Home of the Brave (1949) User Reviews

The land of the free and the home of the brave.

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 31 May 2006]

"Home of the Brave" is a classic movie that is not seen often these days. Arthur Laurents' original play showed how anti-Semitism was pervasive in the America of those years. After all, Jews were not as accepted in the mainstream society like today and Laurents wanted to raise awareness about how he perceived the prejudice toward people that did not deserve it.

Carl Foreman adapted the basic premise of the stage work into a film that occurs during WWII in which a courageous man, Peter Moss, a black man, is made the object of derision and hatred among the white American soldiers that were kept segregated while combating the enemy. Marc Robson directed this black and white movie with his usual style and emphasizing the positive side of the friendship between a good man, Finch, a white GI, and his friend and neighbor, Peter Moss, as the two are selected for a delicate mission.

The casting of the wonderful James Edwards is what made this film work the way it did. Mr. Edwards was a handsome man who came to the movies before Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, two actors that were tapped for bigger and more ambitious projects. Where Poitier is always made the extraordinary hero, James Edwards, was always shown as a normal man, more approachable than the ones that followed him.

The other surprise of the movie is Lloyd Bridges who made Finch human. Finch had known, and liked Moss back home, so when they are reunited, the friendship they had flourishes during a difficult period for both friends. Steve Brodie made T.J. the hateful creature he was. Frank Lovejoy also makes a good contribution. Jeff Corey plays the doctor that is instrumental in helping Moss.

It's inconceivable that a great actor like James Edwards didn't make it big in a medium that he understood and dominated with his magnetic presence.

A frank, often painful film that explores racism during WWII

[gitrich · 8/10 · 10 February 1999]

Home of the Brave, for its time, was considered daring as it brought racism to the big screen in a setting of war. James Edwards gives a sterling performance as Peter Moss, a Black man chosen to go on a dangerous mission with 4 white soldiers. The war becomes secondary to the characters and how they react to one another. Lloyd Bridges as "Finch" is excellent as is Frank Lovejoy as "Mingo". This is a fine effort and will keep you on the edge of your seat just watching the tensions rise and fall.

Good period piece

[lukela · 6/10 · 1 September 2005]

To correct a previous commentary... "The Big Red One" is the 1st Infantry Division. The "Red Ball Express" was the name given to the truck convoys. My own opinions of the film: I think a movie like this needs to be appreciated within the context of the time period it was made. Considering that the country then was barely taking baby steps into the civil rights movement, the subject was handled pretty well. It sent it's message without being preachy or patronizing. A great cast also helps it make a worthwhile movie to watch. It's too bad that James Edwards died several years later while still relatively young. He might've made a real breakthrough to some leading roles.

IMPORTANT STEP TOWARDS THE END OF BLACK STEREOTYPES IN HOLLYWOOD

[CEZEN · 30 January 2004]

The importance of this film cannot be overstated. 1 - It gave us JAMES EDWARDS, thus ending Hollywood's Heroic-Black-Man Prohibition. Without Mr. Edwards there would be no Sidney Poitier, no Denzel. 2 - This film, hot on the heels of President Truman's Executive Order integrating America's segregated military, examines the possible pressures of this new policy on both the races - without demeaning either. 3 - Until this time Hollywood had managed to fight two world wars on screen without any major assistance from America's Black population except as domestics. 4 - The existence of HOME OF THE BRAVE put pressure on subsequent films (which only a scant few bowed to)to present a more accurate racial and ethnic portrayal of America's fighting forces. So (with the exception of SAHARA) every Black man in a Hollywood war film owes thanks to Mr. Edwards.

The irony is Mr. Edwards' last film, PATTON, has him portraying a valet. The insult is that Patton's most important victory - The Battle of The Bulge - was facilitated in great part by the contribution of The Big Red One - a battalion of Black truck drivers - who risked all to keep Patton's front supplied until the weather cleared enough to allow cargo flights. This historic fact (the race of the drivers in this segregated unit) is ignored in the film leaving Mr. Edwards with the only Black speaking part in a sweeping biography about a WWII general - isn't this where we came in?

If you examine Mr. Edward's filmography (by which I mean screen the films) it is difficult to understand the spottiness of his career and his relative obscurity. Part of the explanation may lie in the murky machinations of HUAC, McCarthyism, the Hollywood Blacklist and Mr. Edwards' worldwide tour with this film (it included a stop in the then Soviet Union). If you have any information regarding this aspect of his life please post it here.

