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        Pete Atkin >> Words >> Thirty Year Man
        
(Message started by: Pete Atkin on Today at 12:02)

Title: Thirty Year Man
Post by Pete Atkin on Today at 12:02

Was anyone else watching 'From Here To Eternity' on Saturday afternoon? I don't know how I'd managed it, but I'd never seen it before. The whole thing looks a bit chaste and clunky and over-cautious now, but there it was! Robert E. Lee Prewett (Montgomery Clift) described himself as a "thirty year man", a lifetime soldier. And there it is again at the end, as Lorene (Donna Reed) describes him. MVs had established long ago what the meaning and relevance of the phrase was, but I don't think the immediate source had been identified. I will check with Clive, but I'd be willing to bet that that's where he got it from.

Title: Re: Thirty Year Man
Post by Revelator on 17.07.14 at 20:29

I'm pretty sure you'd win the bet. Clive has frequently championed Frank Sinatra's acting (perhaps more fervently than any other critic), and From Here to Eternity is a film he undoubtedly watched with close attention.

Title: Re: Thirty Year Man
Post by Pete Atkin on 19.07.14 at 16:22

I did ask Clive and, yes, I was right!

Title: Re: Thirty Year Man
Post by dr_john on 22.07.14 at 23:18

Tim Rice's musical 'From Here To Eternity', which ran from last October to March at the Shaftesbury Theatre, featured a song called 'Thirty Year Man'.
There's also a 1982 'Sgt. Rock' comic which details What Happens When Rock Meets A Thirty Year Man.
http://www.sgtrockcomics.com/images/sgt-rock/Sgt_Rock_366.jpg