The Outsider (1961 film)

The Outsider
The Outsider
	Australian film poster
Directed by	Delbert Mann
Screenplay by	Stewart Stern
Based on	The Hero of Iwo Jima; by William Bradford Huie
Produced by	Sy Bartlett
Starring	Tony Curtis
Cinematography	Joseph LaShelle, A.S.C.
Edited by	Marjorie Fowler, A.C.E.
Music by	Leonard Rosenman; (composed and conducted)
Distributed by	Universal-International
Release date	December 1961;
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Outsider is a 1961 biopic film about Ira Hayes, a Native American who fought in World War II in the United States Marine Corps and was one of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. The film stars Tony Curtis as Hayes. It was directed by Delbert Mann.

Jim Sorenson, a Marine depicted as Hayes's best friend, is a fictional composite of other men who raised the flag. The movie was adapted from an article by William Bradford Huie about Hayes.

Plot

17-year-old Ira Hamilton Hayes has never been off the Pima reservation in Arizona until he enlists in the United States Marine Corps.

Hayes is shunned by fellow Marines and mocked as "Chief". All except for one, Jim Sorenson. By chance they are two of the six U.S. servicemen who hoist the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the battle at Iwo Jima. A photograph of them becomes an iconic image of the war, serving as the basis for a memorial that was installed in Arlington, Virginia. After this action, Sorenson is killed by enemy fire.

A morose and traumatized Hayes returns home, where he is proclaimed a hero and recruited to help sell war bonds to the public. As his depression mounts, Hayes, feeling unworthy of the attention and publicity, takes refuge in whiskey.

Hayes' alcoholism after he leaves the Marine Corps becomes a public scandal. Hayes wishes to be left alone, but a tribal chief implores him to go to Washington, D.C., on his people's behalf to seek political support for an irrigation bill. Not until he attends the dedication of the Marine Corps War Memorial (also called the Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Virginia on November 10, 1954, does he sober up and pull himself together.

Hayes returns to the reservation, but is deeply disappointed when the tribal council no longer seems to want anything to do with him. He begins drinking again and goes off into the hills, where he dies of exposure to the elements ten years after the Iwo Jima battle. He was 32.

End inscription

"Ira Hayes was buried with
full military honors at
Arlington National Cemetery
on February 2, 1955."

Cast

Tony Curtis as Ira Hayes
James Franciscus as Jim Sorenson
Gregory Walcott as Sergeant Kiley
Bruce Bennett as Major General Bridges
Vivian Nathan as Nancy Hayes
Edmund Hashim as Morago
Paul Comi as Sergeant Boyle
Stanley Adams as Noomie
Wayne Heffley as Corporal Johnson
Ralph Moody as Uncle
Jeff Silver as McGruder
James Beck as Tyler
Forrest Compton as Bradley
Peter Homer, Sr. as Mr. Alvarez
Mary Patton as Chairlady

Production

The movie was filmed on location at the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Camp Calvin B. Matthews in California, Soldier Field in Chicago, San Diego, the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery, and at Universal Studios in California.

External links

The Outsider at IMDb

Plot

End inscription

Cast

Production

See also

External links