and actually staring him. While it's amazing that the baby faced Murphy still looks young enough in 1955 for the story to work 15 years after the fact, the truly amazing thing is that from most accounts, Murphy understates his own role in many of the events described in the movie. The final war scene for instance shows him holding off an entire German regiment using artilery and the machine gun of a burning tank. The fact is that he held that ground alone for well over an hour before the germans finally gave up. All the while the tank was burning and could have exploded at any time. Like many great soldiers, however, he had trouble adjusting to life after the war even with a semi-successful acting career aided by James Cagney after the war. Still, it's men like this, who risked and often gave their lives on the fields of Europe and Africa and in the waters and islands of the pacific, that we have to thank for the Freedoms we enjoy in the United States today. Too often we forget this.

During the first World War the American hero out of that conflict, Alvin C. York of Tennessee, had to wait until the outbreak of the second World War for his biographical film to be made. World War II's equivalent from East Texas only waited ten years and had the singular honor of starring in the film of his own life.

Good thing Audie Murphy became a Hollywood star because he got to both write his own story and have Universal Studios produce the film as to his specifications. To Hell and Back is his story, but it's also the story of the men who served with him, those who came back from hell and those who remained.

What I liked best about To Hell and Back was the camaraderie and spirit and the relationships between Murphy and the men of his outfit. The story starts in North Africa where his company arrives too late for the fighting there, but just in time to be part of the offensive to take Sicily. Then it's Salerno, up the western Italian coast and into France with the landings in Southern France until Germany. At each stop Murphy grows in admiration and respect from those over and around him. Such players as Jack Kelly, Paul Picerni, Marshall Thompson and Charles Drake support Murphy very well.

To Hell and Back also shows what a roll of the dice combat is. It could just as easily been Murphy as any of the cast that is killed and doesn't make it to the end of the film. Staying alive is a singular accomplishment. All of these guys are heroes. A lot of the fame and glory Murphy won was due to luck and opportunity and he would have been the first to admit it.

When do you get a film with 100% perfect casting for the lead? you get it in To Hell and Back with Audie Murphy playing the man his comrades called Little Texas. A nice film about the greatest soldier of the greatest generation.