Le dernier voyage

This is a special movie and simply one of the best dramas on film when it comes to a touching heartfelt story. As others have said, there are no gimmicks or pretensions, just a very genuine story of people doing their best under the circumstances, wanting to give friendship each in their own way, and of one who doesn't know how to accept it.

I recall seeing "The Hasty Heart" as a youngster and of course didn't understand most of it yet came away inwardly moved. It is only decades later when able to view the video that I was more totally drawn into the drama, the scenes and dialog, and could appreciate the superb performances of the actors. One can readily see how it had been a fine stage play because of such excellent dialog as the scenes unfolded. Really topnotch.

There is Richard Todd as Lachie, the recuperating soldier impatient to return home after the announcement that the war has ended. However, it's doubtful he'll be going as his time is limited due to serious health failure which he is unaware of. Others in the makeshift hospital ward are encouraged to befriend him when he is brought to settle in their midst but with mixed results because of his 'standoff-ishness'. I think Reagan is very convincing in his role as the American soldier who sees things as they are, speaks his mind, and knows how to accept life.

It's a wonderful story about the meaning of friendship and I think one other film similar to it would be "The Captive Heart" (1946) with Michael Redgrave, a very heartwarming wartime drama.

A great film in my opinion dealing with the plain, unadorned human side of life.

I came back from work one day and this old Black and white movie was on TV Damn, Black and White ??? and i had spent a fortune on my Dolby system, after flicking through the channels i came back to it, something about the main character caught my attention (Cpl. Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan) he was rude, obnoxious scaving and although he acted very tough he appeared to be very very lonely. For the next hour and a half i was hooked. Its a story about people (as simple as that) how they get along , how they dont get along its a very human story, no special effects, no twisting plots just a warm hearted story that you will come away from feeling better with the world. This is one of those Sunday afternoon movies you could easily flick past like i almost did. If you ever see it advertised take time out to watch it, it will make you cry and laugh all in the same scene. Take time to watch it........Highly recomended s c...

As a fan of neither soap operas nor Ronald Reagan I find myself utterly captivated by the movie of The Hasty Heart, a popular play of the postwar years, which was filmed in England by Warner Brothers. Richard Todd plays Lachy, a proud, somewhat obnoxious Scotsman who is assigned to a Burmese hospital, where he is presumably recovering from surgery but in fact dying, a fact kept from him by the medical staff. The other patients are told to go easy on the fellow, to make friends with him, which they do, with considerable opposition from Lachy himself, who did not up to this time have friends. There is some excellent dialogue along the way, as the various patients and staff members attempt to soften up this hard case, which in the end they do. The acting, of Richard Todd, as Lachy, and Patricia Neal, as the nurse he develops what I guess one would call a crush on, is quite good, but what makes the film somewhat of a revelation is the truly excellent performance of none other than Ronald Reagan, as Yank, the one American among the patients, and nobody's fool. Reagan does not play his part for charm. Yank is in his way as tough as Lachy, only he accepts life and Lachy doesn't. He too has a hard streak, but also compassion; and he is never soft. The interaction between the astringent Yank and everyone else is, thanks to Mr. Reagan, far and above the liveliest part of the film, which depending on one's mood can be either inspiring, in a gentle sort of way, or vaguely depressing, given its subject matter. This is a fine example of a well-made play of the sort its author, John Patrick, was an expert at. One doesn't see too many of them around these days, as they have gone out of fashion, as the art of the drama has, for good or ill, moved on. After seeing this movie one might have second thoughts about the notion that the theatre has, in the last half-century, moved on to better things.

The Hasty Heart is one of the finest and most sensetive films ever made. Ronald Reagan gives his best acting performance and this story should bring a tear to the most cynical eyes. It is a story about a man with a terminal illness and his battle with self pity. As sad as it is, it is a celebration nevertheless, of the human condition. Its about real people and real feelings, not some hyped up special effects extravaganza of all prop and no plot. Although the film is not religious, per se, and does not mention God, it is a spiritual film, a gut wrenching exercise of the soul.

The Hasty Heart is the second best known work of author John Patrick, his biggest triumph being The Teahouse of the August Moon. It ran on Broadway from early to middle 1945 while there was still very much a war going on in the China-Burma-India Theater for 204 performances. It starred Richard Basehart, Anne Burr and John Lund on stage.

Those same roles were taken by Richard Todd, Patricia Neal, and Ronald Reagan in the screen adaption directed by Vincent Sherman. About the only change that was made was a brief prologue showing exactly how Richard Todd got his injuries. After that the entire film is set in a hospital along the Assam front in that theater.

The Hasty Heart is a story about the wounded Richard Todd who doesn't know that while seemingly recovered he lost a kidney and the other one is irreversibly damaged. He will die within a matter of weeks and nurse Patricia Neal moves him in with some other convalescent soldiers including an American, Ronald Reagan and tells them to be easy with him.

Easier said than done because Todd's a really hard case. He's a bitter angry man, a foundling with no family or friends to speak of which is why they aren't writing him his ticket back home, he's got no one to go back home to.

Richard Todd got his first notice in The Hasty Heart with the American public and during the Fifties he made as many films on this side of the pond as in the United Kingdom. Todd was a real life war hero so in playing this part he brought a wealth of bitter experience among dying men. Todd got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and his competition included, John Wayne for Sands of Iwo Jima, Kirk Douglas for Champion, and Gregory Peck for Twelve O'Clock High. The eventual winner though was Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men.

Patricia Neal as a young contract player with Warner Brothers also got her first really good part as the compassionate nurse. And a veteran contract player with Warner Brothers who left the movies for another career, Ronald Reagan got some of the best notices of his career. The Hasty Heart is definitely one of the three films most identified with him in a good way, the others being Knute Rockne - All American, and King's Row.

The Hasty Heart is a fine film about the tragedy of war and the worst tragedy of going through life without friends. Make sure to catch it if it's ever broadcast on TCM.