Beach Red (1967)
Produced, directed and staring Cornell Wilde, Beach Red with it's often trippy sixties vibe feels like the stepping stone from classic war movies to the psychological nihilism that would assault our screens in the form of Apocalypse Now and its ilk.
Coming over as a cross between Saving Private Ryan's beach assault and The Thin Red Line even though it was made decades earlier than either film, Beach Red has a confident air about it with some innovative photography and a few mind bending visuals not to mention graphic scenes of war including a soldier staggering around on the beach in a daze searching for his arm.
The sixties weirdness comes in with the cut away's to fleeting memories of civilian life of both the American and Japanese soldiers and the trippy way Wilde integrates it into the general malaise going on around.
Visually excellent with some exciting battle sequences (The first forty minutes is all beach assault), Beach Red is highly recommended.
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