Dalbert Pringle If you can accept a 30 year-old Audie Murphy playing himself at 18 in this 1955, WW2, Bio-film, then I'm sure you won't be at all disappointed by To Hell & Back.As far as war pictures go, To Hell & Back's story is a fairly interesting one. This film's a pretty accurate tale covering Murphy's 3-year military career where, through the merits of bravery, he eventually became one of the most highly decorated American soldiers to ever serve in the 2nd World War.In 1945 Murphy was ceremoniously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.To Hell & Back is basically a wartime "buddy" picture of loyalty and heroism. It proudly boasts of the glory of American patriotism (right to its very core).*Notes of interest about Audie Murphy* - (1) Following his service in the war, Murphy successfully pursued an acting career which lasted for 20 years (from 1948-1969). In that period of time Murphy appeared in 40 pictures, all of which were either Westerns or War pictures.(2) Murphy, who suffered from post-traumatic stress following his military service, always slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow.(3) In 1971, Murphy (45 at the time) was tragically killed when the private plane he was travelling in crashed (due to poor visibility) into Brush Mountain in Virginia.

daviddaphneredding In this story about the most decorated hero of WWII, Audie Murphy plays himself as only he can. He also conveyed the fact that anybody from the back of nowhere...and his boyhood in Texas seems to have been spent there...can really make something of himself, especially a great contributor to society by fighting diligently for his country. I've always wondered what some of the top-ranking officers of the various branches of the Armed Forces later thought after they rejected him, simply because they felt the boyish-looking young man was too small to even coming close to qualifying for military service, and moreover receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was...as he should have been...a consummate actor in this role. The movie was not without excitement and realism, since there was so much fighting...which took place in Germany, Italy, and North Africa...that was convincingly depicted. Susan Kohner was excellent in the role as his lover, and Charlie Drake acted well as his very good camrade and friend; Murphy grieved when he was fatally wounded. Here early in his career David Janseen played his role well as a soldier also. Additionally, .Jack Kelly and Denver Pyle gave good support in their roles. The scene which stood out in my mind was the one where Murphy "mowed down" several Germans while standing on a tank which was about to explode. The stark realism of war, the familial struggles among the soldiers themselves, as well as the story of the man Murphy himself were all portrayed well in this superior biopic.

