User reviews

I was a boy of 14 at boarding school in England when I saw this film on release. The memory of it is with me still at 75 so it must have had some merit emotionally if nothing else. The second world war was still on and we were all aware of the horrors daily being brought to notice. Fellow pupils were finding parent(s) and brothers/sisters lost in the conflict. The film I recall we who saw it went back a second time. Thomas Mitchell as the father was the dominant character in the film.I still think of him as a forerunner to characters played later by Ernest Borgnine who was in the same mould. Anne Baxter was not yet at her best but was a sympathetic player demanded by her sorely tested motherhood in this film.

The USS Sullivans is now anchored in a Naval Park in Buffalo, NY. This destroyer was named in honor of the Sullivan Brothers who all lost their life during the battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. After Pearl Harbor they all enlisted in the Navy with the condition of not being separated. While serving on the USS Juno they perished together. Shipmates reported that three of the brothers, when out of harms way, returned to the burning ship for their brothers when it went under. When news of this tragic loss was learned, the government instituted the rule that stands today, no brothers will serve in the same combat theatre. This was due to the Sullivans.

I saw this movie one night with my mother on late night TV in 1981. Let me tell you, the very memory of the ending of this movie brings me to tears. A mixture of pride and sorrow. Do not hesitate, purchase, and watch this film.

THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS, as it was known by the time I saw it, is a fantastic WW2 era film. It's more Americana than War film, but it's a truly engrossing story about the loyalty of family and the tragedy of sacrifice. The video box calls it a "story of the fighting navy!" That's not really true, half of the story takes place when the Sullivan brothers are boys, and the sinking of the Juneau is only a five minute scene at the end of the film. They're only in the navy for a few minutes of screen time. The relationships between the brothers and their distinct personalities is what makes this film stand out, and no person with a heart beating in his chest can sit dry eyed through the ending when the father goes to work as usual, even after hearing some devastating news. This film pushes all the right buttons and is a wonderful example of just how strongly a film can manipulate your emotions. I can't watch it without getting a lump in the old throat.

This film is presented as vignettes of the boys at different ages, as if seen through a mother's loving eyes. It makes your heart particularly vulnerable to their inevitable fate. Especially poignant to the audiences of the day, note that it was released in 1944, during some of the darker days of World War II.

Five brothers DID die as the result of ONE enemy encounter. It was a terrible tragedy. It made one family's sacrifice TOO great. In their honor, there has always been a "USS The Sullivans" afloat. The newly commisioned ship can be seen, along with the "new" skipper (sometimes), on patriotic holidays when the movie is shown. They have him (and the ship) in the "bumpers" between segments. It adds a new dimension and reality to the film.

My younger children always gather round to watch the "Leave it to Beaver" type antics of the brothers growing up. They very much enjoy the "little troublemakers". They DO follow the film and understand what happens at the end. I'm glad they do. It's not lost on them. And we always salute, along with Pop Sullivan, at the end of the movie.....

REST IN PEACE, BOYS...........

THE SULLIVANS

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white)

A working-class couple (Thomas Mitchell and Selena Royle) raise six children - five boys and a girl - to adulthood, only to suffer an appalling tragedy during wartime.

When America finally entered the Second World War in December 1941, President Roosevelt was advised by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to prohibit family members from serving together on active duty. It was not an idle warning: Within months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, headlines were generated across the world by a smaller - though no less tragic - incident which befell a hard-working Irish-American family from Waterloo, Iowa, an incident which forms the basis of Lloyd Bacon's flag-waving melodrama. Mary C. McCall Jr.'s episodic screenplay (based on an Oscar-nominated story by Jules Schermer and Edward Doherty) is imbued with the kind of homespun values craved by audiences during wartime, and follows the fortunes of the Suillivan brood from adolescence to young adulthood, charting a recognizable course through the ups and downs of their otherwise unremarkable lives. However, their world is changed forever by the onset of war, leading to the worst possible disaster. In fact, the last fifteen minutes of the film are so utterly heartbreaking (particularly the 'water tower' sequence), many theater owners refused to screen the movie until the end of the war, believing it would be too painful for families whose loved ones were still fighting on the front line. Half a century later, Steven Spielberg paid tribute to the Sullivan family by using their experience as a springboard for his own wartime drama, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998).