CeOTIS

Stanley Kramer Has Something to Say.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 14 July 2013]

At first viewing, this is some dated stuff. A black soldier in the Pacific (Edwards) becomes part of a team sent to a dangerous Japanese-held island to map it before an invasion. The team is led by an inexperienced young major (Dick) and includes as old high-school chum of Woods' (Bridges), a tough and seasoned sergeant (Lovejoy) and a rich ex executive (Brodie) now reduced to schlepping around an M-1 and making racist cracks in front of Woods, sometimes directly AIMED at Woods.

The majority of screen time is given over to these five guys who accomplish their mission, but not without a lot of melodramatic arguing and the loss of Bridges and the severe wounding of Lovejoy. Woods finds that when he's ordered to leave his friend's mangled body behind, he can't walk. They barely make it to the boat waiting for them offshore.

The main narrative thread has an Army doctor (Corey) treating Woods with narcolepsy in the hospital. No combat soldiers in World War II received much in the way of longer treatment. Shooting a patient up with barbiturates was seen as a quick way of getting him over his "combat fatigue" or "shell shock" as it was called in the previous war. Patients with hysterical disorders like Woods' were sometimes treated by other personnel with contempt. Now there isn't much in the way of hysterical paralysis, but PTSD takes the form of depression, nightmares, and suicidal tendencies, and it's recognized for the serious disorder that it is. Here, the viewer must sit through the stereotypical scene parodied so exquisitely in "Doctor Strangelove" -- "Mein Fuhrer! I can VALK!" Yet, dated though it is, and inexpensively made, and careless in its wardrobe and makeup, and sometimes formulaic in its characterization, it's not a stupid movie. It has a nifty little verse by the minor poet from Brooklyn, Eve Merriam, for one thing.

Woods is an African-American soldier stuck with four white guys in a dangerous environment, but he's by no means saintly. He's no braver than anyone else. He perspires like the Fontana Trevi. He's over-sensitive to the color of his skin, angry and ashamed at the same time. And as the psychiatrist establishes, the problem resides in Woods now, as much as in his comrades in arms, although the ultimate responsibility is the racist society in which he grew up.

Race is the Great Divide in this country, a San Andreas fault that extends for a thousand miles buried underground and seldom referred to. It's been that way for hundreds of years. A French observer, Alexis de Toqueville, noted it in free states in the North in 1835. "Thus, the Negro is free but is able to share neither the rights, pleasures, work, pains, nor even the grave with the man to whom he has been declared equal…".

The psychiatrist (and the writers) were right, despite all their blather and cajoling. Racists in America have a severe problem, but Woods has absorbed that division and now he has a problem as well. Blacks have become solidarity, as will any minority that has been oppressed for generations, and many are loathe to give that loyalty up. I've taught at a predominantly black (ie., voluntarily segregated) university in the South for years and authored a book with an African-American colleague. My mother's best friend at work was black. And the one thing that was never seriously discussed was race. Like the San Andreas fault, it's still there, just as it was when this movie was made in 1949, but it's buried now, even as the pressure between the two geographic plates remains.

I kind of approve of movies that don't separate their characters into Manichean pigeon holes of "good" and "evil" (or black and white). This movie gets the job done by turning everyone into a human being.

"Coward, take this coward's hand"

[alli_katz · 10/10 · 3 June 2001]

Wow, I would've never seen this movie on my own, but a friend invited me over to watch it on his tape, and I was just blown away. Even though it takes place during action in World War II, this is really much more of a character study than a war movie. Although the relationship between James Edwards and his comrades, especially Lloyd Bridges, who is also really good, is the core of this movie, the actor who plays Mingo (Frank Lovejoy) steals the film with a magnificent performance. I liked this a lot more than Saving Private Ryan.

Original Intent

[mdudnikov · 7/10 · 11 July 2005]

While this movie is fine for what it is, it is sad that the producers changed the original intent of the movie. The story as written was about anti-Semitism. For some reason it was changed to a racial theme. With so few movies made about this topic through the years in Hollywood, and with the perception that prejudice equals race in America, it is said to see an opportunity missed to address a deep seated and long enduring American and world problem. This is especially so in light of the time when the movie was made, a time when many in this country tried to pretend that anti-Semitism was a foreign problem.