FilmFlaneur A largely ordinary film about an extraordinary man, To Hell And Back was made a decade after combat soldier Murphy left the service, a natural enough choice of subject matter. Based upon Murphy's book of reminiscences of the same name, the film was viewed as a useful tonic for recruitment after the Korean War by the Army and they co-operated enthusiastically with the studio's production.After a briefly covering the actor's childhood, the rest of the movie focuses on Murphy's striking military career. With little effort to probe the psychology of its central character, it ends before his discharge. Director Jesse Hibbs does a competent piece of work but Murphy's uniqueness deserved better - someone like Aldrich, Siegel or Samuel Fuller, who around the same time was producing such work as The Steel Helmet and Fixed Bayonet! The cigar-chomping ex-infantryman brought to war projects an essential grit - as well as directorial flair - that's too often missing from To Hell And Back.Hibbs' version of World War II, made conservatively and with the army looking over his shoulder, lacks the cynicism and bitter truths one can find elsewhere. Indeed a good deal of To Hell And Back, especially during the early parts, is relatively light-hearted. Turned down by the Marines and paratroopers for being underweight in real life, there's a suggestion at the start that Murphy was a little sickly - a poor start for a hero. Hence we see him suffering from sea-sickness on his way to his first combat zone, and then suffering a reaction from his inoculations which, we are told, has laid him up in bed for a week. So much so that his superiors consider sending away from the front line (a fact ruefully recalled later).What's striking today about To Hell And Back is how ironic it is. Just as 'Murphy' the soldier initially seems an unlikely superhero, so Murphy the actor might be the last person you'd cast as himself (perhaps anticipating this, the star allegedly suggested Tony Curtis for the lead). Unlike the brawling, macho hero figures familiar to cinema audiences, Murphy is boyish and slight looking - young enough, even in 1955, to play himself as a youth. An unassuming if determined character, 'Murphy' is somewhat ill at ease with women (a trait, incidentally, not reflecting real life), one reason why perhaps the 'Italian interlude' of To Hell And Back, when the soldiers are on leave, is the least convincing of the narrative. He's an introspective, diffident character hardly marked out as a leader of men. And yet this is the man who, amongst other acts of extreme valour, stood up on a burning tank with a machine gun to keep the German advance at bay and destroyed several machine gun nests on his own. The man of whom the 3rd Infantry Commander in World War II called "the greatest combat soldier I have ever known" and another Major-General dubbed "beyond a doubt the finest soldier I have ever seen." There's interesting power occasionally in the film too, exactly because the actor's mild, everyman quality disavows those extreme qualities laying hidden below the baby-faced surface, even while the star's real life history affirms them. When Murphy weeps at the death of a newly fallen comrade, although it's just a short scene, the grief seems true and universal; in its modest way a testament to the courage and loss of all fighting men, and not just typical Hollywood emotional artifice. John Ford's work, to take one example, includes moving graveside scenes, but with the likes of poetically manufactured heroes Fonda and Wayne. None have such a unique impact as this.Such a moment of introspection is unusual in To Hell And Back. Ending as it does with Murphy's war drawing to a close and a parade, understandably the film offers no portrait of the star's later years, decades when he faced stress-related nightmares, health issues, an amount of painkiller dependency and other personal issues. Interestingly at one point the star did consider a sequel to the film, tentatively entitled 'The Way Back', even going so far as reportedly writing a script in 1956, but this idea fell by the wayside.Murphy, who never considered himself more than a competent actor, wears the mantle of great courage very lightly in his film, just as he did in real life (attempting to give his medals away to relatives for instance). One reason for this is perhaps the star's feelings towards the material. Although To Hell And Back was, unsurprisingly, his most successful film career-wise he admitted to a slackening of interest in events. After all, he'd already done them first hand and then revisited them during the writing of his book, so much so that he "got tired of reliving all these experiences." Murphy saw the purpose of the film as utilitarian as much as entertaining, showing newer infantry what it was really like just as much as pleasing the public. Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that the American military has apparently always preferred Wayne's much more dynamic Sands Of Iwo Jima over this film as classic entertainment for serving ranks.Murphy won 33 military awards, including every medal of valour America gives, as well as the Legion de Honour and Belgian Croix de Guerre. By contrast his film, although financially successful, received far fewer accolades. Recently reissued in all its widescreen, colour glory and in a good print (if lacking any documentary support) it's still worth a look. For a less compromising view of war on foot, then the aforementioned Fuller is one place to start; for war's doomed romance you'd want to see Sirk's A Time To Live And A Time To Die. But To Hell And Back, with all flaws, is a sobering reminder of what a mighty real hero looks like.

classicsoncall Whenever you hear the name of Audie Murphy, it's generally in connection with his being the most decorated soldier of World War II. What you don't hear is the even more amazing part of the story, that he achieved that distinction by the time he was nineteen years old! It seemed to be a paradox that throughout his combat service, Murphy never wanted the responsibility of a promotion, but he took on that responsibility just the same time and time again. "To Hell And Back" generally does a good job of depicting his war time record, but one can't help feeling that there's something lacking in the presentation. Murphy himself doesn't seem to be all that enthused about portraying his exploits, going through the motions with almost a mechanical indifference. It's almost as if he didn't feel comfortable in his own skin, perhaps owing to his own bouts of post traumatic stress disorder.Murphy seemed to be a paradox as an actor as well, owing no doubt to his ever youthful appearance. In the handful of Westerns I've seen him in, he usually doesn't seem to fit the part, whether as the picture's hero ("Gunfight at Comanche Creek"), or as a screen heavy ("No Name On The Bullet", "Gunsmoke"). At best, Murphy's performances were about adequate, so it's not too surprising that he never really became a break out star. For all that though, I find I can enjoy his pictures well enough, even if they're largely forgettable otherwise."To Hell And Back" offers a meaningful insight into war and how a soldier conducts himself with the men he serves with. There's a particular scene where Murphy is gruff with one of his squad, and the guy is taken aback somewhat. After Murphy leaves, another soldier explains - "The buddy's that come with you you're stuck with, but you don't make no new ones". That's something I hadn't considered as a means of insulating one's self against additional trauma, useful advice under battlefield conditions. Audie Murphy's story would be a good one to see made today with a talented script writer and a more professional approach to film making. There's no doubt that Murphy is a genuine American hero, and it would be fitting to see a picture made about him that elevated his stature to match the reputation.