Sands of Iwo Jima - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Sands of Iwo Jima or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Sands of Iwo Jima

[nora]

This film recreates the famous raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, taken on Feb. 23, 1945, by photographer Joe Rosenthal. The three surviving flag raisers make a cameo appearance during this scene. Rene A. Gagnon, Ira H. Hayes and John H. Bradley are seen with John Wayne as he instructs them to hoist the flag (Wayne gives the folded flag to Gagnon). The flag used to recreate the incident is the actual flag that was raised on Mount Suribachi. It was loaned to the movie by the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA. Other films that would later depict the flag-raising on Iwo Jima include The Outsider (1961) and Flags of Our Fathers (2006).

[melinda]

This movie's opening credits state the following historical note- "The first American flag was raised on Mount Suribachi by the late Sgt. Ernest I. Thomas Jr., U.S.M.C. on the morning of February 23,1945."

[kenneth]

John Wayne turned the film down at first, since at 42 he was rather old for the part and because he felt the public had had enough of war films.

[kenzi]

The success of the film led to the commissioning of Operation Pacific (1951) and Flying Leathernecks (1951).

[darrell]

Special effects work included lampblack- and oil-covered sand to look like the volcanic ash of a Pacific island. In addition, gun emplacements, palm trees and pillboxes were made of plaster.

[fred]

During the opening credits John Agar co-stars by arrangement of David O. Selznick.

[ethel]

A number of actual military personnel portrayed themselves. These included retired Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith, who was the 5th Amphibious Corps commander and who also acted as a technical advisor; Col. David M. Shoup, U.S.M.C., who received the Medal of Honor; Capt. Harold G. Schrier, U.S.M.C., who commanded the Marines on the Suribachi slopes; Lt. Col. H.P. Crowe, U.S.M.C., who was a battalion commander on Tarawa; Pfc. Rene A. Gagnon; Pfc. Ira H. Hayes; and PhM3c John H. Bradley.

[clayton]

Even with considerable assistance from the U.S. Marine Corps the film went considerably over the original budget ($1 million) and when completed had cost nearly $1.4 million, making it the most expensive movie Republic Pictures had made up to that time.

[cameron]

"The New York Times" reported that location filming was at Camp Del Mar, El Toro Marine Air Station and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, all in southern California.

[beth]

When Sgt. Stryker is telling the squad why he had Pfc. Eddie Flynn's liberty revoked he is in a "dress" uniform showing three "hashmarks" on his sleeves. That would indicate he had a minimum of 12 years service in the Marine Corps, one hashmark for every four years, or a maximum of 15 years plus. Earlier in the film after he introduced himself to the squad Pfc. Thomas told the squad he had served with Stryker in China and he had been a Sergeant Major then. He said that Stryker must have done something stupid to be broken down to three stripes. A Sergeant Major is the highest enlisted rank, both in WWII and now, in the Marine Corps. Given that Styker and Thomas had served together some time before this meeting it is very unlikely that Stryker could have been a Sergeant Major with less than 20 years of service to the Corps.

[kim]

Paul Picerni wrote in his 2007 autobiography "Steps to Stardom: My Story" that John Wayne wore lifts in the film.

[tamara]

For over 60 years it was believed five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima. Extensive forensic evaluation and review led the Marine Corps to officially announce in 2016 that the Navy corpsman was not in the photograph; it was a sixth Marine, Harold Schultz, in the iconic photograph of the flag raising.

[jessica]

"The New York Times" reported on 5 February 1950 that Republic Pictures was developing a sequel to this movie entitled "Devil Birds", again to star John Wayne, but nothing came of it.

[kenneth]

According to the book "New Zealand Film" by Helen Martin and Sam Edwards, "During the early sections of the film, the R&R camp at Paekakariki in the lower half of the North Island [of New Zealand] was the setting for the meeting and bonding sequences prior to departing for battle. The same camp is the focus of the reminiscences of one of the women who contributed to Gaylene Preston's documentary 'War Stories' [War Stories (1995)].

[chad]

Apparently this movie has the first ever recorded use of the phrase "lock and load", said by John Wayne. "Lock and load" is a military command meaning to apply a weapon's safety catch, and then load it with ammunition. The expression was used once in this film for this meaning and once as a metaphor to get drunk, as in "get loaded".