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Cornel Wilde’s directorial follow-up to his superb The Naked Prey was hot stuff in its day, a war movie with an unexpected emphasis on brutality and gore. Rip Torn bears down too hard on his stock character, while Wilde’s attempts to pull off associative thought memory montages come off as amateurish. But the movie has a firm fan base among lovers of movie combat, and the new transfer bests all previous video encodings.

Beach Red

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1967 / Color / 1:85 widescreen Academy / 105 min. / Street Date January 5, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Cornel Wilde, Rip Torn, Burr DeBenning, Patrick Wolfe, Jean Wallace, Jaime Sánchez, Dale Ishimoto, Genki Koyama.

Cinematography: Cecil R. Cooney

Film Editor: Frank P. Keller

Original Music: Antonio Buenaventura

Written by Clint Johnston, Jefferson Pascal, Don Peters from the novel by Peter Bowman

Produced and Directed by Cornel Wilde

This is one movie title that connects...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actor Rip Torn has died at age 88. He was a volatile figure in the entertainment industry, known for his sometimes bizarre behavior as well as his brilliant performances. A native Texan, he gravitated to  New York City in the 1950s where he studied under Lee Strasberg at the legendary Actors Studio. He was championed by director Elia Kazan, who gave Torn high profile roles in his stage and film productions. Torn gained major acclaim with a Tony-nominated performance on Broadway in "Sweet Bird of Youth", a role he would reprise in the 1963 film version. Torn's film career occasionally saw him attain leading man status but he remained a highly acclaimed supporting actor throughout his career. His feature films include "A Face in the Crowd", "Baby Doll", "The Cincinnati Kid", "Pork Chop Hill", "King of Kings", "Beach Red", "Coming Apart", "Tropic of Cancer", "Crazy Joe", "The Man Who Fell to Earth...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

Now this is what you call a bargain: three terrific WWII flicks for only $10 on Amazon, courtesy of Shout! Factory's Timeless Media label, which continues to distribute first rate editions of films that were often considered to be second-rate at the time of their initial release. This "War Film Triple Feature" package includes three gems that were not particularly notable at the time of their release. Two have grown in stature, while the third has benefited only from Cinema Retro writer Howard Hughes' enthusiastic coverage in issue #25. The films included in the set are:

"Attack" (1955)- During the period of WWII, both the Allied and Axis film industries concentrated on feature films that were pure propaganda designed to motivate their fighting men and the public at large. By the early-to-mid-1950s, however,  more introspective viewpoints emerged among Hollywood directors and writers. With the conflict now over,...

In honor of the HBO mini series The Pacific, this week’s pick goes out to the “devil dogs” of the United States Marine Corp with the 1967 release Beach Red, directed by and starring Cornel Wilde. Beach Red is a “Vietnam morale booster” which came out at a very critical time during America’s involvement in Vietnam.

The film centers around a company of Marines (commanded by Wilde) who storm a Pacific hell hole of an island to take it back from the Japanese. A majority of the film is told through a series of montages/narration by both American & Japanese who are tired of fighting, and of the war (very similar plot to Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers & Letters From Iwo Jima.) Captain MacDonald (Wilde) and Gunnery Sgt. Ben Honeywell, played ever so convincingly by veteran character actor, and one who confuses his home with a local bank Rip Torn,...

The Anthology Film Archives in New York City is presenting the films of actor Rip Torn between March 5- 15. Screenings include titles rarely seen on the big screen including Beach Red, Sweet Bird of Youth, Payday, Coming Apart and Tropic of Cancer.The festival is most welcome, as it puts the spotlight on one of the most interesting actors working today. Our only gripe: the schedule doesn't include the Man From U.N.C.L.E. feature film One Spy Too Many in which Torn became one of the great villains of the medium with his portrayal of Alexander the Greater, a man who plans to conquer the world through breaking each ot The Ten Commandments in turn.

Here is the text of the press release from Anthology Film Archives:

A ubiquitous but under-appreciated presence on screen for nearly five decades, Rip Torn is one of American cinema's great talents,...

There's no need to focus all your attention on new releases, particularly not when spring is studded with enough fantastic repertory scheduling to fill your every evening. Here's a look at what's been planned in New York and L.A.

New York:

Anthology Film Archives

Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra returns to the Anthology Film Archives from Feb. 25-March 3 to present his latest film, "Birdsong," an atmospheric retelling of biblical Three Wise Men story with an eye towards the desert landscape they were traveling [pictured left], in addition to Mark Peranson's experimental making-of "Birdsong" doc, "Waiting for Sancho," which will show on Feb. 28 and March 1... On March 4, '60s underground filmmaker Jose Rodriguez Soltero will get a double feature of two newly restored prints of his 1965 exploration of narcissism, "Jerovi," and the 1966 celebration of Mexican Hollywood star Lupe Velez, "Lupe."... From March 5 through 15, one of America's finest character actors gets a retrospective...