Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Synopsis
Hacksaw Ridge is a biopic/war film written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenk-
kan and directed by Mel Gibson. Based on the 2004 documentary The Conscien-
tious Objector and other sources, the film focuses on Desmond Doss (played by
Andrew Garfield), a Seventh Day Adventist conscientious objector turned combat
medic who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the World
War II Battle of Okinawa.
Background
During the Battle of Okinawa (1 April–22 June 1945), Pfc. Desmond T. Doss (1919–
2006), a combat medic assigned with the 77th Infantry Division, risked his life to
save dozens of wounded comrades, carry ing them from the battlefield under heavy
fire and lowering them by a rope sling down the 400- foot- high cliff face of the
Maeda Escarpment (aka “Hacksaw Ridge”). During this engagement Doss was him-
self badly wounded. Doss’s incredibly heroic actions earned him the Medal of
Honor, making him the first conscientious objector to be so honored. In the 1950s
Hollywood producers Darryl Zanuck and Hal B. Wallis tried to get Doss to sell them
his story, but to no avail. Years later a non- Adventist named Booton Herndon wrote
The Unlikeliest Hero (1967), a Doss biography read in 1974 by Stan Jensen, commu-
nications director for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Canada. Convinced that
Doss’s saga would make a great movie, Jensen moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to be
closer to the Hollywood film industry in hopes of persuading a producer to make
a film about Doss. In 2001 Jensen met screenwriter- producer Gregory Crosby
(grand son of Bing Crosby) during a special event at Jensen’s bookstore. After read-
ing the book Crosby agreed that it should be made into a movie. Next, Jensen and
Crosby traveled to rural Georgia to convince Doss, then 82, to let them make the
film. Desmond Doss had not altered his views on Hollywood; he feared that a
movie would sensationalize his life and disparage his religious beliefs, but Jen-
sen and Crosby were ultimately able to convince Doss to give his assent. Crosby
wrote a treatment and he and a close friend, stunt coordinator Joel Kramer, pitched
Doss’s story to film producer David Permut of Permut Pre sen ta tions. Permut com-
mitted to the proj ect but it then entered a 14- year period of “development hell.”
The film rights changed hands several times, moving from director Terry Bene-
dict to producer Bill Mechanic to Walden Media and then back to Bill Mechanic.
Mechanic was determined to get Mel Gibson to direct the film version of Doss’s