Editing In Harm's Way

{{short description|1965 film by Otto Preminger}}
{{Other uses|Harm's Way (disambiguation){{!}}Harm's Way}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = In Harm's Way
| image          = In Harms Way Poster.jpg
| caption        = [[Film poster|Theatrical release poster]]<br />by [[Saul Bass]]
| director       = [[Otto Preminger]]
| producer       = Otto Preminger
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[Harm's Way (novel)|Harm's Way]]''<br />1962 novel|[[James Bassett (author)|James Bassett]]}}
| screenplay     = [[Wendell Mayes]]
| starring       = [[John Wayne]]<br />[[Kirk Douglas]]<br />[[Patricia Neal]]<br />[[Tom Tryon]]<br />[[Paula Prentiss]]<br />[[Brandon deWilde]]<br />[[Jill Haworth]]<br />[[Dana Andrews]]<br />[[Henry Fonda]]
| music          = [[Jerry Goldsmith]]
| cinematography = [[Loyal Griggs]]
| editing        = [[George Tomasini]]<br />[[Hugh S. Fowler]]
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1965|4|6}}
| runtime        = 165 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| gross          = $4,500,000 (US/Canada rentals)<ref>This figure consists of anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Big Rental Pictures of 1965", ''Variety'', 5 January 1966 p 6</ref>
| budget         = 
}}
'''''In Harm's Way''''' is a 1965 American [[Epic film|epic]] [[Historical drama|historical]] [[Romance film|romantic]] [[war film]] produced and directed by [[Otto Preminger]]<ref name="In Harm's Way">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4651/in-harms-way|title=In Harm's Way|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=February 29, 2016}}</ref> and starring [[John Wayne]], [[Kirk Douglas]], and [[Patricia Neal]], with a supporting cast featuring [[Henry Fonda]] in a lengthy cameo, [[Tom Tryon]], [[Paula Prentiss]], [[Stanley Holloway]], [[Burgess Meredith]], [[Brandon deWilde]], [[Jill Haworth]], [[Dana Andrews]], and [[Franchot Tone]].<ref>''[[Variety Film Reviews|Variety]]'' film review; March 31, 1965, page 6.</ref> Produced with [[Panavision]] motion picture equipment, it was one of the last [[Black and white|black-and-white]] [[World War II]] epics, and Wayne's last black-and-white film. The screenplay was written by [[Wendell Mayes]], based on the 1962 novel ''[[Harm's Way (novel)|Harm's Way]]'', by [[James Bassett (author)|James Bassett]].

The setting of the film is the entry of the United States into [[World War II]]. It depicts the lives of several U.S. naval officers based in [[Hawaii]] and their wives or lovers. The title of the film comes from a quote from an American Revolutionary naval commander: {{Blockquote|I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way.|[[John Paul Jones]]}}

The film presents a relatively unromantic picture of the [[U.S. Navy]] and its officers from the night of December 6, 1941, through the first year of the U.S. participation in [[World War II]], complete with bureaucratic quarreling among the senior officers and sometimes disreputable private actions by individuals. Its sprawling narrative is typical of Preminger's works in which he examined institutions and the people who run them, such as the [[United States Congress]] and the [[Presidency of the United States]] in ''[[Advise & Consent]]'', the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] in ''[[The Cardinal]]'', and the [[United Kingdom|British]] Intelligence Service in ''[[The Human Factor (1979 film)|The Human Factor]]''.

==Plot==
[[U.S. Navy]] Captain Rockwell "Rock" Torrey is a divorced son of a career [[chief petty officer]].  A [[U.S. Naval Academy|Naval Academy]] graduate and career officer himself, Torrey is removed from command of his [[heavy cruiser]] for boldly pursuing the enemy, but then being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine shortly after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. Torrey's [[executive officer]], Commander Paul Eddington, is a wayward sort of career officer who has resigned as a [[naval aviator]] and returned to the surface navy because of an unhappy marriage. His wife's numerous affairs and drunken escapades have become the talk of Honolulu, and her death during the Pearl Harbor attack—in the company of an [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] officer, with whom she had just had a wild fling on a local beach—drives Eddington into a bar brawl, a stint in the brig, and exile in a hated land-based logistics command.

After several months of desk duty ashore in Hawaii and recuperation from a broken arm he suffered in the attack on his cruiser, Torrey finds his way into a romance with a divorced [[United States Navy Nurse Corps|Navy Nurse Corps]] lieutenant named Maggie Haynes, who tells him that his estranged son Jeremiah is now an ensign in the [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve]]. A strained visit with Jeremiah brings Torrey in on a South Pacific [[island-hopping]] offensive codenamed "Skyhook", which is under command of the overly cautious and micro-managing Vice Admiral B.T. Broderick. On additional information from his roommate, intelligence officer Egan Powell, Torrey guesses that the aim of Skyhook is to capture a strategic island named Levu-Vana, whose central plain would make an ideal airfield for [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17]] bomber squadrons. Shortly thereafter, Maggie informs him that her unit is to be shipped out to the same area in preparation for the offensive.

