Sands of Iwo Jima (Blu-ray)

Screen legend John Wayne (The Longest Day) catapulted from Hollywood leading man to All-American hero with his Oscar-nominated performance (Best Actor of 1949) as Sgt. Stryker, a hard-nosed Marine sergeant who must mold a company of raw recruits into a combat-ready fighting machine. Feared by many and hated by all, Stryker’s training is soon put to the test in a full-scale assault against the Japanese on Iwo Jima—an infamous battle that will live forever in one of cinema’s most iconic scenes, the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi. Emotionally gripping, punctuated with intense and sweeping battle scenes, all bound together by The Duke’s larger-than-life performance, Allan Dwan’s Sands of Iwo Jima is the quintessential WWII film.