The Sands of Iwo Jima

Over 40 years ago, I saw an uncut version of The Sands of Iwo Jima -- which included John Wayne saying something along the lines of "Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid."

Is anyone aware of any release on VHS or DVD which is truly 109 minutes in length (and doesn't merely claim that it is that long)?

I have The Sands of Iwo Jima, it's an OliveFilms release...it's 1:49:55 or 109 minutes and 55 seconds, the 55 seconds is for the OliveFilms graphics. I do remember the quote "Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." but don't remember if it's in my copy of the movie. If you knew the time index when that is said I could watch a part of my movie and see if Wayne says it or not.

I watched that movie recently, but I didn't hear that line. I would have remembered if I had since it is very similar to a line from The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). The copy I own is listed as having a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes. There is version that has a runtime of 1 hour and 49 minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/Sands-Iwo-Jim.../dp/B00MGBS6VG



And there is also a Region 2 version that is listed as having a runtime of 2 hours.

https://www.amazon.com/Sands-Iwo-Jim.../dp/B000FQ4EYM

I'm not saying you're wrong about that quote being in Sands of Iwo Jima, but someone wrote an article about that exact confusion.

Snopes article on that quote

Someone even made a meme with that same quote attributed to the movie.

Who are you going to believe, somebody writing on Snopes or the U.S. Marine Corps? Because the latter firmly believes the line is from the Sands of Iwo Jima and has done so for decades.

Here is an example from an official publication from 1995 https://www.google.ca/books/edition/...sec=frontcover

In his 1986 biography of Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock, Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills, Charles W. Henderson -- then himself a serving Marine -- makes reference to the line in connection to events which occurred in 1966.

Trust me: just because somebody has written something appearing on the Interwebs, it doesn't necessarily mean its true.

Thanks for the offer, but I can't remember when it was said, other than it was at a training location and not onboard ship or in combat. (And obviously when Sergeant Stryker was in conflict with one of his men.)

I will proceed with obtaining a copy of the Olive Films version. Thanks for your response; it is very much appreciated.

Let us know if it has the quote or not. I might decide to replace my copy.

The Snopes article was quite well researched. The Marine Corps (and other armed services) often have legends and traditions that are passed along and lose connection with the actual history they came from. Nobody seems to be able to put forward ANY evidence that John Wayne ever said "Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid", whether in Sands of Iwo Jima, another movie, or in some other context like an interview. This was probably attributed to him because it sounds like something he would have said. But the line does indeed occur in the 1973 film The Friends of Eddie Coyle, as ChunkyMonkey pointed out above, and this seems to be where it originally came from. John Wayne was not in that movie.
The problem of quotes being misattributed to famous people existed long before the Internet, but the Internet has greatly exacerbated it.

i just re-watched it and didn't notice this line. i watched the original version.

That is not a case of "The U.S. Marine Corps" says it is true. Just one persons memory. Trust me. Just because someone claims to have a memory of something does not make it true. I have many memories of my times with Heather Locklear. She has no idea who I am

The full version which I saw was broadcast by KCPQ (Tacoma) in the early 1980s, at a time when Stanley Kramer was associated with the station (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCPQ#N...r_on-air_staff). He used to have a Sunday evening slot where he would talk about and screen films which you would be unlikely to see on any other television station, sometimes because they were from his personal library or he had obtained a copy through personal connections. His broadcast of The Caine Mutiny was the first time I ever saw that movie.

The Sands of Iwo Jima was not one that he hosted, nor is it one of the items from his personal collection that were catalogued by UCLA (https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/sites/de...COLLECTION.pdf). It was shown on a weeknight and had an unusually long broadcast time (2.5 hours, as I recall), and was memorable because it was the first and only time I heard John Wayne say "Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid" (or something similar)...

I haven't got around to ordering the DVD which was recommended. But perhaps somebody would be willing to screen the items listed at https://search.library.ucla.edu/disc...anced&offset=0

"That is not a case of 'The U.S. Marine Corps' says it is true." Whether or not The Sands of Iwo Jima is the origin of this proverb, its appearance in Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills strongly suggests that the Marine Corps in the mid-1980s as an institution believed that that movie (and not The Friends of Eddie Coyle) was the source -- a book on a Marine Corps hero by a serving Marine officer would have undergone official vetting.

I previously provided an example from a 1995 official Marine Corps publication: https://www.google.ca/books/edition/...sec=frontcover, which also illustrates this belief.

Just one person's memory? I take it you have never had close dealings with anyone who was in the Marines prior to Desert Storm. Or possibly the other services, for that matter (e.g. https://www.army.mil/article/237155/..._says_farewell).

We are still looking for any source from before 1973 that refers to the line. I cannot fly to Los Angeles to watch the movie at UCLA. (I will note that there is an excellent university near me that does have some good stuff, like the laserdisc of STAR WARS, which is free of many of the later "improvements" that George Lucas added. Maybe they have Sands of Iwo Jima)
So let's say I find a copy, maybe at my local university, and watch it, and the line isn't in there. You are all going to say "that was the wrong version!" And no matter how many versions we watch, you are all going to keep insisting that somewhere there is a secret hidden version that has the line.
If the version that has the line is secret and hidden, how could anyone have heard the line in the first place?

The truth (a shooting script, not a transcript from the current video release) is out there, somewhere. https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/mov...a/7045-44079.s

FYI, it sold for $6500 (https://www.proxibid.com/asp/CatalogPrint.asp?aid=44035).

With a bit of further digging and likely some expenditure, I suspect that it would be possible to determine who purchased it.

And when we don't find it there, folks will say "Well, no, it wasn't in the shooting script. But it was added later. Maybe John Wayne improvised the line".