First To Fight

Excellent portrayals by Chad Everette and Dean Jaegger as Marines in the early years of WWII. Gene Hackman also does a superb job as Everette's Platoon Sergeant and later his conscience. Everette plays a Marine sergeant having to deal with the fame that went along with winning the Medal of Honor at a time when heroes were thought to be in short supply to the people back home. Everette flys home to a heroes welcome but finds he misses the comeraderie, the bonding of men in danger. A fateful event sends him back into combat where reality sets in. While you can still see the "support the military" attitude in the movie making, there is a sincere and legitimate effort to present a realistic approach to how men deal with fear in combat and the consequences of the choices men in these situations make. A first rate film with some historical connections - the stories of Mitchel Paige, John Basilone, and Al Schmidt all resemble portions of the film. All were Machine Gunners, and Paige and Basilone won the Medal of Honor on Guadalcanal. Both Basilone and Paige received battlefield commissions and returned to combat. Schmidt was too badly wounded to continue service and was awarded the Navy Cross. Marines will love it while no doubt recognizing some tactical mistakes. The general public will be surprised to see an honest portrayal of fear in combat for a film from this era. Moderately melodramatic, it is still one of the better portrayals of Marines in combat during WWII. I give it two thumbs up.

I bought this DVD to add to my collection of Chad Everett memorabilia, and not being a fan of war movies I was not expecting anything great nor was I expecting anything really bad. The DVD was good in both sound and picture quality considering its age, but I must admit to being quite surprised by the depth of acting. Chad Everett played a very good part in this movie along with Gene Hackman, their early careers obvious testament to the work they would produce later in their lives. On the whole a good story, with just the right intensity and build up of drama. Chad Everett's character with the help of Gene Hackman, came to terms with the realities of war and his place in it, overall bringing the movie to it's dramatic conclusion.Overall, not bad for a war movie !

Movie I saw as a kid and could not find

Good movie

Wonderful!!

It's a great movie.

Saw the movie when it first came out, hadn't seen it since. It is indeed a good movie, especially for history buffs like me who study the individual, from the lowliest rank ( is there truly such a thing for those who have been there?) to the highest. The quality of the movie and the acting is great. The quality of the dvd itself is excellent. My only complaint is that there were no closed captions available (I am hard of hearing these days), therefore I had to turn the volume way up to catch all the words.

Arrived on time . . good old fashion action movie

Topp

I'm sorry,but this movie would.not play in either my computer or my dvd player..