# A Walk in the Sun (1945 film)
*A Walk in the Sun* is a 1945 American war film directed by Lewis Milestone, adapted by screenwriter [Robert Rossen](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-rossen) from Harry Brown's 1944 novel of the same name, that follows a single American infantry platoon from its landing at Salerno, Italy to the capture of a farmhouse six miles inland.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) Produced by Milestone through his own company and distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox, the film runs 117 minutes and stars [Dana Andrews](https://www.edgepedia.org/dana-andrews), Richard Conte, John Ireland, and [Lloyd Bridges](https://www.edgepedia.org/lloyd-bridges).[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / producer | Lewis Milestone, producing through Lewis Milestone Productions (with Superior Pictures, Inc.); distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walk_in_the_sun) |
| Source | Robert Rossen screenplay from Harry Brown's well-regarded 1944 novel; Milestone said, "The book was my script"[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) • [4](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/a-walk-in-the-sun-1946-home-of-the-brave-1949-08-12-06/) |
| Release | Premiered December 3, 1945; Rotten Tomatoes lists a theatrical release date of December 25, 1945[5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walk_in_the_sun) |
| Runtime | 117 minutes, black and white[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648) |
| Setting | The 1943 Allied invasion of Italy; a Texas Division platoon marches six miles inland from the Salerno beachhead to blow up a bridge and seize a farmhouse[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) |
| Key cast | Dana Andrews (Sgt. Bill Tyne), Richard Conte (Pvt. Rivera), John Ireland (Pfc. Windy Craven), Lloyd Bridges (Sgt. Ward), Sterling Holloway (McWilliams), Norman Lloyd (Pvt. Archimbeau), Herbert Rudley (Sgt. Eddie Porter)[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) • [6](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/a-walk-in-the-sun/cast/2000004780/) |
| Recognition | Selected for the National Film Registry; 86% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (7 reviews)[5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walk_in_the_sun) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The Lee Platoon of the Texas Division lands by night near Salerno, Italy, in 1943, with orders to blow up a bridge and capture a farmhouse six miles inland, blocking a counterattack expected against the Division's bridgehead.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) • [7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/a-walk-in-the-sun-1945) Before the men even reach the beach, the lieutenant is wounded by a shell fragment on the landing barge, and the platoon sergeant and medic are also lost, leaving the sergeants to work out how to accomplish the mission on their own.[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) • [5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0)
Command passes to Sergeant Eddie Porter (Herbert Rudley), backed by Sergeants Tyne (Dana Andrews) and Ward (Lloyd Bridges). Porter soon breaks down, and Tyne takes over.[5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0) On the march the platoon is strafed by enemy planes, destroys a German half-track, and reaches the farmhouse, which is stoutly defended; the final assault combines a feint around the building with a frontal attack, and the objective is taken with heavy loss of life.[5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0)
## Style and structure
The film is built less around plot than around the men themselves. Action set pieces alternate with extended scenes eavesdropping on the infantrymen as they hike cross-country, and the narrative focus shifts among many different soldiers in the multi-ethnic unit.[4](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/a-walk-in-the-sun-1946-home-of-the-brave-1949-08-12-06/) Interior monologues and dialogue carry as much weight as combat; one reviewer described it as an extremely wordy war film that concentrates as much on psychological battles as on the capture of the farmhouse.[8](https://laceysfilms.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/a-walk-in-the-sun-us-1945/)
**Narration and banter.** The opening credit sequence features narration by [Burgess Meredith](https://www.edgepedia.org/burgess-meredith), written by Robert Rossen, which introduces each actor with his character's name and a brief description as the camera focuses on him in turn.[9](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/94993) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648) The soldiers' wisecracking dialogue sketches character quickly: Rivera is always bumming a cigarette, Windy composes an unwritten letter to his sister in his head, and Archimbeau grumbles about the coming "Battle of Tibet."[10](https://time.com/archive/6823074/cinema-the-new-pictures-jan-14-1946/) Windy's letter after the final action, "We just blew a bridge and took a farmhouse. It was easy...so terribly easy," was noted by Time Out as a rare acknowledgment, for its time, of a soldier's joy simply at having survived.[11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-walk-in-the-sun-1)
**Cinematography.