Anti Jewish feelings and were very prevalent throughout society, including the armed forces. This was an intelligent screenplay that could have gone a long way in bringing this problem to the fore. Slanders at the time, and in subsequent wars, often portrayed Jews as those who managed to avoid combat. It would have been nice to see that prejudice in some way fought. Indeed stories in later years emerged of Jews being denied honors and medals simply because of their religion. One story that came to light in the 1990s revealed that a Jewish soldier had been denied the Congressional Medal of Honor because his commanding officer said he would not even consider recommending a Jew for this nation's highest honor.

superb social commentary-also a war movie

[bux · 10/10 · 29 October 1998]

Decades ahead of its time! Years before the services are integrated, a black soldier is sent on patrol with an all white squad. More than just a story of racial tension in combat, this is a character study, a study of the true inner feelings of men in war, and bigotry that was and has been a way of life for so long. Edwards and Bridges win the acting honors here...however the entire cast deserves kudos for having the guts to participate in a picture that was obviously not received well in all parts of the U.S. This one will have you on the edge of your chair and near tears on occasion-guaranteed.

Pre-dated Sidney Poitier's persona

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 6 September 2023]

Home of the Brave is an extremely important movie, but no one has ever heard of it. Produced by Stanley Kramer, who was famous for coming in on time on a shoestring budget, it took a handful of non-famous stars and a shocking script by 1949 standards. James Edwards, a black actor whom no one has heard of, pre-dated Sidney Poitier and undoubtedly hated his stardom for the rest of his life. While Poitier played doctors, policemen, teachers, and the like, Edwards created that persona the year prior to his screen debut. Edwards played a soldier who experienced racial tensions when he was transferred to an all-white platoon during WWII. As anyone who knows their history knows, the Armed Forces were segregated at that time. Edwards's unexpected transfer would have been not only rare, but very disconcerting to the rest of the platoon.

Lloyd Bridges, Steve Brodie, Frank Lovejoy, and Douglas Dick are the other soldiers. This is a very intimate story, easy to imagine being performed on the stage (although in the original version, the ostracized character is Jewish and not black). Dimitri Tiomkin's music is very distracting, nearly ruining it, but the movie is important enough to get past it. Thankfully, the most important scenes have very little music. Jeff Corey plays Edwards's doctor who guides him through some intense psychological breakthroughs. It's one of the largest roles of Corey's career, and it's worth watching. Despite a moving, emotional performance, Edwards, unfortunately, didn't have a career full of leads. He was replaced the very next year by Sidney Poitier and took bit parts until his death. Now, all he's known for are playing Patton's valet and the crewman who scoops the strawberries in The Caine Mutiny.

Flawless character study in wartime setting.

[rollo_tomaso · 10/10 · 9 January 2001]

Mark Robson's sensitively directed film perfectly captures the social mores and racial bigotry of its time during the stresses and traumas of war. The dialogue is brittle and thoroughly convincing. Although Lloyd Bridges and James Edwards are both excellent, Frank Lovejoy steals the film with his portrait of Mingo. Steve Brodie is just right as the insecure bigot who is more ignorant than evil. This is one of my five favorite war movies of all time. It reminds me of another great film made the next year called "The Men" with Marlon Brando. I give this one 10 out of 10.

home of the brave

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 13 December 2020]

My suspicions were aroused at the get go during the opening titles when I saw that the screenwriter, veteran Hollywood liberal Carl Foreman, got the lead credit, before even the actors. This alerted me to the fact that I was most likely in for an hour and thirty eight minutes of heavy, florid writing with emphasis on a worthy "message", in this case human brotherhood triumphing over racism. And sure enough Foreman didn't disappoint. So, if you like this sort of ponderous pontificating, with a white savior psychiatrist instead of a lawyer named Atticus, and an ending only slightly less obvious and phony than the one Stanley Kramer (the producer of this well intentioned but soapboxey pic) provided in "The Defiant Ones", with the black/white hand clasp, then you'll be as happy as a Democrat at a Harry Belafonte concert. As for me give me "Shadows" , "Nothing But A Man", or even "Sounder" as more nuanced, convincing treatments of the black/white "problem" in these United States. Let's give it a generous C plus rather than a C 'cause there were some good performances from Lloyd Bridges, Steve Brodie and Douglas Dick. (Some bad ones too from James Edwards, Jeff Corey, and Frank Lovejoy who were burdened with carrying most of Foreman's heavy water.)

