From Here to Eternity

The IMDB summary, because I'm a lazy little fuck:

It's 1941. Robert E. Lee Prewitt has requested Army transfer and has ended up at Schofield in Hawaii. His new captain, Dana Holmes, has heard of his boxing prowess and is keen to get him to represent the company. However, 'Prew' is adamant that he doesn't box anymore, so Captain Holmes gets his subordinates to make his life a living hell. Meanwhile Sergeant Warden starts seeing the captain's wife, who has a history of seeking external relief from a troubled marriage. Prew's friend Maggio has a few altercations with the sadistic stockade Sergeant 'Fatso' Judson, and Prew begins falling in love with social club employee Lorene. Unbeknownst to anyone, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor looms in the distance. Written by Ed
Sutton {esutton@mindspring.com}

First off, check this guy out:

Montgomery Clift as Prew. Holy god, that's a good looking man. And after about ten minutes of Clift's screen time, I thought "Holy damn, that's Micah!" (The hero from my 20s manuscript.) Not the character and personality so much, but the prettyness and the liquid way he moves. Sigh. Naturally I'd find Micah after I'd finished the book and have it out on queries. Might have to do a little refining to make sure I hit what I intended, though.

Anyway. On to the movie.

I went in expecting the worst, for me at least. A non-happy ending. I can handle them sometimes if I'm prepared and if the emotional payoff is high enough. With Prew and Lorene's story line, I got it. High drama death and tradgedy. Prew has a mindset that I've actually seen in quite a few soldiers - they might not quite fit the mold of the super-soldier, they might not have what it takes to actually make it in the Army, but by god do they love it there.

First Sergeant Warden and Karen, Captain Holme's wife. Grr. Pissed me off to no end. It wasn't the adultery. That's not a hard line for me, at all. And then they so demonized CPT Holmes, probably to make it ok with the viewing audience at the time, that the adultery barely even hit my radar. It was the end of their relationship that pissed me off to hell and gone. They call it off because Warden "loves the Army too much" and Karen will always play second fiddle to it.

"What the fuck?" I said as I sat up in bed. "That is bullshit!"

Let's take a wild guess why this pissed me off and why I found it so unbelievable, eh?

But that's not even my biggest problem with their character arc. The biggest problem for me - the fact that I didn't believe the end meant I suddenly didn't believe the entire arc of their story. Which meant for me, half the movie was wasted. Oh fun.