Director Bacon (a veteran craftsman who began his career in silent films before gravitating toward sound-era classics like 42nd STREET in 1933) tells the story in straightforward fashion, employing close-ups and tracking shots purely for dramatic emphasis at key points in the narrative. He also uses an instrumental version of the old military standard 'Anchors Away' to particularly memorable effect during the latter stages of the film - some will find it corny, others will be deeply moved; either response is valid. Production values are economical but solid, and the cast is a mixed bag of veterans and newcomers, spearheaded by old-hands Royle (THE HEIRESS) and Mitchell (one of Hollywood's most celebrated character actors, usually a supporting player in A-list productions like GONE WITH THE WIND and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE), while Anne Baxter - so memorable in Orson Welles' THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - toplines the younger cast in a thankless minor role. The performances of the five Sullivan boys (all played by relative unknowns) are variable, though the young actors who play them as children aren't even credited on-screen! Chief amongst them is Bobby Driscoll (as the youngest family member), a hugely talented child star who won an Oscar for his role in Ted Tetzlaff's superb thriller THE WINDOW (1949) and later provided the voice of the title character in Disney's PETER PAN (1953). Further down the cast list in a small but crucial role is Ward Bond, playing a navy officer who utters the single most wrenching line of dialogue in the entire film ("All five"). Remembered fondly for his role in TV's "Wagon Train", Bond appeared in almost 300 movies during the course of his long career, lending an element of quiet dignity to every role he ever played. Also known as THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS.

NB. Shortly after the events described in this movie, President Roosevelt finally decreed that family members would no longer be allowed to serve together in the US military. This rule has been enforced ever since.

This has to be the greatest tearjerker of all time. I was only an early teenager when I saw this (now 66), and I cried till the sun came up, as I lie in bed trying to sleep after seeing it. Thomas Mitchell was just too much as the bereaved father, and I have felt a close kinship to him because of what he went through for what seems like all of my life. I wanted to take him in my arms and comfort him somehow. His boys were so filled with wonder and joy, and so young and excited about life. The movie almost culminates everything that is so devastating about war, but makes the point that it has its place in the weaknesses of mankind, and the fact that we all are, after all, just human.

I understand this movie did not do well when it was released (1944). At that time, when American hearts were so tender with pain, it is understandable. Today, it reminds us of the magnitude of sacrifice of human life and grief it cost families across this nation.

I have acquired a deeper appreciation for those who went before us so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.

I hope everyone who reads this will have the opportunity to see this movie. Though a classic it has not lost its ability to stir the mind and heart.

May God hold and keep all those who have lost loved ones in the conflicts this nation has faced in the past and today.

So jaded our we as a nation that the scenario of this patriotic family drama today looks like it was created by aliens--foreigners who got the impression that WWII-era America may have resembled just this, conjured up through memories of spreads in the Saturday Evening Post. Close-knit, church-going kin with five sons and one daughter josh and rib and 'lick' each other throughout the 1930s, the children growing into fine, upstanding young adults by the dawn of the next decade. True story decked out with Hollywood trimmings, though most of the actors are so sincere that the sentiment doesn't feel heavy-handed. Still, these brothers (who march off in unison to the Naval Recruiter's office after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor) aren't given much individual character; we see them just as the director and scenarists hope we'll see them: as a fighting unit, so brave they don't even have second thoughts. These Fighting Sullivans were instant heroes to a rapturous war-time America, so much so that any hint of complexity in their characters has been scrubbed clean. Edward Ryan (as Al) looks a little puny taking womanly Anne Baxter into his arms, but Thomas Mitchell is wonderful as the patriarch of the family, and the child actors are each quite good. **1/2 from ****

A series of country-fried, saccharine-sweet vignettes follow the growth of my hometown's own Sullivan brothers from quickly-angered little boys to grown men getting sunk on a battleship.