A landmark film that broke the back of black stereotypes in cinema

[radudca · 9/10 · 24 May 2006]

I was 11 years old when my Mother took me to see Home Of The Brave. She came home from work and said, I want to take you to a movie, it is time you see something other than Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy...I can tell you I grew up a lot seeing HOME OF THE BRAVE. I can remember the dialog to this day even though I only saw this movie once. James Edwards and Lloyd Bridges gave star performances, yet the supporting cast was truly outstanding too...... Jeff Corey was the Doctor (psychiatrist)who helped James Edwards overcome the difficulties of war, and of course of being black. (Corey is recognized as one of the greatest character actors in the history of stage and screen. Check his filmography.) It was a landmark scene and performance by both Corey and Edwards. In the 50s Corey was black balled by the House Unamerican Activities Commitee. HUAC. Because he would not name actors sympathetic to the Communists. Many actors did squeal to save there own careers, but not Corey, he laughed at them. Did not work in Hollywood for 12 or more years. He became an acting teacher for the likes of Jack Nicholson, Barbara Streisand, Cher, and many others. Those three won academy awards. May he rest in peace, he left us in 2002. Corey has an outstanding website, check it out, here is the URL address... jeffcorey.com..... James Edwards filmography is full of great performances down through the years.An outstanding filmography by a pioneering actor who never received the recognition he deserved. One year in the 70s, I was involved with a cable TV station in San Diego,we produced the La Costa celebrity tennis tournament. Lloyd Bridges was there and I walked up to him and said, "Thank You for your performance in "Home of The Brave", he was so startled and said to me, when did you see it? I replied, "when I was 11 years old, my mother took me to see it. She said it was an important film, and it was time to know about the freedom this movie is trying to portray." He said to me, "thank you very much, you made my day, in fact my whole month. Thank You." It is nice to know that these great actors who made this film a landmark in cinema were revered by so many. Most are gone now but their performances are preserved in the great history of film. See this movie, buy the VHS on the internet, show it to others and you become part of movie history too. Thank You. RADUDCA

A Little Closer Look a Disturbing Gem

[dougdoepke · 13 September 2014]

Five soldiers are sent to map out a Japanese held island during WWII. Friction erupts when it turns out that one of the men is black

The years 1949, 50, & 51, witnessed a spate of social conscience movies before the McCarthyite-HUAC purges put an end to them. Unfortunately, this is one of the more obscure. So far as I know, the movie's rarely been revived-- in fact, I had to order a DVD decades after first viewing. Still, the film's many moments of sheer rawness have stayed with me over time.

In my book, the 90-minutes is not a complete success. I still have trouble with the psychiatrist's (Corey) facile analysis of Moss's (Edwards) problem following island combat. It's much too pat and self-assured to be convincing, more like a happy ending contrivance. Yet this Hollywood moment is more than offset by the racially charged atmosphere of the remainder. Note, for example, how the three men react to Moss on his first arrival, which sets the racial stage for what follows. Finch (Bridges) embraces his old friend; Mingo (Lovejoy) is understandably dubious; while racist TJ (Brodie) snubs the black man. Given Mingo's doubts, (understandable, given the intimate nature of the mission that now includes a racial outsider), it's really his ambivalence on which the plot pivots. Lovejoy's low-key performance makes Mingo easy to overlook. Yet, it's really Mingo's trajectory that delivers the movie's ultimate message. I'm with those who think Lovejoy steals the movie in his own mild way.

But get a load of that jungle. It's creepy enough to suck the air out of a dirigible. Anyone like Finch who goes into that maw shouldn't expect to come out. At this point in his career Bridges was one of the most interesting actors around. Always virile and athletic, he's a nice guy here. Yet, catch him in the noir classic The Sound of Fury (1950). There he's egotistical and mean-spirited in totally convincing fashion. Too bad the bulk of his later career, following communist allegations, was spent within the confines of serial TV.

Of course, the movie's mainly remembered for James Edwards' role as a young dignified black man. I think we'd have to go back to Paul Robeson in the 1930's to find a similar black-man persona. Unfortunately, African-Americans were consigned to buffoonish or menial roles during the period. But here, Edwards presents a movie star appearance in a difficult role. His Peter Moss is proud and dignified one moment, yet confused and vulnerable the next. All of which befits an educated outsider in uncertain surroundings. Clearly, there's a laudable effort to deal with the effects racism has on a victim's internal dynamics. Thus, the narrative was an unusual Hollywood attempt at racial honesty, but one that was unfortunately cut short-- after all, the US couldn't fight a cold war by airing its dirty linen to the world. Anyway, thanks reviewer CeOTIS for filling in some facts about Edwards. Clearly, he was suited for Poitier or Belafonte type roles, but I guess his associations with lefties consigned him to the fringes. A genuine loss.

