Cheap In Harm's Way (DVD) (Otto Preminger) Price

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Customer Reviews of In Harm's Way

Wayne's Ship Wasn't Fast Enough
A very solid movie about the Navy in the first part of World War II. This movie isn't particularly realistic, but if you hunt hard enough you can find some similarities to some of the real people and places. Well, OK, Pearl Harbor is a real place - and it really looked like that - but you understand what I mean. Yet, rather than retell history, I think Preminger was simply trying to tell a good story. <
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>John Wayne plays a third generation Naval officer. The type of guy who might say, "If the Navy wanted me to have a personality, it would have issued me one and sent me to a school to use it." Thus, his main acting challenge is being stiff and ackward for most of the movie. At the very end of the movie, he does an excellent job communicating his sense of loss and frustration. For a second, I thought he was going to punch CINCPAC in the eye or cry like a girl. Instead, he decided to take a nap. <
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>Kirk Douglas plays one of the most unsavory characters you might imagine. A failed aviator, a not particularly successful Naval officer with a cheating wife; one is tempted to feel sorry for him until he turns into a criminal. An attempt at redemption is only sufficient to protect his name, not to earn glory. <
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>The ex movie writer turned intelligence officer is meant to represent the ex musicians, mathematicians, and missionaries that formed a major portion of the intelligence effort at the Combat Radio Intelligence Unit, later Fleet Radio-intelligence Unit Pacific, and still later Joint Intelligence Center Pacific. He does a good job showing that these were folks who were either really bad traditional Naval officers or folks from bizarre backgrounds. What he fails to show is the heroic effort that these folks exerted. While the staffs became quite large at the intelligence units, the very few folks who were either gifted at languages or cryptology often worked three or four days without sleep to achieve the great intelligence advantage that Nimitz later compared to an additional fleet. But I digress. <
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>I could go on and on about the other interesting characters and stories. John Wayne's son. John Wayne's love interest. The ensign who got a battleship underway on 7 Dec. The ensign's wife. John Wayne's son's love interest. There are a ton of sub-plots in this movie. <
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>This movie will mean more to you if you know a lot about World War II in the Pacific. You will keep trying to guess what "real" person each character might be modeled after or what battle actually had an event similar to the one you just witnessed. But this movie isn't just for WWII buffs, it is a solid, gritty story with enough sub-plots to keep most viewers interested. <
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not the greatest war epic but it is a whole lot of john wayne
i love john wayne and thats why this movie gets 5 stars . it's the epic story of the war in the pacific from pearl harbor til your taking back of islands years later. wayne is a captain and douglas his second officer, when after the attack they are brought up on charges, wayne for getting almost sunk, douglas for turning to drink after his cheating wife dies during the attack. we follow them and many others thru the war and many personal stories that they have. it moves slowly and more action happens off screen than on,but i love john wayne and i love it. for non wayne fans this may be to slow and to much like a t.v. soap. <
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In Harm's way...
I also found this to be a good movie, well acted with a good multi-plot storyline. Otto Preminger had a lot of talent to work with, and made the most of it. I stumbled upon this movie late night on cable - and enjoyed it. The fact that it was in black-and-white did not even enter the picture - in fact, it added to the 'grittiness' of the story - and of the people in it. This was a depiction of war, ladies and gentlemen, people didn't have time for genteelness, for tomorrow, they could be dead! I recommend viewing of this picture. If you can get yourself a copy at a good price - then buy it! The only reason why I didn't give it five stars was the (lack of) special effects. Still, very worthy, Four Stars!!