Battle of The Oscar Stars: Best Picture 1953

Boasting the most notorious beach make-out scene in all of movie history, all of us think we know a little bit about From Here To Eternity. That two second clip is literally all I knew about the Best Picture winner of 1953, so I went into this movie thinking, "oh, it's probably just a swirling love story." Well, that's kind of true, but mostly that preconceived notion is completely blown out of the water (for those who know the plot of the movie, pun intended)!

Having expectations for a movie, is only fun when they are exceeded, and in this case it did just that. Anticipating a simple romance, but instead being served an incredibly intense story involving "ladies of the night", cheating husbands and wives, and the bombing of pearl harbor, made this an interesting movie night.

Based in Hawaii during 1941, at the brink of America's involvement in WWII, the story begins as Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt joins a new army base. The men here make Prewitt's life a living hell after his refusal to join the boxing team, even though he is notoriously talented.

At first it seems like most of the movie will involve army mumbo-jumbo (a snooze to me), but then we start talking affairs and terrible husbands and things get interesting. Deborah Kerr (who I had never liked until this movie) plays the wife of the no-good, cheatin' army Captain. Leaving you with a little tease, so you will watch this movie (currently streaming instantly on Netflix), the moment and story told by Deborah Kerr directly following the classic beach romp is seriously gasp worthy.

I almost had to watch that part again, because I couldn't believe how quickly it moves from romance on the beach to DRAMA. Why aren't more people talking about that?

Since my reasons to see movies often are based on the people featured in them, here is another reason to watch; old blue eyes! Frank Sinatra, who I often forget was also an actor, plays the ballsy best mate of Prewitt and even does a little singing.

From Here To Eternity will get my recommended stamp today, because I just can't keep my hands off of sweeping, historical fiction epics (yeah, I even liked Australia). Also, as it is the day after I watched it, I still can't get over how different this movie was from what I expected. I hope to keep getting surprised.