The movie itself manages to rivet interest despite its stage origins. The few sets are confining. Still that has the effect of concentrating the drama. Plus, the fact that we never see the enemy lends an even more unsettling atmosphere. The sudden use of the epithet 'nigger' is jolting to contemporary ears. And especially so, when the easy-going Finch under pressure begins to mouth the word. Then we get an idea of how embedded skin color is in the general culture. Seems to me, however, some latitude should be granted to the lack of combat realism that other reviewers use to criticize. After all, the movie's not really a war movie. Instead, it's a social conscience film using wartime conditions to illuminate conditions at home. Note, however, that the script lays the blame for race prejudice on the individual, that is, unless I missed something. That way more explosive topics like politics or the economy are finessed.

Anyway, viewers who appreciate this film should catch up with other racial films of that pregnant period. Let me recommend—Intruder in the Dust (1950); Lost Boundaries (1949); The Well (1951); No Way Out (1950); and Pinky (1949). Despite isolated exceptions, like The Defiant Ones (1958), movies would have to wait another 20-years before the issues would again be taken up in sustained fashion. Nonetheless, the human drama here has lost little of its power over the intervening decades. A tribute, I think, to all those involved.

A very moving subject that was pushing the envelope regarding racism.

[radrians · 10/10 · 11 December 2005]

I saw this movie when I was in junior high school in New Jersey. There was a series called the "Million Dollar Movie" broadcast out of NYC. A classic movie would be run every day at the same time (afternoons) for a full week. When I saw this film, I would watch it every day after school. That was back in the mid-1950s. Today, I know what a watershed film this was. The subject of racism and PTSD (battle fatigue, then) took courage to portray during a time of the Army/McCarthy hearings and red-baiting of Hollywood screenwriters. Little did I know that ten years later I would end up in a another war (Viet Nam) that struggled with wholesale PTSD issues among the returning soldiers. It is interesting that Lloyd Bridges ended up on the Hollywood blacklist because of his past membership in the Communist party. Yet, what a great actor. Once the witch hunts dissipated, Bridges returned in the 1960s with his very popular TV series...Sea Hunt. I have been looking for a copy of Home of the Brave for a long time and have found it on eBay! R. Swain

A Great and Poignant Movie!

[Pepito-5 · 10/10 · 6 August 1999]

I saw this movie when I was about eleven or twelve- years-old, and felt sad about Lloyd Bridges dying and being left behind. I also felt sad for James Edwards who was suffering for the loss of his friend. His suffering is what they call to day "PTSD" Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I saw the movie again a few months ago and still find it to be a great and poignant movie. Here are two men; one white and the other black,who deep inside see no color, but love for their fellow man and brother. I can attest to that, for being a combat wounded Viet Nam Vet, I saw how soldiers who were white,black,brown,etc. cried for one another when death was upon them. As God knows my heart, I love this movie and thank those that had the courage to first put it out there and to the great cast.

Emotionally powerful character study with WWII backdrop

[cabotcove · 10/10 · 2 June 2000]

James Edwards, LLoyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, Steve Brodie, and Jeff Corey all give outstanding performances in this powerful and moving story of handling life and death situations. With no false notes, this film probes all the characters' psychological profiles in order to tell its story. Perhaps one of the best war films ever made.

I have always loved this movie...

[minstrelwoman · 9/10 · 4 July 2006]

...since AI first saw it on TV in the late 50's. This is a frank look at military racism and its results. The term "nigger" is used openly (a rarity at any time to be sure, in a movie without an all-black cast and especially way back then). James Edwards delivers a powerful performance as a psychosomatically paralyzed black soldier being treated by a white psychiatrist (Jeff Corey). Corey's relentless digging stirs Edwards's memory and the incident that caused the paralysis is finally uncovered. Stark, honest storytelling. Based on a play in which the afflicted soldier was Jewish, this retelling is very contemporary even today.

Growing up with a great movie

[andy5sal · 10/10 · 13 February 2000]

I've loved this movie since childhood. I had the pleasure to be in a stage performance of it a few years ago. The movie never fails to impress me and I seem to discover new aspects of it, and of myself, each time I see it. It has provided me with a genuine growth experience throughout my life as it has been one of the most emotional movies I've ever seen. I'm pleased that those who made the movie had the guts to do so. James Edwards' role has always been a part of my soul.

number one on my war film list, but quotes are incorrect

[wordmaster · 9/10 · 20 May 2006]

This is a fine war film (just saw it recently on TCM as part of their series on the portrayal of blacks in films), and it is a shame that it has not been released on DVD for everyone to watch (film buffs, get out there and demand it!). It should be required viewing for so many reasons (a highlight performance by Frank Lovejoy, almost as good as James Edwards's work here; a first look at PTSD; an honest look at bigotry in the military; an exciting, tightly-scripted war picture, the list goes on...).

