The Naked and the Dead is a film about leadership in war. It asks the question, should leaders do anything for victory, or consider their men? The movie is based on the Norman Mailer novel, and adapted to the screen by the brothers Denis and Terry Sanders. Mailer, didn’t like the movie version of his written work. Many writers don’t. The script is well written, showing loyalty and heroism. It also shows what war can do to men’s character.
The story is set during the pacific war. The high command wants to gather intelligence on the Japanese. This task is given to General Cummings, (Raymond Massey). He is an officer who wants the mission accomplished, without thinking about the lives of his men. He has a reconnaissance team of enlisted men put together, led by Sgt. Sam Croft, (Aldo Ray). The actor puts forth one of his finest performances. Sgt. Croft is a man who seems to be made for war. On the other side of the situation, is Lt. Robert Hearn, (Cliff Robertson. He is on the general’s staff. Hearn has family connections that got him this cushy job.
What would a movie be without a protagonist. That is Lt. Hearn. He cannot stand General Cummings. He has voiced strong opposing views to the general. The response is to have the Lieutenant head up the janitorial service for his quarters. After a final confrontation with the general, Hearn is assigned to the reconnaissance team. It doesn’t make him happy, but he is relieved to be away from General Cummings.
The mission immediately gets off to a bad start. One of the men is bitten by a snake and dies. The men come across a lone Japanese soldier, and attempt to get information. Sgt. Croft, frustrated by this, shoots him. It doesn’t sit well with the Lt. The soldiers later find a baby bird with a broken wing. Sgt. Croft orders them to hand it over. He displays his character, and crushes it in his hand. He was before the mission remembering, how he caught his wife, Mildred, (Barbara Nichols), cheating on him, when he came home. He is not devastated by this, only angered, by his wife laughing at him. This incident, helps to explain, why he is comfortable in war.
The troops later encounter the Japanese in a dry field. They toss incendiary grenades at them. The field immediately catches fire, burning the troops alive. This is one of the many hard moments in the movie. The team later encounters more soldiers, and are nearly pinned down, but get away because the army is moving in the opposite direction. One of the men is gravely injured, and Croft wants to leave him. Lt. Hearn objects, but before any major disagreement, the soldier dies. During fighting, Lt. Hearn is seriously wounded. Croft wants to leave him, but the men want to evacuate him. Two soldiers leave the team, to take the lieutenant to safety.
The mission continues with Sgt. Croft in charge. After a harrowing escape, the remaining men must cross a mountain pass. One of the men freezes in fear. Croft decides that intimidation is the best way to overcome fear. He makes an anti- Semitic remark to the Jewish soldier. He becomes angry, and falls to his death. The few remaining men, decide they want to leave, and go back. Croft forcefully explains that they will complete the mission no matter the cost.
Raoul Walsh made a variety of movies. He was able to work successfully with difficult actors like Errol Flynn and James Cagney. He gave these two some of their best known roles. Walsh with The Naked and the Dead, gave audiences not just another war movie. It was a film with realistic action sequences. The more important thing is it shows how war affects men. The officers are shown in contrast. General Cummings is a petty and vindictive man. He cares nothing about the human cost of war. Lt. Hearn is the man who is thrown into the heat of battle, because of Cummings and becomes a true leader of men. Both Cliff Robertson and Raymond Massey give terrific performances. Raoul Walsh has a great shot of General Cummings at the end of the film, showing him as a man unsuited for high command.
Norman Mailer may not have like the filmed version of his book. It doesn’t matter. The movie still delivers on the theme, of men in war. The changes of men during war, and differences in style of leadership, make The Naked and the Dead stand out. It does not like many war films, show good and bad. It concentrates on the military as something it shouldn’t be, political. This is emphasized when General Cummings talks about his fallible situation. The officers and enlisted men are shown as being flawed. It does give the audience its heroes when necessary, in a time of war.