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List Price: $19.95 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 6705
Released: October 22, 1996 |
| Our Price: $9.99 |
| Used Price: $1.98 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape |
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Editorial Review:
Otto Preminger's sprawling World War II drama packs a lot into its 165 minutes, beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor (which Preminger re-creates in amazing detail) and ending a couple of years later with America's return to the South Pacific in force. John Wayne and Kirk Douglas star as a career naval captain and his self-pitying commander in the peacetime navy who are thrust into battle when Pearl Harbor is bombed while they are on maneuvers. Minutes into WWII, they are already scapegoated and demoted by the embarrassed military brass. Wayne romances a WAVE nurse (Patricia Neal) and attempts a reconciliation with his estranged, spoiled son (Brandon de Wilde) while Douglas sinks into the bottle after the death of his cheating wife until the American fleet rebuilds and calls upon Wayne to lead one of the initial invasion forces. Henry Fonda makes a brief but commanding appearance as the fleet admiral. Burgess Meredith is a former writer turned witty commander, Dana Andrews a showy but indecisive admiral, and Stanley Holloway a genial Australian scout working with the American invasion forces. Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss play newlyweds torn apart by the war, and also appearing are Franchot Tone, Carroll O'Conner, Slim Pickens, George Kennedy, Bruce Cabot, and Larry Hagman, among many, many more. Loyal Griggs's handsome black-and-white photography is topped only by Saul Bass's impressive closing credits sequence, a rising cascade of crashing waves and rough surf reportedly paced to mirror the dramatic rhythm of the film. --Sean Axmaker
In Harm's Way [VHS] Reviews:
More of a 60's feel than a 40's period film 
2009-08-03 - The naval warfare aspects of the movie are reasonably well done but the whole thing is marred by the injection of some decidedly 60's sensibilities. Probably done to make it appealing to viewers of the time, (the film was made in '65) it noenthless manages to turn what would have been a fine movie into a mess.
Firstly, a minor but not insignificant point - the "look" of the movie was is clearly more 60s than 40's. The music (cha cha cha type stuff) is definitely not in line with what was popular in that decade, neither were the clothes (other than uniforms) or the women's hairstyles, background furnishings - anything really. As far as I can tell, the only effort to make it a period piece were the cars and the black and white film.
More importantly, the movie suffers from some decidedly 60s sensibilities of wanting to address serious issues (war not being serious enough) thus inserting some useless sexual subplots to make it more "relevant". I'm not suggesting there were no sexual elements to explore in a period piece, only that the way it was done fails to capture the mores of the time, before the sexual revolution. In addition the introduction of a heavy theme about rape is explored in a way which distracts from the rest of the movie without doing the subject justice. An additional subplot about a competent junior officer and his wife, runs through the movie almost as an afterthought.
Worse still, the moview has several scenes with 60s "hip" dialogue. In several parts of the film the characters appear to act "dated" as if they were out of easy rider. As much as I'm a big fan of that movie, this failed as a historical war movie for me.
I realize I'm making a big thing out of it, but while I was watching it, I was constantly distracted by these elements which ruined it in my opinion.
There are better war movies 
2009-07-20 - The DVD transfer is very good with detail intact. Black and White
"In Harm's Way" picks up where "From Here to Eternity" leaves off but that's as close as this big epic from Otto Preminger gets to James Jones.
If you like John Wayne movies, then I can recommend this film to you. However, if you are looking for a riveting WW2 story, it's not here. There's too many side plots and none of them really contributes to the main storyline which is the story of the first year of the U.S. Navy's response to Pearl Harbor. It's mostly Wayne and Kirk Douglas. The best performance belongs to Patsy Neal, appearing here as a nurse and companion to the Duke.
Recommended for: John Wayne fans, WW2 movie fans. Some sexually suggestive scenes including rape which means not for young children.
John Wayne-"In Harms Way" 
2009-06-24 - This movie is not just a John Wayne classic ...it is an all-time all-genre movie classic. It is never on regular TV enough for me. Although the movie outcome deviates from the book, I like the movie version even better!
In Harms Way
2009-05-05 - I've watched this movie many times but always wanted to have it where I could show it to friends or family. For some unknown reason, the ID on the B-25 (PBJ) Has the number of the squadron I was a pilot in (VMB 611)
We always showed this film at our reunions, the last one being in DC, 2005. Capt George Barnett USMCR
Anachronisms Galore
2009-02-08 - I walked in while my significant other had this on; some blonde chick was go-go dancing around a swimming pool at a party (obviously drunk) and this morphed into pole dancing. With go-go 60's music. How can anyone take this seriously? It was set pre-Pearl Harbor. Anachronisms galore. Two stars for that alone.
