Synopsis
A tribute documentary on the most decorated U.S. Marine, General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller.
Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend
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Theatrical
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USA
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USA
04 Apr 1976
- Theatrical
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A good film, if a little repetitive in its one-hour version. Apparently also released in a half-hour form, I can see why Ford would have preferred that. The film is a fairly simple career retrospective of Puller, with found footage, an interview between Ford and Puller, and narration by Wayne to carry it all along. However, it also feels a bit like a career retrospective for Ford, moving from the silent pictures of WWI to the glories of the 40s and 50s to life in semi-forced retirement.
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“A soldier without a war is like a policeman in a crime-free society.”
Despite the amateurish presentation, this was perhaps my favorite of Ford’s military documentaries. I think it helps that the story spans five decades and multiple wars, so you’re not just looking at the same battles and collection of disease-ridden cocks.I watched the long version, despite Ford apparently preferring the shorter version. Given the pacing, I’d be inclined to agree, but I just can’t bare to not watch the longest existing cut of any film.
John Wayne is a welcome addition to the “old man sitting in a chair tells a story” canon.
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(Shorter version)
Whereas Seven Women was his last feature film, and a great "final" film and masterpiece in its own right, this is technically the last movie he ever made — a kind of "tribute" documentary on the most decorated Marine in American history, Chesty Puller.
The documentary feel of the war footage forms an interesting contrast, in my mind, to the more leisurely shots of Ford's "real time" footage, and Wayne's narration is pretty simple. The feel of the movie is sentimental. It also has the Confederate subtext with references to Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The part where Chesty visits Robert E. Lee's memorial, and reminisces to a time where following the examples of his heroes helped…
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John Ford's final film, a TV documentary tribute to a retiring U.S. marine general. Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller is his name, still the most decorated marine in U.S. military history, and John Wayne narrates his life story. As an explicit and graphic celebration of the violent career of twentieth-century U.S. warmaking, from the Banana Wars to Vietnam to Robert E. Lee's well-maintained graveside, it's utterly sickening and lays bare the full extent of Ford's militaristic worldview. "I never knew a marine who didn't love a Western."
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John Fordin viimeinen elokuva on lämmin kunnianosoitus kaverilleen, Yhdysvaltain merijalkaväen yhdelle muistetuimmista upseereista, Lewis B. ‘Chesty’ Pullerille. John Wayne toimii kertojana kronologisessa uran kertauksessa. Loppukuvissa Chesty on haikein mielin astelemassa talolleen - siinä myös John Fordin jäähyväiset? Elokuva kuvattiin 1970, Puller kuoli 1971, Ford 1973, ja elokuva julkaistiin postuumisti vasta molempien kuoleman jälkeen 1976. Siitä on olemassa 47-minuuttinen ja 27-minuuttinen versio, tämä oli tuo jälkimmäinen.
Ei mitenkään äärimmäisen hehkutettava teos. Suosittelen sitä korkeintaan "Ford-kompletisteille". :)
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This is a short documentary film directed by John Ford about legendary Marine "Chesty" Puller.
It is narrated by John Wayne who was a personal friend of Chesty. Overall it's pretty interesting and inspiring, as this guy was a badass and hard as nails. Don't make 'em like that any more.
Worth a look.
(currently available on YouTube) -
A pretty good documentary on the legendary Marine Lewis "Chesty" Puller, who was the most highly decorated Marine in the USMC history. Narrated by Iconic actor John Wayne, the film offers up a fine retrospective on Puller's career and accomplishments. Although a quickly paced feature, A Tribute to a Legend is a very interesting documentary that has archival footage from the Pacific Theater of War as well as an interview with the Chesty himself.
A short, but interesting documentary, I quite enjoyed this feature and I would say that it is a good place to start in learning about this legendary soldier. John Wayne's narration is very good and adds to the archival footage of the battles from the Pacific. I was enthralled at watching Lewis Puller talk about the Guadacanal Battle, although briefly, I thought it was an interesting element that made this documentary short worth seeing.
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The version I saw was 27 minutes, not 47 as listed here. Thoroughly boring military nonsense, but it seems to be Ford's last credited work, so I guess it's worth watching for that reason alone. Also, John Wayne kinda seems like a nice fella here, which isn't something you see every day.
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A rather lackluster documentary from John Ford. This feels as if it was thrown together in a single afternoon. The narration is clear and audible which is more than I can say for many documentaries, but it has these long awkward pauses to show footage of marines shooting at stuff which doesn’t exactly tell the audience anything they didn’t already know. The pauses are awkwardly long to the point I was convinced my TV broke for a second. It also seems rather light on the facts and I didn’t exactly come away with much. They give a few dates but it doesn’t give anything that feels super concrete. Feels like more of John Wayne telling a story than a tribute to a real life solider. It’s organized pretty well and Wayne’s narration seems decent but it seems light on facts and heavy on awkward pauses and occasional storytelling.
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Even though Lewis "Chesty" Puller was a distinguished and much celebrated general, the tone that John Ford and John Wayne bring to this documentary about his career feels more like them saying "Hey, come and look at this guy we know!" That no-nonsense charm gives the film pretty much all of its appeal, because the actual film itself is a pretty dry and dull recapping of Puller's accomplishments in the arm. A curio to end Ford's career.
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John Wayne narrates this documentary from director John Ford, which pays tribute to General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller.
At just 27-minutes there's certainly nothing ground-breaking about this documentary but it's worth noting that this here would be the last time Wayne and Ford worked together. That alone makes it worth watching and as you'd expect this here is a very patriotic look at Puller.
There's no question that Puller had some amazing accomplishments in his career and this film shows them off. We also get Ford interviewing him, which was a nice touch and Wayne's narration is also quite good and brings out the patriotic nature that the men were going for.