Darby's Rangers

Darby's Rangers (1958)

The Picture That Gets Closer To A Fighting Man Than Any Picture Before!

Stationed in Scotland, Maj. William Darby and the men under his command are trained by British commandos, becoming the U.S. Army's 1st Ranger Battalion. Their drilling period is rigorous, but the men find time to romance local women before being deployed to fight the Nazis. U.S. forces battle from French North Africa to Italy, but when a surprise attack decimates the 1st and 3rd Battalions at the Battle of Cisterna, Darby and the 4th Battalion must come to their aid.

Date of release
1958-02-12
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (10)
Runtime
2h 1m
Genres
War, Action, Drama
Director
William A. Wellman

Casting

Interesting facts

Darby's Rangers is a 1958 American war film starring James Garner as William Orlando Darby, who organizes and leads the first units of United States Army Rangers during World War II. Directed by William Wellman, the film was shot by Warner Bros. Pictures in black and white, to match wartime stock footage included in the production. It was inspired by the 1945 book Darby's Rangers: An Illustrated Portrayal of the Original Rangers, by Major James J. Altieri, himself a veteran of Darby's force.

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures had produced a financial and critical hit in 1955's Battle Cry, and was anxious to repeat the success with a film based on Major James Altieri's novel "Darby's Rangers". Altieri was known to Warner Brothers, as he had been technical advisor on Force of Arms (1951). Director William Wellman had established a reputation for turning out top war films with The Story of G.I. Joe and Battleground.

A problem arose with the United States Army. The United States Marine Corps had enthusiastically lent bases, Marine extras, and film of its campaigns to Hollywood films to boost its public image. While the Army had as well, it was not so keen on this project, reflecting its feeling that Ranger operations had led to heavy losses of excellent soldiers it thought would have been better employed leading regular infantry units.

Tab Hunter says Wellman offered him the lead role, the director hoping to reunite the stars of Lafayette Escadrille (Etchika Choureau would co star and the director's son William Wellman Jr. also appeared in both films) but Hunter was tired of war films and turned him down. He was replaced by Edd Byrnes.

Originally, Charlton Heston was cast as William O. Darby. He was enthusiastic about portraying a recent historical figure; he could interview people who knew Darby in creating his characterization. However, he asked for five percent of the profits. Jack L. Warner thought he was joking, until just before filming. (Heston later sued Warner Bros for $250,000 – $100,000 fee, $50,000 further earnings, and $100,000 damage to his career.)

Warner looked to his studio's contracted actors and chose thirty-year-old Korean War veteran James Garner, already slated to appear in a featured part. He had the proper appearance and age to play Darby, who was killed in battle at age thirty-four. It was his first leading film role. His place in the film was taken by Stuart Whitman. (Garner too would later sue Warner Brothers).

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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