From Paramount Pictures
Directed by Otto Preminger
Starring
John Wayne
Kirk Douglas
Patricia Neal
Tom Tryon
Paula Prentiss
Brandon De Wilde
Jill Haworth
Dana Andrews
Burgess Meredith
Stanley Holloway
Franchot Tone
Patrick O'Neal
Carroll O'Connor
Hugh O'Brian
Barbara Bouchet
George Kennedy
Slim Pickens
Henry Fonda
Here is a case where that glittering cast actually got me to the theater. Never especially fond of war flicks, I found these irresistible actors enough to override any other issues I had and I never looked back. I found it (and still do) an exciting war epic with just the right amount of romance.
Director Preminger liked the long, episodic novel by James Bassett, a columnist for the New York Times and former campaign manager for Nixon. Doing the film version appealed greatly to his need to tell stories of relationships set against the backdrop of a teeming, historical canvas as he had just accomplished with The Cardinal and earlier Exodus and Advise and Consent.
Dealing with any branch of the military was difficult when making a film and this was no exception. Most concern was always centered on how, in this case, the Navy would be portrayed. The use of their property, particularly ships, was also a cause for concern. But as tough and bombastic as they could be, they apparently had not met Preminger who knew his way around mayhem and was not against creating plenty of his own. One thing, rather oddly I think, is that the Navy didn't want a divorced admiral having an affair. One wonders how they felt about a captain committing rape. Naval personnel referred to the director as Admiral Preminger.
The story opens at a naval officers' dance on December 6, 1941 in Honolulu, so it's immediately apparent where this is going. The following morning Wayne's cruiser is in Pearl Harbor but is not so far away either. He is spared damage and as a result he disobeys orders and pursues the Japanese but his cruiser is torpedoed by a submarine and Wayne is injured.
As he is being treated by a Navy nurse (Neal), he is informed he has been relieved of command. He and Neal are more in the mood for an affair than they probably realized. They are both mature people, these are trying times and how they are portrayed, as I see it, is one of the film's highlights.
Neal rooms with another nurse (Haworth) who, in turn, is having a relationship with De Wilde who is Wayne's son whom he hasn't seen since the boy was a toddler. Wayne has no idea what his son is up to, much less that he is in the Navy and at the same general location. Wayne looks up De Wilde who is on duty and their meeting is a bit icy. De Wilde is a smartass with loose lips and armed with some treachery and Wayne is not impressed, hard as he tries.
Douglas plays Wayne's second-in-command who is strung together loosely, an accident waiting to happen. He hit rock bottom when his trampy wife is killed by Japanese planes as she and her lover of the moment (O'Brian) are trying frantically to get home from their all-night beach romp. The marriage was the talk of Honolulu which apparently weakened him as a man.
Tryon plays a lieutenant jg who commands a destroyer that is in the area to pick up Wayne after his vessel is hit. He is married to Prentiss who is helping out with the war effort as a civilian observer. Her best scene is with Wayne who comes to tell her that Tryon is missing in action.
Meredith plays a commander who is Wayne's good pal and goes to bat for him with the Pacific Fleet's commander-in-chief (Fonda) who advises Wayne that all is forgiven and he is being promoted to rear admiral. He is then assigned to salvage an operation called Sky Hook which is bogged down by the indecisiveness of the current commander (Andrews).
Wayne wants Douglas to work with him again as his second-in-command without realizing that Douglas has raped Haworth who, in turn, has committed suicide. When Neal tells Wayne of the events, he is beyond livid. Douglas, in realizing he's been found out and that his career and life have been ruined, ultimately becomes heroic when he takes a plane and scouts the island where the action is expected. Before he is killed by Japanese planes, he advises Wayne and cohorts of a huge Japanese fleet on its way, something no one previously knew.
Tryon becomes Wayne's new second-in-command during some tense sea fights and has another opportunity to save Wayne's life, although the latter loses a leg. In the final scene, he is in his hospital bed with Neal by his side, telling him to rest and that she'll be there when he awakens.
