I am a petty, petty human being. As soon as I finished watching From Here to Eternity, I immediately thought to myself, "Wow! What a great film! Now I have ammo with which to hate Michael Bay!" I am, of course, referring to Bay's abysmal Pearl Harbor (2001), a film which was nothing more than special effects porn shoe-horned into a horribly told love story. Everything that Pearl Harbor did wrong, From Here to Eternity did right. The film is a touching love story whose emotional climax is framed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The film is stocked with a large array of characters, but chief among them is Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift), a bugler who transferred to Company "G," a rifle outfit at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. He is bullied by his superiors who want him to join the company's boxing team for the upcoming championship. But when Prewitt proves himself to be a nut that they can't break, he begins to earn the respect of his fellow soldiers and officers. This includes Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra), a carefree soldier doomed for a terrible fate, and First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster), a mean man who was originally one of Prewitt's main tormentors. There are love affairs and triumphs, horrors and defeats. But the most striking thing about From Here to Eternity is the attitude displayed by the soldiers, particularly by Prewitt. There is a sense that the most honorable thing a man can do is roll with the punches and continue to carry out his duty. Prewitt never once complains about his treatment at the hands of his superiors. I guess the mind-set back then was that complaining about things like that was trivial when compared to a global military cataclysm. From Here to Eternity is a marvelous film, rich in melodrama and emotion. Michael Bay wishes he could direct a film like this.
9/10
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