The ending is a bit too "fairy-tale" for my liking; not having read or seen the play, I cannot say if the ending has been changed to suit the film-going public. I think it would have been enough for Mingo to make a passing remark about going in to business with Moss, something along the lines of "Sure, Mossy, you and me running a place with me, the one-armed bartender - that would really go over big!". Then, there could be a sequel to the film where Mingo and Moss really do open up a place (?).

Someone, please help in making sure the quotes for this film are correctly attributed to Mingo and not to T.J. (his performance is a good one of an unlikeable character, up to his usual standard). Both quotes refer directly to the poem written by Mingo's wife: in the first, he makes an aside referring to his wife's love of repetition which refers to the repetition in the poem Mingo recited earlier; the second quote made by Mingo is a direct quote from his wife's poem. Later in the film, when Mingo has trouble shouldering his duffel bag, Moss quotes the same line in trying to offer help to Mingo with the duffel bag.

If you can, watch this film on Memorial Day for some added resonance.

Narcosynthesis

[richardchatten · 9/10 · 15 July 2020]

This works equally well as a rugged war movie with a psychological angle as a 'message' picture; and it's ironic (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) that Lloyd Bridges - usually typecast at the time as a loudmouthed bigot - is actually a friend of the hero.

I'm not the first to observe the irony that this film is now preceded by disclaimers about the language used (in the case of Talking Pictures that it contains "highly offensive outdated racial representation", and blanked out a certain word now routinely used by Scorsese and Tarantino).

More damning is the film's artistic licence in ignoring that troops were segregated during the war in the Pacific and that James Edwards (most familiar to today's audiences for memorable but brief roles in 'The Killing' and 'The Manchurian Candidate') despite his superb performance here never got as much screen time in such a prestigious film again before ironically dying aged just 51 shortly after playing a tiny part also in uniform in 'Patton'. (And that both scriptwriter Carl Foreman and actor Jeff Corey - who plays the psychiatrist - were not long afterwards blacklisted.)

Still brilliant, still gutsy

[rrenon · 10/10 · 26 June 2002]

I first saw this film when it was released, when I was a kid of 12. It was light years ahead of its time in casting an African American actor in the lead role, with a cast that was otherwise all white. With one blow, the film --through James Edwards' acting-- destroys all the Hollywood and social stereotypes of black men. The film does so without making the hero, Moss, perfect(ala Sydney Poitier in later films). He's as flawed as the other soldiers in his group, but like them he is real! The screen play by Carl Foreman (later blacklisted)is brilliant, very hard-hitting, with brutal language and raw emotions. The entire cast is brilliant. I give the film a rating of 8 for quality with another 2 points for sheer guts.

The brotherhood of man may see color, but it doesn't feel it.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 6 July 2015]

The psychological issues of racism are felt from both sides with this magnificent issue drama from the golden age of Hollywood when films such as "Gentlemen's Agreement", "Crossfire", "The Snake Pit", "The Lost Weekend" and "The Lady Gambles" went deep into the issues of the human soul to explain to their audiences why people encounter such problems as racism, addiction and mental illness while others do not. In the case of this World War II drama, the story surrounds the four soldiers (and young officer) sent to a Pacific island on a secret mission to navigate an island where the Japanese have set up a secret base. One of the soldiers (James Edwards) happens to be black, and this sets up racial tension as the remaining soldiers and officer are all white. Fortunately, one of the other soldiers (Lloyd Bridges) is an old friend of Edwards from high school, so he does have an instant ally. However, tensions mount as the mission comes to a close. Revelations about everybody's own individual racisms (including Edwards') is revealed, leading to Edwards' own mental breakdown and psychiatrist Jeff Corey's efforts to help him break through the sudden inability to walk and to determine what caused the breakdown in the first place.

Certainly, the issues of racism is a tale as old as the first civilizations, and this doesn't pretend to be an anecdote to the problem. But if the viewer can look within themselves to realize the issues behind their own feelings of racism, then the film has accomplished its mission. It is pretty obvious that the racial tensions are two sided, that some of the men (including Edwards) are torn between their long-instilled prejudices and what is right and wrong. Having been called a monkey as a kid when confronted on the school playground by white children, Edwards has internalized his hatred towards whites, even if he is outwardly polite and almost subservient. He also shows a longing for white acceptance as seen through the flashback of him and Bridges in school, and his sudden decision not to attend a party of white kids that Bridges had invited him to. But in the case of officer Douglas Dick and fellow soldiers Frank Lovejoy and Steve Brodie, he gets a mixed reaction, although a certain level of camaraderie between all four soldiers does exist.