The film has little substance aside from being a great example of morale boasting propaganda designed to pick up a nation's spirits as the battle for the Pacific got bloodier and bloodier. The childsploitation of the nauseatingly cute brothers-as-children is the most shameless this side of John John's salute, and the tales of family togetherness and the accepting of traditional roles are so predictable that they allow no room for real character growth-or real characters, for that matter. I felt about as sad at the end of this film as I would have had it been nothing more than a shot of five cardboard cutouts being burned. The walking-on-the-clouds ending was laugh-out-loud corny and the scenes leading up to it ranged from boring to mildly amusing.

That's not to say that the picture didn't have any good points. Some scenes are genuinely amusing and, when they're not going too far overboard, those kids are genuinely cute, but still its flaws outweigh its positives.

If Ward Bond is not remembered for one word in his long career in movies his line in "The Sullivans" should be. "All Five" when he is asked which one it was that was killed in the Pacific. A truly memorable movie by all. Tearjerker? It would rank number one!

This starts out as the story of a family with five sons. It is sweet and entertaining. Then the war starts ...

I'm not going to say any more other than have a handkerchief ready. This country has been through some rough times in our lifetime, but at least we didn't have to live through the Great Depression and WWII.

Sure. This is a slice of Americana made during the war years. I'm sure that a bit of dramatic licence was used, but that shouldn't detract from a stirring,emotionally made movie.A true story about five brothers who served and died on the same ship at the same time,still delivers a jarring note,even when seen today. Compare it with a similar scene in Saving Private Ryan,when a mother is told about the loss of her sons in battle. The cast of The Sullivans is perfect,as is the screenplay.The scene where Ward Bond informs the Sullivan family of the deaths of the five brothers still packs a emotional wallop.Thomas Mitchell leads the cast as the elder Sullivan,who teaches the boys the ways of life.There's touches of Irish wit and wisdom that adds humor to the film. Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

This is a must see movie to truly apreciate the sacrifices made for our country by the "greatest generation". The heart of the movie is the lives of the brothers growing up. If the film were made today it would probably focus too much on the actual death of the boys, instead this film instead focuses on the lives that were lived by 5 great american men. If you have never seen this film, get a copy of it and watch a cinematic triumph in storytelling.

Very seldom when I was small, we would be allowed to sit up late to catch a movie, but always to the distaste of my mother, who was adamant that bedtime was bedtime, movie or not. So I'll never forget the night that we were actually called out of bed to come up and watch this, the fighting Sullivan's. We sat, engrossed in the lives of these young men, convinced that it was a comedy we were watching. The little rascals-esquire capers of the boys always stuck with me, especially the "dentist" scene. As the Sullivan's grew, we grew closer and closer to them, until the tragic finale; words cannot describe the wave of emotion that flowed over me. In the end, i turned to my dad, teary eyed, to ask him if it really was a true story; more sensitive parents would have said yes, its all made up... A truly special movie, one for everybody.

I am in my 50's and was raised by a Mother that drug me to movies whether I stood a chance in hell of knowing or understanding what I was watching or not, so over the years I have been exposed to many, many themes, situations and melodramas that should and have given me a skeptical eye to emotional manipulations. That being said: I NEVER fail to cry in the closing minutes of this excellent film.

This is one of the few movies I've seen that really made me cry. I agree with others who wrote about this and would definitely put it up there with The Best Years of our Lives as one of the great World War II pictures. Saving Private Ryan didn't move me as much as this mainly because we really don't get to know Private Ryan (or his brothers, for that matter). In this movie, we get to know all of the brothers, especially the oldest and the youngest. It did feel a bit like the Waltons in the first hour (were homes really that apple pie in Iowa in the 30s?) But watching the boys come of age and struggle with basic teenage issues, and then watching them enlist, made their fates all the more powerful. Yes, I knew what was going to happen but I was moved all the same. This movie should be required viewing for everyone who adored Saving Private Ryan.