Why is it Jack Webb gets no respect as a director? This film puts to death the myth that Webb was a one-trick ("Dragnet") pony. Marines then and now call "The D.I." the most accurate portrayal of boot camp training ever put on celluloid. It's also a marvelous character study, with gripping performances by both Webb and Don Dubbins. What makes it even more amazing is:
1) Only three of the men in this film were professional actors; Webb, Dubbins and Lin McCarthy, and Dubbins had been a Marine. All the others were actual Marines, and Webb elicted memorable performances from most of them.
2) It was shot in a breathtaking 23 days in March of 1957.
3) To make the summer release date requested by Warner Bros., Webb edited as he shot. By the time principal photography wrapped, he had two reels cut and scored.
Yet, Webb is laughed at as an actor, and dismissed as a director? See this film and ask yourself, WHY???
FACTOID: The film was based on a KRAFT TELEVISION THEATER presentation called "Murder of a Sand Flea." Lin McCarthy played the same role in both productions.
1) Only three of the men in this film were professional actors; Webb, Dubbins and Lin McCarthy, and Dubbins had been a Marine. All the others were actual Marines, and Webb elicted memorable performances from most of them.
2) It was shot in a breathtaking 23 days in March of 1957.
3) To make the summer release date requested by Warner Bros., Webb edited as he shot. By the time principal photography wrapped, he had two reels cut and scored.
Yet, Webb is laughed at as an actor, and dismissed as a director? See this film and ask yourself, WHY???
FACTOID: The film was based on a KRAFT TELEVISION THEATER presentation called "Murder of a Sand Flea." Lin McCarthy played the same role in both productions.