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John Wayne, John Agar, Adele Mara, Forrest Tucker, Wally Cassell ... see more see more... , Arthur Franz , Julie Bishop , James Brown , Richard Webb , James Holden , Peter Coe , Richard Jaeckel , Bill Murphy , George Tyne , Hal Fieberling , John McGuire , Martin Milner , Leonard Gumley , Bill Self , H. Hayes Bradley , Capt. Harold G. Schrier U.S.M.C. , David Clarke , Col. D.M. Shoup U.S.M.C. , Bruce Edwards , The Three Living Survivors of the Fla , Dorothy Ford , Don Haggerty , Gil Herman , I. Stanford Jolley , Lt.Col. H.P. Crowe U.S.M.C. , Dick Wessel , Dick Jones , John Whitney , James Brown (II)

From director Allan Dwan, Sands of Iwo Jima is a drama set during the Second World War and follows John Stryker (John Wayne), a relentlessly tough Marine sergeant as he trains a squad of naïve, rebell... read more read more...ious recruits at a New Zealand military station in 1943. Recently left by his wife, Stryker has become exceedingly bitter and tough, leading his contemporaries to question his behavior and his men to dislike him for his harsh training methods. The wisdom of Stryker's ways, however, is demonstrated when they fight in the legendary battle of Iwo Jima. Using footage of real WWII battles, the Sands of Iwo Jima features John Wayne's first Academy Award-nominated performance, though Broderick Crawford ultimately won the 1950 Best Actor prize. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

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8,762 ratings

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10 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.

Directed by: Allan Dwan

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DVD Release Date: May 22, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (363)

  • ythelastman89
    August 10, 2010
    ythelastman89
    Probably the most influential WW2 movie ever made, you can see ever other movie proceeding it to have similar scenes and characters. Maybe it's because this uses stock footage from the real war, was made so close to the war and has The Duke playing the lead; this is one of the be... read morest war movies ever made. No, it's not as well made as Apocalypse Now! or as realistic as Platoon, but this has it where it counts and was made a full 30+ years before either was made. John Stryker is one of the most iconic soldiers in any movie, he represents the true tortured soul and sympathetic tough guy. When a movie like this can still be powerful today, you know they did something right.
  • sanjurosamurai
    October 28, 2008
    sanjurosamurai
    im not usually big on john wayne, but this is one of his four or five performances that i really enjoyed, and as a film this one is phenomenal. some absolutely great story telling for a war fillm nearly 60 years old. although storytelling in older films is usually better than i... read moren more recent films, war films have often been an exception to that. but this one gripped me. a must watch.
  • deano
    September 7, 2008
    deano
    Superb war film. The Duke was never better than as the haunted Sergeant Stryker, a man hated by his men (with a few exceptions) for his unyielding toughness, but it is by that attitude that he hopes to keep them alive in combat. Watch it and see how good John Wayne really was.
  • webalina
    January 6, 2008
    webalina
    A good war film with John Wayne, set in the Pacific Theatre of WWII. Wayne plays a tough sargeant trying to whip a bunch of new soldiers into shape to fight the Japanese. Exciting battle sequences, and a moving shot of the American flag going up on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The ... read moreonly problem I had with this film is that, for a film called Sands of Iwo Jima, they didn't even land there until the last 20 minutes of the movie. They hit Tarawa and Saipan first. But since that's history, I guess I'll have to live with it. I'm not a huge John Wayne fan, but I like him more in war pictures that Westerns. And this is one of his better ones, and he received an Oscar nomination for his performance.
  • garyX
    July 14, 2007
    garyX
    Let's face it, no-one watches John Wayne films with the expectation of sensitive soul-searching, so this is the usual kind of rugged, macho flag waving you'd expect from the duke. But it is done with intelligence and heart, and is a pretty solid war story on the whole.
  • jimbotender
    March 21, 2009
    jimbotender
    Wayne is giving a surprisingly excellent portrait of a fascist sergeant,preoccupied in reforming thoughts and supposedly liberal ideas.Impressive battle sequences and social morality yet if Patton was and is an overrated piece of militarism,I believe am really soft rating it with... read more an extra half for the decent neutrality of Iwo Jima events,despite the usual historical patriotism.
  • chadroesti
    April 3, 2007
    chadroesti
    Have I told you before that John Wayne kicks ass?
  • spear88878
    December 20, 2011
    spear88878
    I really think it's a good movie that shows some of the things that soldiers went through in that battle
  • thrusz
    August 27, 2008
    thrusz
    I might be writing these a bit too quickly, but then I have to get through a lot of these tonight so I can get the review for Back to the Future done before I leave for camping tomorrow.

