50 Years Ago... From Here to Eternity

Sex sells, and this year's Oscar nominees (including Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Johnny Depp, and Renee Zellweger) prove that. And it's always been the case.

Fifty years ago, the Academy Award for best picture went to "From Here to Eternity," which featured Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr romping around in swimsuits on the Hawaiian seashore, then dissolving into one another's arms, embracing as waves crash over their intertwined bodies. Despite the relative conservatism of the scene (the two actors remain clothed and they're only shown kissing for a few seconds), it has remained one of the most enduring love scenes in cinematic history and has been emulated and spoofed many times over.

Lancaster plays Sergeant Milton Warden, a soldier stationed in Hawaii right before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Kerr is Karen Holmes, his lover. Shockingly, Karen is also the wife of Captain Dana Holmes (played by Philip Ober), Warden's commanding officer.

Another soldier at Warden's camp, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a bugler who was a champion boxer until one day when he was sparring with a friend and somehow put his buddy into a coma. Prewitt falls in love with "Alma Burke," (Donna Reed) aka Lorene, who is a "hostess" at a local nightclub.

Frank Sinatra appears as Prewitt's friend, Private Angelo Maggio, whose purpose in the film is mostly to provide comic relief -- he rolls olives like dice and sneaks booze into the nightclub ("I will unveil a fifth of whiskey I have hidden here under my loose, flowing sports shirt").

The movie delves into the darker sides of military life (Maggio and Prewitt are both brutally beaten for their insubordination) and romantic relationships (after all, Karen is cheating on her husband and Lorene is basically a glorified call girl).

But the movie still maintains its 50's principles: both Prewitt and Warden repeatedly affirm that they love the army, despite its shortcomings. We find out that Karen's husband cheated on her first and that Lorene is more than a hostess: she's a "princess" who won't even drink alcohol and wants to save up money to leave the nightclub.

Fittingly, the most memorable part of the movie is the brief love interlude on the beach. It seems trite, but it captures the theme of the film perfectly: people turning to love to escape the pressures and tragedies of war.