The performance of James Edwards is the glue which holds this emotionally heart-wrenching drama together. He is in one moment calm and dignified, the next almost child-like, and after that, extremely angry, although unlike the white soldiers, he never becomes violent. When tragedy strikes, his child-like fear comes out, revealing all his insecurities and inner-most struggles and desires. While he never made it onto the front lines of movie stardom like Sidney Poitier, he still holds up in the handful of films I have seen him in, being likable, sincere, intense and intelligent. Bridges, too, gives a top-notch performance, so for all those who know him from the "Airplane" and "Hot Shots" comedies will be surprised to see him in such a dramatic role. But then again, he also had major dramatic parts in many films and T.V. shows including "High Noon" and "Roots", and was also touchingly sincere as Harry Helmsley opposite Suzanne Pleshette as Leona in "The Queen of Mean".

Of the five remaining men, Douglas Dick's captain is perhaps the least well defined. Frank Lovejoy is the older and wiser top sergeant who is perhaps the most open to changing his tune, while Steve Brodie is a man filled with such inner hatreds that you can't help but realize his hatred towards blacks is more representational of his own insecurities than his feelings towards other races, colors and creeds. Neither man is outwardly cruel to Edwards, although references to negative black stereotypes does show its face in a passive/aggressive light-hearted manner that can be just as hateful as a slap in the face. You realize that the racism they feel is more from conditioning and that as individuals, both Lovejoy and Brodie will learn something about humanity (and thus themselves) even if at least in Brodie's case, he won't totally change his tune.

The screenplay doesn't strive to sweeten the tension, even going so far as to use the "n" word under several circumstances, one accidentally coming from Bridges himself who in the midst of saying it suddenly changes the word to "nitwit". Other derogatory terms describing both blacks and whites (and the nearby Japanese) are also used, giving the film a very brave medal of honor for tackling one of the past centuries "hot topics". Playwright Arthur Laurents would tackle similar issues in other plays (even his musical book of "West Side Story" has like themes), and Carl Foreman adapts the play into a 90 minute running time which never defuses the issues. As produced by Stanley Kramer and directed by Mark Robson (two of the most influential filmmakers of the 1940's and 50's), this is truly intense social drama. Society has demanded that the races come together to talk about ways of improving racial tensions, and if this can help open up people's hearts to seeing this issue from a different angle, then it does indeed remain a very important play and movie some 60+ years later.

Intense Examination Of American Hypocrisy.

[redryan64 · 10/10 · 4 June 2014]

WE HAVE READ that in the original stage play, the James Edwards character was a Jewish soldier, not a Black man. The whole point and morale the story is the same; that being, religious, racial or ethnic prejudice are wrong and harmful to both the victim and the offender.

IN SHORT, THIS is the story of one Private Peter Moss, a Black Soldier (James Edwards), who requires psychiatric help following his service in World War II, Pacific Theatre of Operations. His deeply troubled condition is made more complex because of his witnessing the death of his white high school friend (Lloyd Bridges); which he blames on himself.

THE ARMY PSYCHIATRIST (Jeff Cory) is charged with helping the deeply emotionally scarred veteran to find his way back through the heavy feelings of guilt. In flashback, the story is revealed to us, the audience.

IN SHORT, THE afflicted soldier had been raised as one of the few Blacks in a small town. He is a popular student athlete; excelling as a starter on his high school's varsity Basketbadid not have ll team. Here he is team mates with his lifelong friend (Lloyd Bridges). But the young man is plagued with feelings about being different.

WITH HIS INDUCTION into the Army, he runs into further antagonism which comes from men who are from different backgrounds than his small town offered. Although his comments may have no malice behind them, the Private Everett character (Steve Brodie) was free and easy with remarks that only can be classified as being insensitive at best.

AS FOR THE crucial incident which pushed him over the edge, just before his death, Finch (Lloyd Bridges) slips and almost refers to his old friend by the N-word. With Finch's death, Moss (James Edwards) is overcome with extreme guilt, for having felt that he was glad that Finch had been killed.

WITH COMPLETION OF his treatment, the Psychiatrist (Jeff Corry) proves to Moss that he was experiencing what was a common emotion experienced by men in war; namely the feeling that when witnessing another soldier getting killed, the survivor instinctively rationalizes that he is happy that it wasn't him.