In the summer of 1942, Torrey is promoted to rear admiral and given tactical command of Skyhook, an assignment requiring the same sort of guts and gallantry he previously displayed as commanding officer of his cruiser. He personally selects Paul Eddington to be his chief of staff, and infuriates Broderick by immediately planning and executing an operation to overrun Gavabutu, an island to be used as a staging base for the invasion of Levu-Vana. This proves unexpectedly easy, as the Japanese have withdrawn their garrisons from Gavabutu. As Torrey turns his attention to Levu-Vana, his attempts to secure more materiel and manpower are frustrated by General [[Douglas MacArthur]]'s simultaneous and much larger [[Solomon Islands campaign|campaign in the Solomon Islands]]. Reconnaissance aircraft prove especially difficult to come by, and [[surface combatant]] forces amount to little more than several cruisers and destroyers, including Torrey's former command.

Meanwhile, Eddington's instability drives him to rape navy nurse Annalee Dorne, who is engaged to Torrey's son. The traumatized nurse, fearing she might be pregnant, tries to tell Eddington, but he does not believe her, she later commits suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. As the truth is about to be revealed, Eddington – still a qualified aviator – commandeers a [[North American B-25 Mitchell#U.S. Navy and USMC|PBJ]] patrol bomber and flies solo on an unauthorized reconnaissance flight to locate elements of the Japanese fleet. He goes down in a fiery death in a redeeming act of sacrifice, giving advance warning of a large Japanese task force centered around the super-battleship {{ship|Japanese battleship|Yamato||2}}, on its way to blast Torrey's much smaller force off the islands.

Despite the new seaborne threat, Torrey nevertheless mounts the invasion of Levu-Vana, and proceeds with a full attempt to turn back the enemy force. Tragically, his son Jere is killed during a nighttime [[PT boat]] action. The following morning has a pitched surface action off the shores of Levu-Vana, with the Americans drawing first blood and the ''Yamato'' decimating much of the U.S. force in response. Severely injured at the height of the battle, Torrey is rescued by his flag lieutenant, William "Mac" McConnell, and is returned to Pearl Harbor aboard a [[hospital ship]] under Maggie's devoted care. Expecting to be court-martialed, Torrey is instead congratulated on successfully repelling the Japanese advance and allowing his [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]] to take Levu-Vana.

== Cast ==
<!--- Cast per credits order --->
{{Cast listing|
* [[John Wayne]] as [[Captain (United States O-6)#U.S. Navy|Captain]] (later Rear Admiral) Rockwell W. "Rock" Torrey [[United States Navy|USN]]
* [[Kirk Douglas]] as [[Commander (United States)#Naval|Commander]] (later Captain) Paul Eddington, USN
* [[Patricia Neal]] as [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] Maggie Haines, [[United States Navy Nurse Corps|Nurse Corps]], [[USNR]]
* [[Tom Tryon]] as [[Lieutenant (junior grade)]] (later Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander) William "Mac" McConnell, USN
* [[Paula Prentiss]] as Beverly McConnell
* [[Brandon deWilde]] as [[Ensign (rank)#United States|Ensign]] (later Lieutenant (junior grade)) Jeremiah Torrey, USNR
* [[Jill Haworth]] as Ensign Annalee Dorne, Nurse Corps, USNR
* [[Dana Andrews]] as [[Vice admiral (United States)|Vice Admiral]] B. T. "Blackjack" Broderick, USN 
* [[Stanley Holloway]] as Clayton Canfil, Australian [[remittance man]] [[coastwatcher]]
* [[Burgess Meredith]] as Commander Egan T. Powell, USNR. Powell was based on Commander (later Rear Admiral) [[Gene Markey]], USNR
* [[Franchot Tone]] as the [[Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet|CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief Pacific)]] during the attack on Pearl Harbor, based on Admiral [[Husband E. Kimmel]], USN.
* [[Patrick O'Neal (actor)|Patrick O'Neal]] as Commander (and former U.S. Congressman) Neal Owynn, USNR
* [[Carroll O'Connor]] as Commander (later Captain) Burke, USN. Burke was based on, and named after, Captain (later Admiral) [[Arleigh Burke]].
* [[Slim Pickens]] as [[Chief Petty Officer]] Culpepper, USN
* [[James Mitchum]] as Ensign Griggs, USN
* [[George Kennedy]] as [[Lieutenant Colonel]] Gregory, [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]]
* [[Bruce Cabot]] as Chief Petty Officer Quoddy, USN
* [[Barbara Bouchet]] as Liz Eddington
* [[Tod Andrews]] as Captain Tuthill, USN
* [[Larry Hagman]] as Lieutenant (junior grade) Cline, USN
* [[Stewart Moss]] as Ensign Balch, USN
* Richard Le Pore as Lieutenant (junior grade) Tom Agar, USN
* Chet Stratton as Ship's doctor
* [[Soo Young (Chinese American actress)|Soo Young]] as a tearful woman
* Dort Clark as Boston
* Phil Mattingly as [[PT Boat]] skipper
* [[Henry Fonda]] as a later CINCPAC, based on Admiral [[Chester W. Nimitz]], USN.
}}

