Ernie Pyle was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and war correspondent best known for his stories about ordinary American men fighting World War II. President Harry Truman said, "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen."
As for this movie, when they were picking someone to play Pyle, he told the filmmakers, "For God's sake, don't let them make me look like a fool."
Producer Lester Cowan picked Burgess Meredith, who was a captain in the Army at the time and could not be released from active duty. That order was overruled by presidential advisor Harry Hopkins and General George C. Marshall approved Meredith's honorable discharge.
The spent time with Pyle in New Mexico as the writer recovered from surviving an accident bombing at the start of Operation Cobra in Normandy He believed that Meredith was the best actor for the role other than Leslie Howard, who had recently died in a plane crash.
Director William A. Wellman, a decorated combat pilot during World War I who served in the Lafayette Flying Corps of the French Air Force and earned a Croix de Guerre with two palms for valorous action, asked the Army for 150 soldiers and demanded that they spoke most of their own dialogue, as well as live and train with the actors.
C Company, 18th Infantry, U. S. Army, has never been in actual combat. As they head to the front lines, Lt. Bill Walker (Robert Mitchum) allows Pyle - who has never seen combat first-hand - to accompany him. Despite a bloody defeat at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, by the time Pyle finds the unit again months later, they've become efficient killing machines. But this movie doesn't shy from the horrors of war, as a battle near Monte Cassino keeps the men in caves, eating from cold ration cans for Christmas, slowly going insane in the face of war. As a man who Pyle watched get married dies in combat and another suffers a breakdown, the writer learns that he has won the Pulitzer, which seems like no comfort. After reuniting with the unit after the battle, he sees a long line of mules carrying the dead, the last one carrying his friend Walker, which causes the men to weep openly.
Pyle sums it up by saying, "For those beneath the wooden crosses, there is nothing we can do, except perhaps to pause and murmur, 'Thanks pal, thanks.'"
Pyle was pretty honest about the movie, saying, "They are still calling it The Story of G. I. Joe. I never did like the title, but nobody could think of a better one, and I was too lazy to try." Sadly, he was killed in action on Ie Shima during the invasion of Okinawa two months before the premiere of the movie about his life.
As for this movie, when they were picking someone to play Pyle, he told the filmmakers, "For God's sake, don't let them make me look like a fool."
Producer Lester Cowan picked Burgess Meredith, who was a captain in the Army at the time and could not be released from active duty. That order was overruled by presidential advisor Harry Hopkins and General George C. Marshall approved Meredith's honorable discharge.
The spent time with Pyle in New Mexico as the writer recovered from surviving an accident bombing at the start of Operation Cobra in Normandy He believed that Meredith was the best actor for the role other than Leslie Howard, who had recently died in a plane crash.
Director William A. Wellman, a decorated combat pilot during World War I who served in the Lafayette Flying Corps of the French Air Force and earned a Croix de Guerre with two palms for valorous action, asked the Army for 150 soldiers and demanded that they spoke most of their own dialogue, as well as live and train with the actors.
C Company, 18th Infantry, U. S. Army, has never been in actual combat. As they head to the front lines, Lt. Bill Walker (Robert Mitchum) allows Pyle - who has never seen combat first-hand - to accompany him. Despite a bloody defeat at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, by the time Pyle finds the unit again months later, they've become efficient killing machines. But this movie doesn't shy from the horrors of war, as a battle near Monte Cassino keeps the men in caves, eating from cold ration cans for Christmas, slowly going insane in the face of war. As a man who Pyle watched get married dies in combat and another suffers a breakdown, the writer learns that he has won the Pulitzer, which seems like no comfort. After reuniting with the unit after the battle, he sees a long line of mules carrying the dead, the last one carrying his friend Walker, which causes the men to weep openly.
Pyle sums it up by saying, "For those beneath the wooden crosses, there is nothing we can do, except perhaps to pause and murmur, 'Thanks pal, thanks.'"
Pyle was pretty honest about the movie, saying, "They are still calling it The Story of G. I. Joe. I never did like the title, but nobody could think of a better one, and I was too lazy to try." Sadly, he was killed in action on Ie Shima during the invasion of Okinawa two months before the premiere of the movie about his life.