Beachhead | |
---|---|
Directed by | Stuart Heisler |
Written by | Richard Alan Simmons |
Based on | I've Got Mine by Richard G. Hubler |
Produced by | Howard W. Koch Aubrey Schenck |
Starring | Tony Curtis Frank Lovejoy Mary Murphy Skip Homeier |
Cinematography | Gordon Avil |
Edited by | John F. Schreyer |
Music by | Arthur Lange Emil Newman |
Production company | Aubrey Schenck Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | US$450,000 |
Box office | US$1,400,000 [1] |
Beachhead! is a 1954 American Technicolor war film based on U.S. Marine Corps Captain Richard G. Hubler 1945 novel I've Got Mine about World War II. It was filmed on Kauai island in the Hawaiian Islands by Aubrey Schenck Productions, released through United Artists studio and directed by Stuart Heisler.
In late October 1943, a battalion of U.S. Marines have landed on Choiseul Island to create a diversion for the impending Allied attack and invasion of Japanese held Bougainville Island in the Northern Solomon Islands, northeast of the large island colony of New Guinea in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
Four of them have been selected to carry out a reconnaissance patrol to find a French planter. The planter has sent a solitary radio message to the Allies concerning the area the Japanese have mined; if the information is true it could save a projected 18% of the Marine invasion force. The patrol must confirm that the message is authentic, and that the planter is still alive, as he can give the Marines valuable information needed for a successful amphibious landing by the Allied forces. Once obtaining the information the small party is to make a rendezvous on the coast with a US Navy PT boat. The members of a patrol are the sole survivors of their sergeant's platoon on Guadalcanal with both the patrol members and the sergeant blaming their demise on their sergeant's leadership.
Filmed on Hawaiian locations on Kaua'i, including Hanalei Pier, [2] the film was budgeted at US$450,000 with the producers arranging to release Tony Curtis from his contract with Universal-International studios. [3] Many of the roles in the film were filled by Hawaiians such as Sam "Steamboat" Mokuahi, [4] Democratic Party organiser Dan Aoki, and Akira Fukunaga, the latter two being veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
The producers went to the US Marine Corps to seek technical assistance for the making of the film. Although the Corps liked the idea of the film, they refused to provide cooperation. As two of the four Marines were killed in the screenplay, the Public Information Officer said that the Marines would not provide any assistance to any film showing the Corps taking 50 per cent casualties as they were in the midst of a new recruiting campaign emphasising a new less danger-seeking image. [5] The producers visited the Pentagon and were provided with Navy, Coast Guard, and Hawaiian National Guard assistance in making the movie. [5] The film was titled Missione Suicidio (Suicide Mission) in Italy.
Mary Murphy felt that Stuart Heisler was trying to make her look like a version of the director's own wife. She was also nearly attacked by a drunken cameraman on the film's isolated Hawaiian location. [6]
Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), formerly Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay and originally Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, is a U.S. Marine Corps facility and air station located on the Mokapu Peninsula of windward O'ahu in the City & County of Honolulu. Marine Corps Base Hawaii is home to Marines, Sailors, their family members, and civilian employees. The United States Marine Corps operates a 7,800-foot (2,400 m) runway at the base.
Hanalei is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kauaʻi County, Hawaii, United States. The population was estimated at 299 as of 2019. Hanalei means "lei making" in Hawaiian. Alternatively, the name Hanalei also means "crescent bay" and may be indicative of the shape of Hanalei Bay. Hanalei can also be translated as lei valley, referring to the rainbows that color the valley and encircle Hanalei like a wreath.
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John Henry "Jack" "Doc" Bradley was a United States Navy Hospital corpsman who was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism while serving with the Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. During the battle, he was a member of the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi and raised the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945.
William James Bordelon Jr. was a United States Marine who served in combat during World War II. During the Battle of Tarawa, he was killed in action while he led the assault on the enemy and rescued fellow Marines. For his acts of gallantry, he was posthumously awarded the United States' highest military honor — the Medal of Honor. He was the first U.S. Marine from Texas to be awarded the Medal of Honor for action in World War II.
The Raid on Choiseul was a small unit engagement that occurred from 28 October to 3 November 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific War. The raid was launched to divert the Japanese from the Allied landings at Cape Torokina on Bougainville Island.
Mary Murphy was an American film and television actress of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
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Harold George Schrier was a United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who served in World War II and the Korean War. In World War II, he was awarded the Navy Cross for leading the patrol that captured the top of Mount Suribachi, where he helped raise the first U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. In the Korean War, he was wounded in North Korea during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir while commanding a rifle company.
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