===Uncredited cast===
{{Cast listing|
* Yankee Chang as Mortuary clerk
* Fritz Ford as Man at Mess Tent
* [[Christopher George]] as Sailor
* [[Jerry Goldsmith]] as Piano Player
* [[Hal Needham]] as USAAC officer in the Blue Lagoon Bar
* [[Hugh O'Brian]] as [[U.S. Army Air Corps|USAAC]] Major (Liz Eddington's lover)
}}

== Background and production ==
Wayne's low-key performance was thought to be because was seriously ill with [[lung cancer]] when the film was made. Shortly after filming ended in September 1964, he was diagnosed with the disease<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4651/in-harms-way#articles-reviews |title=In Harm's Way: Articles |work=In Harm's Way |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]}}</ref> and a month later underwent surgery to remove his entire left lung and two ribs. Co-star [[Franchot Tone]] was soon to also develop lung cancer, and died of the disease in September 1968.
[[File:Operation Pacific-Patricia Neal & John Wayne.JPG|thumb|right|upright|John Wayne with Patricia Neal as a nurse in their earlier film together, ''[[Operation Pacific]]'' (1951)]]
Many of the non-military costumes and hairstyles worn by the women throughout the film were contemporary to the mid-1960s period during which the film was made, rather than of the early 1940s. This is particularly noticeable at the dance that opens the film. Many of the extras in this scene were, in fact, current active-duty military officers and their spouses assigned to various commands on [[Oahu]].

The film was shot in [[black-and-white]] by [[Loyal Griggs]], who composed his scenes in a wide-screen [[Panavision]] format<ref>{{cite book|title=Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life|author=Stephen Shearer|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|page=362}}</ref> often using [[deep focus]]. Griggs was nominated for a [[Academy Awards|Best Cinematographer Academy Award]] for his work. [[Jerry Goldsmith]]'s musical score is also notable, as is the work of [[Saul Bass]] in the credit titles sequence (this sequence comes at the end of the film, a departure at the time from the norm in a major [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] production).

The film received extensive cooperation from the [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]], especially the [[U.S. Navy]] and the [[U.S. Marine Corps]], with substantial filming occurring both aboard warships at sea and ashore at [[Naval Station Pearl Harbor]] (to include [[Ford Island]]) and [[Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay]].

Stanley Holloway played an Australian [[coastwatcher]]. A number of coastwatchers appeared on screen in the early 1960s in part due to increased awareness of their role in the war (President John F. Kennedy's life had been saved by a coastwatcher).<ref name="coast">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|access-date=9 August 2024|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Coastwatchers|year=2023|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-tv-plays-the-coastwatchers/}}</ref>

One of many problems encountered during production was that at the time of the filming (mid- and late 1964), very few ships then in active Navy service resembled their [[World War II]] configuration of two decades earlier.  Only one WW II-vintage [[heavy cruiser]], the {{USS|Saint Paul|CA-73|6}}, still retained most of her wartime configuration (and as a result, she stood in for a couple of unnamed cruisers during the movie), although she did not enter service until 1943, and an accompanying destroyer, {{USS|Philip|DD-498|6}}, which entered service in 1942,  took on the role of USS ''Cassiday'', and were extensively filmed on. Other U.S. Navy ships that participated included the cruiser {{USS|Boston|CA-69|6}} (though only the forward two-thirds of the ship could be shown, as she had missiles installed aft),  destroyers {{USS|Braine|DD-630|6}}, {{USS|O'Bannon|DD-450|2}}, {{USS|Renshaw|DD-499|2}}, and {{USS|Walker|DD-517|2}}, submarine {{USS|Capitaine|SS-336|2}}, and [[attack transport]] {{USS|Renville|APA-227|6}}.  All of the destroyers had to have their modern (1960s) [[antisubmarine warfare]] gear covered over with fake gun mounts or deck houses. Additional smaller vessels were provided in support, as well as an [[HU-16 Albatross]] amphibious aircraft painted in World War II markings, though said aircraft did not enter the U.S. military inventory until 1949. The HU-16 likely substitutes for a [[PBY Catalina]], of which no flyable examples were likely available for the film schedule at that time.

