STORY OF G.I. JOE, THE 307
constant moviegoer exposed to the banalities of the superplotted feature, this pic-
ture is a luxurious experience. For once the soldier is treated as a human being,
set apart by special circumstances rather than by oddities of character. There are
no plot compulsions. The characters do not get pushed around by the demands of
the ste reo typed melodrama that usually go under the name of ‘war pictures.’
There is more drama here, in the GI easing his pack by the roadside, than in the
loud heroics of a Robert Taylor taking on the whole Japa nese army” (Foster, 1945,
p. 27). Thomas Pryor noted that the movie won high praise from actual G.I.s:
“When the men of the Fifth Army, many of whom participated in the picture, saw
The Story of G.I. Joe in Italy, their verdict was ‘This is it.’ Lester Cowan, the pro-
ducer, and all those others who contributed to this magnificent and so richly
deserved tribute to the infantry soldier, could ask for no greater rewards” (New
York Times, Oct. 6, 1945). No less an authority than General Dwight Eisenhower
pronounced The Story of G.I. Joe “the finest war film I have ever seen.”
Reel History Versus Real History
The characters in The Story of G.I. Joe are mostly fictitious, but the episodic events
depicted in the film are based on actual experiences documented by Pyle in his
frontline dispatches. Respectful of Ernie Pyle and obligated to the U.S. military for
cooperation and support, Cowan, Wellman, and their screenwriters strove to ensure
that the film achieved the highest level of authenticity pos si ble. They even used
150 G.I.s as extras who actually participated in the battles depicted in the film.
The movie’s final scene, dramatizing the aftermath of Capt. Walker’s death, is based
on Pyle’s most famous and widely reprinted column: “The Death of Captain Was-
kow” (10 January 1944), a poignant piece on Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton,
Texas, a beloved com pany commander in the 36th Division who was killed in Italy
by a German mortar round. In the movie, his men respectfully bid him farewell in
much the same way as Pyle described the actual incident. Critics generally credit
The Story of G.I. Joe as the most au then tic war film of its era.