This year marks the 80th anniversary of the final year of World War 2 and it was on February 19 that the Battle of Iwo Jima began in the Pacific theatre. The major battle lasted five weeks and saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific War. Around 18,000 Japanese of the 21,000 stationed there and almost 7000 Americans were killed. On February 23, six United States Marines famously raised the US flag atop Mount Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal’s photograph won the Pulitzer Prize and has become one of the most famous images of World War 2. There are three major movies about the Battle of Iwo Jima, with one starring John Wayne and the other two directed by Clint Eastwood. The films, which you can find out more about below, are available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
Shot just a couple of years after the conflict was this 1949 classic that followed a group of US Marines from training to fighting the Japanese. Wayne initially turned down starring in the Oscar-nominated classic since he was already 42 and felt he was too old for the part of Sgt John M Stryker. At one point, Kirk Douglas was under consideration for the role before director Allan Dwan realised he could get Duke. Following the film’s success, including Wayne’s first Best Actor Oscar nomination, the star was invited to mark his fist and footprints in the pavement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Black sand from Iwo Jima was flown over to Los Angeles, especially to be mixed into the cement. It’s there to this day. Sands of Iwo Jima recreated the iconic flag-raising photograph from the battle, with the three surviving men who did it making a cameo in this scene when instructed to hoist the Stars and Stripes by Wayne. In fact, the flag used in this scene was the actual one raised on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, on loan from the US Marine Corps Museum.
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Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The companion film to Flags of Our Fathers arrived in cinemas a couple of months later. The Japanese-language Letters from Iwo Jima, which depicts the perspective of the other side, is considered the superior of the two movies. Critically acclaimed, the film received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Sound Editing.
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