Another anachronism is the widespread use of the [[M151]] light utility vehicle as a World War II jeep, instead of the World War II-era [[Willys MB]] and/or [[Ford GPW]], the M151 having not even entered production until 1959. Also used were a few 1950s-vintage 63-ft [[U.S. Coast Guard]] rescue launches that were made over to resemble [[Electric Launch Company|Elco]] 80-ft [[PT boat]]s, as the few that existed were not available for use.

Reference near the start of the film is made to the "picket destroyer ''Ward''" dropping depth charges on what she believes to be a submarine near the entrance to Pearl Harbor.  This refers to {{USS|Ward}}, which dropped depth charges on what has since been established to be a Japanese two-man minisubmarine. The incident appears in the 1970 film ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]''.  USS ''Ward'' was sunk by kamikaze action in December 1944.

[[George Tomasini]], one of the film's editors, died months before the film was released.<ref>{{cite news |title=In Memoriam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KA4PAQAAIAAJ |access-date=March 20, 2024 |work=The Film Daily |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk Incorporated |date=November 1964 |page=12 |language=en}}</ref>

==Reception==
''In Harm's Way'' was nominated for the 1965 [[38th Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for Cinematography (Black-and-White) for cinematographer [[Loyal Griggs]].<ref>[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1166642311582 Awards database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402164515/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1166642311582 |date=2015-04-02 }}</ref> It was also screened at the [[1965 Cannes Film Festival]], but was not entered into the main competition.<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2876/year/1965.html |title=Festival de Cannes: In Harm's Way |access-date=2009-03-07|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref>

Patricia Neal received a 1966 [[BAFTA|BAFTA Film Award]] as Best Foreign Actress for her performance in the film.<ref>Allmovie [http://www.allmovie.com/work/in-harms-way-24497/awards Awards]</ref>

===Critical response===
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The film holds a 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 19 reviews.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_harms_way/ | publisher=[[Fandango Media]] | title=''In Harm's Way'' | website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=June 14, 2023}}, with an average rating of 5.10 out of 10.</ref>  [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' panned the film, observing, "This is a slick and shallow picture that Mr. Preminger puts forth here, a straight, cliché-crowded melodrama of naval action in the Pacific in World War II ..." and characterized it as "a film that is virtually awash with flimsy and flamboyant fellows with all the tricks of the trade of Hollywood."<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|title=Movie Review – In Harm's Way|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F02E1DC163EE03ABC4F53DFB266838E679EDE|access-date=29 August 2010|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 7, 1965}}</ref> However, other reviews have been more positive. Bruce Eder, writing for [[Allmovie.com]], notes, "''In Harm's Way'' has endured extraordinarily well for an epic war movie made in the 1960s, owing to a multitude of virtues. For starters, it was the last big-budget, all-star Hollywood movie to be shot in black-and-white, and that gives the film a harder, sharper, more defined edge than it ever could have had if it had been photographed in color...Add to those virtues the unexpectedly lively pacing and stunning special effects...and ''In Harm's Way'' seems like a very fast-moving two and a half hours".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/in-harms-way-v24497/review |title=In Harm's Way (1965) - Otto Preminger &#124; Review &#124; AllMovie |website=www.allmovie.com |access-date=2 March 2020}}</ref>

[[Stanley Kauffmann]] of ''[[The New Republic]]'' wrote, "Preminger's latest is simply one more overlong epic of the naval war against the Japanese, with conventional story lines, characters, resolution".<ref>{{cite magazine| title=A difference in Ages| url=https://newrepublic.com| access-date=2024-05-26| magazine=The New Republic| language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1965]]
* [[John Wayne filmography]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0059309}}
* {{TCMDb title|4651}}
* {{AFI film|id=22425|title=In Harm's Way}}

{{Otto Preminger}}
{{Pearl Harbor attack}}

[[Category:1965 films]]
[[Category:1965 war films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American war films]]
[[Category:American epic films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Otto Preminger]]
[[Category:Films set in 1941]]
[[Category:Films set in 1942]]
[[Category:Films set in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Films shot in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Pearl Harbor films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Wendell Mayes]]
[[Category:Films about the United States Navy in World War II]]
[[Category:Films about the United States Marine Corps]]
[[Category:Films about rape in the United States]]
[[Category:Films about suicide]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:Pacific War films]]
[[Category:English-language war films]]