July 11 Tab Hunter

Happy Birthday Tab Hunter and Yul Bryner.

TCM celebrated the 80th Birthday of Tab Hunter in prime time. I was thrown a bit with Robert Wagner introducing the films and could not get into Gunman’s Walk and Tab’s only beach film, Ride the Wild Surf. Watching the men just sit on surf boards talking and eventually surfing was not interesting to me. It made me feel like an old woman gawking at men half my age. I did notice that Tab has a nice smile.

I DVRed Battle Cry. The film takes place during WWII, Tab is a marine “the kid”. He had his father sign his forms so he go into service at age 19. He is the strong silent type, out in the world for the first time and imitates the people. Sergeants are almost stereotypical mean robots who none of the requites like, but respect because they have too. Tab’s group makes it to radio school after basic training and in San Diego CA. After getting drunk in a bar fellow marines drop him off at a USO canteen. He wakes up hung over and asks the caretaker to walk him to the bus. He hasn’t talked to a woman in 6 months and wanted some feminine company. They kiss and she, a married woman goes back to the USO.

After a USO hayride, the woman invites him back to her apartment. She freshens up and Tab takes off his shirt. Hay is making him itchy. He is embarrassed that she saw him without a shirt and puts the shirt back on, and moves away from her. They kiss again and he stays to get a drink. They decide to swim in her pool, she gives him her husbands swim trunks to wear. It starts to affect his work and is creating fake liberty passes. The leader arranged a long distance phone call to his parents because he has not been writing. He then breaks things off with the married woman. He doesn’t want to, but he can’t see someone else and have a girlfriend back home.

Tab gets leave and goes back home. He and his girl go off and get married. They are shipped out to Camp Wellington, New Zealand possibly. They fight in the South Pacific. Van Heflin plays the Cornel of the troop. He likes to break records and is the by the book commander. Tab tries to get another soldier leave so he can get married before they have to go back to fight. The commander refuses stating that it makes the men stronger. The man gets his leave and Tab is best man at the wedding.

They fight again in the South Pacific. They are shipped to a remote island in Hawaii to standby, reserve. Van Heflin disagrees and gets his troops to the front lines of the pacific. Tab is wounded in battle and the scene cuts to his wife screaming that he is dead. Tab is wounded and gets discharged from the service.