Bill Mauldin Movies
Though his brief onscreen career would consist solely of two film appearances, actor/writer Bill Mauldin's creation of G.I. Willie and G.I. Joe served to inspire battered soldiers in the dark days of WWII, while his novels inspired such films as Up Front and Back at the Front. Born in Santa Fe, NM, and educated at the Academy of Fine-Art in Chicago, Mauldin enlisted in the Army in 1940 and subsequently found his work published by Stars and Stripes. Mauldin won a Pulitzer for his editorial cartooning in 1945 (he would win another while working for The St. Louis Dispatch in 1958) and ultimately wound up working at The Chicago Sun Times in the early 1960s. It was here that Mauldin would create one of his most famous images following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, that of former president Abraham Lincoln grieving at the Lincoln Memorial. Stricken with Alzheimer's disease later in life, Mauldin would die of complications resulting from the ravaging condition on January 22, 2003. He was 81. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The backstory of The Red Badge of Courage involves the toppling of MGM's old Louis B. Mayer regime in favor of Dore Schary and his young Turks. It is also the tale of how an intended epic was ruthlessly whittled down to a lower-berth programmer. Since this story has already been related in detail in Lillian Ross' Picture (not to mention several John Huston biographies), the focus here will be what shows up on screen in Red Badge of Courage. Based on the novel by Stephen Crane, the film stars real-life war hero Audie Murphy as a Civil War soldier who must redeem himself in his own eyes after an act of cowardice. When he finally gets his opportunity, he realizes that he is no less frightened than before; it is simply that he has learned to push on in spite of that fear. A comparative newcomer to films, Murphy acquits himself magnificently in the difficult title role; equally impressive are political cartoonist Bill Mauldin as "The Loud Soldier," John Dierkes as "The Tall Soldier" and Royal Dano as "The Tattered Man." When Red Badge of Courage tested poorly in preview, the studio sliced it down to 69 minutes and added a narrator (James Whitmore) to clarify the more obscure plot passages. Further hurting the film was Bronislaus Kaper's overbaked musical score, which seemed more suited to a gung-ho John Wayne flick than a comparatively intimate tale of personal fortitude. Though the finished product plays like a Reader's Digest adaptation, a few brilliant passages remain, notably the sequence in which a commanding officer ingratiatingly lies to his troops for the sake of morale. Like Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, Red Badge of Courage is a truncated classic -- but a classic, all the same. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, (more)
- 1951
In Teresa, director Fred Zinnemann adopts the same quasi-documentary approach he'd used in The Search (1948). Lensed on location in Italy and New York, the film introduces Pier Angeli in the title role, and co-stars three male newcomers: John Ericson, Ralph Meeker and Rod Steiger. Teresa is the Italian bride of GI Philip (Ericson), who is established from the outset as mentally disturbed. Taking Teresa home with him to New York, Philip begins to crack under the pressure of married life -- not to mention the angst brought to bear by his highly dysfunctional family. A happy ending doesn't seem likely under these circumstances, but there's always hope. The best scene in Teresa occurs during an fateful visit to Coney Island. Featured in the cast is political cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who'd subsequently co-star in John Huston's Red Badge of Courage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Maria Pier Angeli, John Ericson, (more)
- 1951
Up Front is based on the wartime newspaper cartoons by Stars and Stripes contributor Bill Mauldin. Tom Ewell and David Wayne play Willie and Joe, the mud-caked, unshaven, war-weary protagonists of Mauldin's classic panels. The film is on the right track whenever using direct quotes from the original cartoons ("When we ain't fighting, we gotta ack like soljers?"), but soon the necessity for a plotline weighs down the humor. Also, the film waters down Mauldin's satirical jabs at insensitive Army officers and contradictory rules of conduct (Hollywood was still not permitted to find fault with anything military). Thus, we're left with a moderately entertaining piece of semi-slapstick about Willie and Joe's misadventures up and down the Italian front. Tom Ewell returned to play Willie in Up Front's sequel Willie and Joe Back at the Front (52), but David Wayne was replaced by Harvey Lembeck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Wayne, Tom Ewell, (more)