** Russell Harlan shot the film, and the opening sequence on the landing barge plays out entirely in darkness, handled with what TCM's James Steffen calls great skill; Milestone's frequent lateral [tracking shots](https://www.edgepedia.org/tracking-shot) during combat scenes directly recall his earlier *All Quiet on the Western Front* (1930).[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) The exterior march was filmed on the 20th Century Fox ranch standing in for the Italian countryside.[5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0)
## Production
According to the American Film Institute Catalog, the production history began in September 1944, when independent producer Samuel Bronston purchased the rights to Harry Brown's novel.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648) The picture was made by Lewis Milestone Productions with Superior Pictures, Inc., with Max Bertisch as production designer, Duncan Mansfield as editor, and Freddie Rich composing the score.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648) Although the opening credits indicate a 1945 copyright by Lewis Milestone Productions, the AFI notes the title does not appear in the Catalog of Copyright Entries.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648)
Wartime shortages shaped the battle scenes: an American half-track was painted to represent a German one, a P-51 flew as an enemy plane, and in the climax P-38s fought a T-6 Texan posing as a Fw 190.[7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/a-walk-in-the-sun-1945)
## Reception and legacy
The film earned strong notices on release. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times singled out Dana Andrews for praise among what he called a "generally superlative cast," and the UCLA Film & Television Archive quotes the paper's description of the film as "a swiftly overpowering piece of work"; the Los Angeles Times called it "a great war picture ... one of the best to come out of World War II."[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun) • [4](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/a-walk-in-the-sun-1946-home-of-the-brave-1949-08-12-06/) TIME's January 1946 review called it "one of the best in the current spate of war films," while faulting the dialogue as "200-proof literary corn" and the folk-song-style background music as deplorable.[10](https://time.com/archive/6823074/cinema-the-new-pictures-jan-14-1946/) [The Nation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-nation)'s reviewer (writing under the byline "Not James Agee") found the film often alive and likeable but judged the dialogue and characters unreal and literary.[12](https://letterboxd.com/notjamesagee/film/a-walk-in-the-sun/)
With its unsentimental tone and chorus of GI protagonists, the film proved influential as a template for the combat genre, inspiring similar configurations in later war movies up to and including [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s *Saving Private Ryan* (1998), according to the UCLA Archive's program note.[4](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/a-walk-in-the-sun-1946-home-of-the-brave-1949-08-12-06/) Later critics have placed it as a precursor to introspective war films such as [Terrence Malick](https://www.edgepedia.org/terrence-malick)'s *The Thin Red Line* (1999).[8](https://laceysfilms.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/a-walk-in-the-sun-us-1945/) • [13](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/classic-film/a-walk-in-the-sun/) The film is listed in the [National Film Registry](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-registry).[5](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0)
## References
1. [A Walk in the Sun, Turner Classic Movies (article by James Steffen, 2007)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/161092/a-walk-in-the-sun)
2. [A Walk in the Sun (1946), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24648)
3. [A Walk in the Sun, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/walk_in_the_sun)
4. [A Walk in the Sun / Home of the Brave, UCLA Film & Television Archive, 2006 Festival of Preservation](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/a-walk-in-the-sun-1946-home-of-the-brave-1949-08-12-06/)
5. [NFR Project: 'A Walk in the Sun' (1945), The Film Patrol](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2025/12/nfr-project-walk-in-sun-1945.html?m=0)
6. [A Walk in the Sun - Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/a-walk-in-the-sun/cast/2000004780/)
7. [A Walk in the Sun (1945), NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/a-walk-in-the-sun-1945)
8. [A Walk in the Sun (US, 1945), Nick Lacey on films](https://laceysfilms.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/a-walk-in-the-sun-us-1945/)
9. [Watch A Walk in the Sun, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/94993)
10. [Cinema: The New Pictures, Jan. 14, 1946, TIME](https://time.com/archive/6823074/cinema-the-new-pictures-jan-14-1946/)
11. [A Walk in the Sun, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-walk-in-the-sun-1)
12. [Review by Not James Agee (The Nation, 1946), Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/notjamesagee/film/a-walk-in-the-sun/)
13. [A Walk in the Sun, Classic Film Review, Videolibrarian](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/classic-film/a-walk-in-the-sun/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › War action and adventure › War action films released through 1999 › Released 1934 to 1962*
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