Movies FILMED ON Camp Pendleton War Dogs (1942) Gung Ho: The Story of Carlson’s Makin Island Raiders (1943) Salute to the Marines (1943) Guadalcanal Diary (1943) Winged Victory (1944) Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) Halls of Montezuma (1951) Flying Leathernecks (1951) Retreat Hell! (1952) Battle Cry (1955)
The D.I. (1957) The Outsider (1961) To the Shores of Hell (1966) First to Fight (1967) Baby Blue Marine (1976) Midway (1976) MacArthur (1977) Heartbreak Ridge (1986) Rules of Engagement (2000) Green Dragon (2001) Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Progress Edition, Oceanside Daily Blade‐Tribune, 1944; image courtesy of Camp Pendleton Archives
1951 – Halls of Montezuma. Directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Richard Widmark, Richard Boone, Jack Palance, Karl Malden and Robert Wagner. The film depicts Marines fighting on a Japanese-held island and included actual color film war footage. The Marine Corps cooperated by providing accurate military equipment, weapons, tanks and uniforms as well as the manpower to create the logistics of a wartime Marine battalion. Camp Pendleton was utilized including beaches to simulate landings. The film was used for recruitment and proceeds from the movie’s premiers were donated to Marine Corps-associated charities. 1951 – Flying Leathernecks. Directed by Nicholas Ray, produced by Edmund Grainger, and starring John Wayne as the strict new commanding officer of VMF-247, the “Wildcats” squadron of Marine pilots which he transforms into battle-ready warriors to fight against the Japanese Kamikaze during the Battle of Okinawa. The movie was bankrolled by Howard Hughes, himself a pilot; Hughes decided to film in Technicolor, enabling adding color wartime combat footage to the film. Photography began at Camp Pendleton and El Toro Marine Corps bases and moved for studio sound stage sequences. Grumman F6F Hellcats and Vought F4U Corsair fighters were featured. 1952 – Retreat Hell! Directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starring Frank Lovejoy, the movie is a fact-based account of valiant 1st Marine Division Marines who temporarily stemmed the Communist tide during the Korean War; former Marine Milton Sperling produced and co-wrote the film. The Marine Corps approved the request by Warner Brothers to depict the offensive by Chinese Communist Forces. Commandant Lemuel Shepherd allowed six weeks of filming at Camp Pendleton, bulldozing of a road by film crew and sprinkling it with gypsum to simulate snow and Marines to create accurate Korean villages for the film. Marine Corps requests influenced the Hollywood Production Code Office to finally approve the title in spite of its ban on the word “hell.” 1955 – Battle Cry. Produced and directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, James Whitmore, Tab 38
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Hunter, Anne Francis, Dorothy Malone, Raymond Massey, and Mona Freeman, the movie was based on the novel by former Marine Leon Uris who wrote the screenplay. The film was set at the beginning of the Pacific War. 1957 – The D.I. Directed, produced, and starring Jack Webb, the movie depicts a Parris Island Recruit Depot drill instructor’s story. Portions of the film were shot at Camp Pendleton. The Marine Corps premiered the film at Parris Island and used the film for the training of Marine Corps Drill Instructors, due to positive Marine Corps portrayal and the lack of profanity or physical abuse. 1961 – The Outsider. Directed by Delbert Mann and starring Tony Curtis as Ira Hayes, the film documented the Native American who fought in World War II and participated in the Iwo Jima flag raising. The film ends with Ira Hayes’ death at age 32 due to exposure, ten years after the battle at Iwo Jima. 1966 – To the Shores of Hell. Directed by Will Zens and starring Marshall Thompson, Richard Arlen, Dick O’Neill and Robert Dornan, this Vietnam War film is about a Marine Major who works to rescue his physician brother from the Viet Cong. The movie begins using footage of amphibious landing exercises at Camp Pendleton. 1967 – First to Fight. A Warner Brothers film starring Chad Everett, Marilyn Devin, Dean Jagger, Bobby Troup and James Best, the movie was shot at Camp Pendleton and is loosely based on the story of Medal of Honor recipient, Gunnery Sergeant “Manila” John Basilone. 1976 – Baby Blue Marine. Produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg and directed by John D. Hancock, the Metrocolor film starred Jan-Michael Vincent and Glynnis O’Connor and was set during World War II. Some scenes were shot at the former Amphibious Vehicle Museum at the top of Rattlesnake Canyon Road in Camp Pendleton’s Mainside area. 1976 – Midway. Directed by Jack Smight and produced by Walter Mirisch, the movie stars Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro www.oceansidechamber.com