    My buddy, Roy, is a United States Marine. Like all Marines, he's very Semper Fi, w... read morehich makes me very Semper Fi. But as much as I could ever support him, this movie will always do more. This movie is Super-Marine-Friendly. From the opening credits, blazing the image of the Corps to playing an epic score "From the Halls of Montezuma..." Really, you can't any more Marine than this.

    Is the movie all that great? Yes and no. It's a classic and I can totally tell why. The only issue is that I've seen this movie time and time again. I'm not talking about the Iwo Jima story. Although I saw that in Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. This really isn't an Iwo Jima story. I mean, everything builds up to it and the end takes place at Iwo Jima, but this is a story about the Marines. It's a pretty traditional story with all the stock military characters. There's the gruff sergeant who doesn't take no sh*t from no strangers. There's the kid with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. There's the guy who can't wait to make a fortune the second he gets out. The brothers who fight. To coward. Really, everyone's here in one story. Luckily for us, the story is pretty good.

    This is one of the movies that made John Wayne really famous. Sure, he's done a ton of other stuff and personally, I'm going to say that some of his other stuff is actually probably better. But he does his stuff in this movie. Perhaps he's not as conflicted as he is in The Searchers, but he's got some stuff going on here that you really have to respect. The main thing that you really have to see that you normally don't get is the fact that he's a father and a hard ass. Yeah, the conflict is there, but it doesn't really get to the heart of it. Sure, we touch on it, but the story is all over the place and primarily focused on the "becoming a soldier" aspects. I mean, the movie was made in 1949, so I don't know how much propaganda was made at the time (remember, we still had to deal with Korea and the Russians are around the corner, but I suck at dates) But this feels a lot like some of Cagney outings where we see the soldier who has to train, despite his bad attitude, only to learn that the toughness was really important.

    Honestly, my big beef is that the movie isn't all that great. It's a fun war movie, but that's about as far as it goes. I've seen so many really great war movies that have a lot more substance. But this movie is a bit of patriotism. Sure, patriotism doesn't a good movie make, but I always seem to dig them a little bit. I mean, one of my favorite movie is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. That's really the draw of this movie. That and John Wayne. If you are a big John Wayne nerd, then you might really dig this movie. Heck, if you are a John Wayne nerd, then you've already seen it. It's a good time and it is not all that long. Take it from there.
  • IsaacMahomie
    August 26, 2008
    IsaacMahomie
    It's a classic for it's time. Nice original footage, and some good battle segments. But most of the acting is pretty poor.

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Critic Reviews

Steve Crum
March 8, 2008
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

One of John Wayne's best performances, and an entertainment above average on its own.

Emanuel Levy
January 12, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

In one of his best roles, Wayne's Stryker is a sergeant disliked by his recruits due to his ruthless training and rigid code of ethics. The film established the two-generational plot as a Wayne staple... Full Review

James Plath
October 21, 2005
James Plath, Movie Metropolis

Solid patriotic WWII vehicle for Wayne.

Tony Medley
September 17, 2004
Tony Medley, Tolucan Times

A rip-snorting 1940s style war movie

Dennis Schwartz
January 19, 2004
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Tailor-made for John Wayne. Full Review

John A. Nesbit
June 12, 2002
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews

one of the better U.S. propaganda films of the 40s, filled with American ideals and values Full Review

October 7, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

August 8, 2006
New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Carol Cling
November 7, 2003
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

Brian J. Arthurs
October 9, 2003
Brian J. Arthurs, Beach Reporter (Southern California)

No review available.

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Sands of Iwo Jima Trivia

  • John Wayne died in all three of which of the following movie?  Answer »
  • John Wayne lives in the Cowboys but dies in Sands of Iwo Jima.  Answer »
  • The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) featured how many actual flag raisers from the battle?  Answer »
  • Who played Sergeant Stryker in "Sands of Iwo Jima" and Captain York in "Fort Apache" ?  Answer »
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