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“The Outsider” is about Ira Hayes, the Pima Native American and Marine, who was one of five Marines and one sailor to raise the second American flag on Iwo Jima, forever immortalized in the famous photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal.
Hayes joined the Marines in 1942. After various assignments, in 1945 Hayes took part in the landing on Iwo Jima participating in the battle for Mount Suribachi where the second American flag would be raised. Soon after this historical battle, Hayes and the two other survivors of the flag raising were ordered back to the states and put on display as heroes touring the country to help the Government sell more war bonds. Hayes' post war life was troubled, alcoholic, tormented by the death of so many of his fellow soldiers and continuously trying to remain out of the limelight that he was so uncomfortable with. In January of 1955, Hayes was found dead on the reservation. The coroner’s conclusion was Hayes died of exposure and alcoholism. He was 32 years old.
“The Outsider” follows Hayes' story fairly closely though taking artistic license for dramatic purposes as typical in most films. What was most surprising was how dark the film was. Hayes story was not a happy one and the ending does not leave us with a feel good happy conclusion. This in itself was most unusual for an American film of this period. In the beginning, Curtis portrays Hayes as an innocent with a strong desire to join the Marines and fight alongside other Americans. His grandfather is against Ira joining in the white man’s fight, remembering how the Indian Nations were treated in the past. Now here was his grandson wanting to fight on the same side as those who were the enemy. We watch Hayes go through basic training, the tough time he has with not only the basics of becoming a Marine but also how he is treated by his fellow soldiers, as an outsider. His fellow Marines call him Chief. In letters home to his family he talks about how swell the guys are and how they are all friendly. This he writes, as they all are getting ready to go out on the town leaving him behind. When they do take him along, they get him hideously drunk resulting in the first signs of the alcoholism that will plague Hayes for the rest of his short life. The film continues to turn much darker. Right after the flag raising his best buddy Sorenson, a young James Franciscus, is killed just as they were being ordered back to the States to help promote war bonds. Hayes, resistant, feeling unworthy of all the fame and glory that was being bestowed upon him develops more and more of an alcoholic problem feeling guilty that the real heroes are those still fighting, or who died in the war, and yet here he was receiving all the glory. At the time, the term post war stress syndrome was unknown.
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“The Outsider” did not do well at the box-office and has received scant recognition over the years. It remains unavailable in the home video market. This is unfortunate because the film of is one of the few of its period to deal honestly, and with dignity, about the plight of the Native American Indian.
The film was based a short story by William Bradford Huie and was originally included in the 1959 collection of stories called “Wolf Whistle and Other Stories.” Huie is responsible for other works such as “The Revolt of Mamie Stover”, “The Americanization of Emily”, “The Klansman”, all made into movies. He also wrote a sequel to his early Stover novel, called “Hotel Mamie Stover.” His non-fiction works include “The Execution of Private Slovik”, which was made into an excellent TV movie in 1974 with Martin Sheen as Private Slovik, the only American to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. “The Outsider” was directed by Delbert Mann a director of little visual style though his films have strong character driven stories. When working with strong scripts like “Marty”, Middle of the Night”, “The Bachelor Party”, all written by the great Paddy Chayefsky, and “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” he made some excellent thoughtful films. Always a good director of actors he got some memorable performances, out of not only Curtis, but also from Kim Novak, Don Murray and an Oscar winning performance from Ernest Borgnine. Mann started directing in television during its Golden Age of live drama along with other future film directors like Arthur Penn, John Frankenhemier and Sidney Lumet. Unlike these three Mann lacked the visual flare for the big screen. Later in his career, he leaned toward lighter more commercial works like “That Touch of Mink”, “Lover Come Back” and “Dear Heart”, before eventually making his way back to television in the final years of his career.
Hayes was immortalized by folk singer Peter LaFarge who wrote the song “The Ballad of Ira Hayes’ which was covered by folkies and others in the 1960’s including Bob Dylan, Kris Krisofferson and Johnny Cash. Hayes also appeared as himself in the Allan Dwan war film “The Sands of Iwo Jima.”
- John Greco (0 comments)