Harry Brown (1) (1917–1986)

It only took me a couple of days to rip through this short but very well-written book about a company of American soldiers taking part in the invasion of Italy during World War Two. Their officer is wounded even before the landing takes place, and their mission then becomes unclear to them. All they know is that they have to go six miles up a country road and find a farmhouse. Presumably they are to take it, assuming there are even enemy soldiers in it, and hold it. Then they look at a map show more and see a bridge near the farmhouse, and decide for themselves that the job must be to destroy the bridge so the German army can't bring reinforcements, tanks and supplies across it. In the novel is about their trudge up that road. They are combat-experienced, having already fought in North Africa and Sicily. Some have become resigned and matter-of-fact about the dangers and horrors. Others are beginning to show the strains of a year straight in combat. As they walk, Brown visits with some of the individual soldiers, as we hear their thoughts and their conversations. They often use banter and jokes to ease the tension and handle the boredom and discomfort of walking the hardened, rocky road in the increasingly hot day. We also listen in on the strategy discussions among the company's leaders, two sergeants and a corporal. They are attacked from the sky more than once. The whole thing takes two endless houses, and then they reach the farmhouse.

Brown was a very good writer, and there are many excellent descriptions of the men, their states of mind, and the surrounding terrain as well. I knew I was in the hands of a very good writer when, as the soldiers are still on the troop transport awaiting their nighttime landing, we read:

"As the time of landing approached a growing tension was added to nervousness and discomfort. The men's mouths were dry. Sounds magnified themselves. The dark closed in like a smotherer's pillow."

Sometimes I wished that Brown had gone a little bit easier on the banter, but all in all, I thought this was an excellent book about men at war, with a few quite vivid characters.

A Walk in the Sun was first published in 1944, while the war was still ongoing. It was made into a movie just the following year. According to Wikipedia, "In 2016, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry." show less

Despite the fame of works like [The Naked and the Dead], and [The Thin Red Line], I find this to be the most nearly perfect novel about military action in World War II. It is very concise, taking a single action in a single battle by one platoon, and sustains interest in an astonishingly large group of characters for such a short book. The dialogue is wonderful--not very realistic, but artfully crafted to individualize each particular soldier while revealing the essential sameness of all show more G.I.s.

Were it just the above, it would still be a very entertaining read and make the basis for a fine movie--which it did. But what sets it above most other novels is that it goes beyond character study and exciting descriptions of battle, and really gets into the concept of What Is Leadership? The platoon loses its officers long before really starting on its assignment, and as the rank system is tested by action, the natural leadership qualities that exist in some individuals assert themselves, and in the end the non-com Tyne, inferior in rank to other non-coms in the platoon, finds command devolving upon him, and is surprised, perhaps, to find that he is up for it.

This sounds rather didactic, but it isn't that way at all as one reads it, and a casual reader might miss this aspect of the book altogether. The fact it functions so well as an entertainment may, in fact, have prevented it from getting the recognition it deserves. show less

WWII vets rob Las Vegas.

I was hooked from the ultra-hip opening credit sequence. The movie didn't actually turn out to be all that great, but it's fun and well-written enough to be entertaining throughout. It doesn't take itself seriously enough to be a suspense film, and it doesn't have enough humor to be a comedy. What it does have is cool. Everything and everyone on screen - not to mention Riddle's score - is oozing cool.

Concept: A
Story: A
Characters: D
Dialog: A
Pacing: A
Cinematography: show more C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: A

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 3.2/4 show less

This book was cute. Each page features a cartoon with a corresponding page of text, explaining "This is..." some aspect of army life, from recruitment through training camp. It's pretty funny, in the same vein of humor as See Here, Private Hargrove.