Criticism of the film (some of which came from Douglas) concerned some of the obvious miniatures of the ships. I never had any doubt that miniatures would have been used in 1965 but I never found it to be so obvious that it diminished the movie in my eyes. In fact, I thought the battle sequences were done well, both on the sea and land, which helped sell the overall war film for me. It could have happened that I added this one to the war film heap I'd collected but it didn't happen. It is, however, fairly fascinating that other than one brief flash of a scene, one never actually spots any Japanese.
While all of the actors turned in good performances, I preferred Tryon and Prentiss to the others. But Preminger, who was always a bully on his sets, zeroed in on the pair as the ones who would receive his special brand of meanness. Prentiss, who took time off from her silly comedies to make this film, was never one in those days to suffer fools gladly and told off the director and like most bullies, he backed down.
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| Tryon and Prentiss |
Tryon was another story. He had just suffered under Preminger's direction as the title star of The Cardinal, the first of a three-picture deal the actor had with the director. Tryon was always a bit wooden for some and freely admitted he had a problem expressing emotion (hmmm, not something an actor wants to admit perhaps) and Preminger screamed at him in front of others, all of whom came to the actor's defense. After this, Preminger would circle around Tryon and scream relax at the top of his lungs in Tryon's ear. But Tryon could never tell him off as Prentiss did and he would later say that making this film is what made him decide that one day soon he would quit making movies. (He became a successful novelist.)
Haworth had worked for Preminger in Exodus and The Cardinal but they had a warm work friendship. He'd done a lot to promote her career and he treated her with respect. She thought of him as a father type. It's a bit of a surprise that De Wilde wasn't the object of the director's scorn. The actor wasn't exactly bristling with emotion himself and seems like he could have been bullied. But he was lucky Tryon was on the film.
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| Haworth and deWilde |
Andrews, Tone, Meredith, and Fonda all worked with Preminger before and whether they liked him or not, they didn't receive the fury that some others had over the years. Andrews, in fact, hadn't worked in a few years due to his extreme alcoholism and it was Preminger who took pity on him, asked him to dry out and come take a small role (and eighth billing).
Wayne, Douglas and Neal were all the newcomers to the Preminger fold. After Douglas and Preminger got Wayne to agree to no discussion of politics, they all got on winningly. Preminger was not foolish enough to take on either of these men, both with volcanic tempers when aroused.
This was the first film to costar Douglas and Wayne. The former found the latter a strange man and although they got on well, they spent little time together off camera. More importantly, they went on to make two more films together.
It was while making In Harm's Way that Wayne got his first cancer diagnosis. He coughed his way through most of the film (though not on screen) but it didn't stop him from smoking six packs of cigarettes a day.
Two months before the movie's release Neal suffered a series of devastating strokes that kept her away from movie-making for a few years. She said, however, that she had a lovely time making this film and felt she was a perfect choice for playing an earth-mother nurse. She was a bit reluctant to take the part because she and Wayne had not gotten along when they made Operation Pacific (1951), playing characters similar to these.
This time she added I adored John Wayne. We got along fabulously. When we worked together earlier, I didn't like him at all. But in Honolulu he was a much happier man. Wayne returned the affection. It was a reunion of sorts for Neal and Douglas as well. Back in the day the twosome did a little dating. Meeting again was easy. They were both grownups now and married and their spouses were not so foolish as to turn down a stay in Hawaii. Neal loved working again with De Wilde with whom she shared the screen in Hud (1963). She also praised young Haworth with whom she shared several scenes.
The credits only appear at the end but do so along with Saul Bass' usual dynamic graphics design this time featuring exciting, turbulent seas. Bass is aided immeasurably by Jerry Goldsmith's dramatic score.
Here's a full preview with none other than Preminger himself narrating and with an onscreen appearance...
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