IN WINDING UP the story, Moss and Sergeant Mingo (Frank Lovejoy) make plans to go into business together; with Mingo replacing the slain Finch as Moss's partner.

THIS IS ONE of those films that you have to be in the proper mood to watch. HOME OF THE BRAVE examines the inequities in pour country that contradict all that we stand for.

AT LEAST we can truly say that our country is not perfect; but we will and do work to change what needs to be.

Healed in body and spirit

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 17 August 2016]

Home Of The Brave was one of the first films to tackle racism in the USA and it was released at a time when the nation's consciousness was changing direction. The film first and foremost spoke to the black American veterans who after fighting to liberate the world from Fascist tyranny were not about to accept second class citizenry any longer.

But a lot of veterans were scarred by the war physically and mentally. One such was James Edwards who after a mission with a picked team to do reconnaissance on a Pacific island primed for invasion came back with hysterical paralysis. The story of what happened is told in flashback where army psychiatrist Jeff Corey pulls the truth from his mind.

The bulk of the film is spent on Edwards's memories of the mission. The team is led by Major Douglas Dick who has a lot of self doubts about himself. Rumors have it he's too young for the rank. Dick will prove them wrong. The others besides Edwards are Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, and Steve Brodie. Bridges is one whom he had known before the war, both were in college and played basketball there.

Edwards is a surveyor/engineer and the essential man here. Remember the army was not integrated until after World War II so for a black man in this group it was unheard of. That should tell you how essential he was. Nevertheless the attitudes of those around him run the gamut of racial feelings in post World War II America.

There's action in this film, but it's a character study and was a play on Broadway that ran only 69 performances in 1945-46 Broadway. I will say the stage origin was for the most part masked over well.

Home Of The Brave came to the attention of those guardians of our patriotic virtue at the House Un-American Activities Committee. Writer Carl Foreman and Jeff Corey got themselves blacklisted. Corey's hopeful speech about better race relations in America coming must have gotten those old Southern rednecks' collars flaming.

After almost 70 years Home Of The Brave is still an outstanding film with a great ensemble cast and a powerful message.

A movie that addresses the issue of race in the military,but falls short.

[rcj5365 · 12 February 2010]

If this curious little drama lived up to its intentions,it might have been one of the important war films. It was great in its premise with its performances and all,but it falls far short and is little more than a footnote in Hollywood's attempts to deal with American racism. Director Mark Robson starts out with two strikes against him. First off,Carl Foreman's script is based on Arthur Laurents's curiously contrived stage play. Second,Laurents's play is about anti-Semitism,and though it is easy to say that all bigotry springs from one source,discrimination against black people is different from discrimination against Jewish people. To claim that they are the same misunderstands both.

The action takes place on a nameless islands in the Pacific during World War II. In the opening scenes,a psychiatrist(Jeff Corey)tries to find out how Peter Moss(James Edwards),a black soldier,came to be paralyzed from the waist down. Moss is also amnesiac and so he can't remember what happened to him on his last mission. Major Robinson(Douglas Dick),and Mingo(Frank Lovejoy)tell the doctor what they know. They say that it was a reconnaissance patrol to an island held by the Japanese. Robinson picked Mingo,Finch(Lloyd Bridges),and T.J. Everett (Steve Brodie) to "volunteer" from his outfit. He had recruited Moss,an engineer from another division,to make maps of the island. Robinson was then surprised to learn that Moss was "colored." T.J. is openly racist,but it turns out that Finch and Moss are old pals from high school,where they played basketball together. Tensions within the group rise to the surface and explodes as soon as they're dropped on the island to face the enemy. And against each other.

Neither the depiction of jungle warfare nor the racial attitudes are remotely believable. Men on sentry duty at night chatter away like schoolchildren and smoke cigarettes constantly. T.J.'s expressions of racism and Moss's reactions are equally simplistic and false. And when,finally,the reasons for the paralysis are revealed,audiences today will groan in disbelief,which shocked audiences who went to see this picture in 1949. The resolution of the conflicts piles improbability upon improbability. That said,the filmmakers to deserve credit for addressing racial issues at a time when the entertainment industry generally ignored them,and when segregation was the law of the land. The year 1949 introduced not only this picture,but also another picture,Elia Kazan's "Pinky" that also address the issue of racism and segregation as well. As with "Home Of The Brave",the active recruitment of black soldiers,sailors,and airmen during World War II played a huge part in changing that,and the stories of that change have yet to be fully told. This movie was a small first step in addressing the issue of racism in America during the 1940's.