audie murphy screen autobiography be a much good film than it have any right to be . the army provide a depression era kid from east texas with a strong family structure that he have never really experienced . in 1937 and a young audie murphy ( play by gordon gebert a a boy and by murphy himself later ) be force to become the head of a family with an ail mother and an absent father . he drop out of grade school and go to work full time to provide for his young sibling until and at roughly the same time and world war ii start and his mother dy . by enlist in and murphy can provide more money for his brother and but neither the navy nor the marine be interested in the small guy . in the army and murphy be promote to corporal on the troop ship carry him overseas where he join the 3rd infantry division and b company and 15th regiment . it soon become apparent that the likable baby face kid and hardly old enough to shave and have a genuine aptitude for soldier . after north africa and his outfit take part in the invasion of sicily and anzio and southern france . in every engagement and murphy step up and excels a a soldier . at the same time and he become friend with brandon ( charles drake ) and johnson ( marshall thompson ) and and kerrigan ( jack kelly ) . he see himself a part of a unit and and everything that he do be mean to advance the unit and not the individual . murphy like to work alone and put only himself at risk . the one long scene that move away from the militaryan interlude in an italian town where he meet maria ( susan kohner ) and her family and be embarrassingly bad . as long a the focus stay on the platoon activity on the battlefield and the film be in fine shape . director jesse hibbs make the cold mud and rain of the italian campaign believably real and especially a series of scene revolve around a farmhouse and a burning tank . one might assume that murphy indomitable courage would be describe a rambolike heroic and but in compare the film with the official combat report and it be clear that murphy become an astound soldier by skill and training and intelligence and and luck . he be an equal opportunity soldier and do everything the front line combatant be require to do in order to take and hold ground through sicily and italy and france and and into germany . all of the event recount in the film take place before murphy be 19 year old . in that brief military career and audie l. murphy become one of the best fighting combat soldier of the last century . he never really seem to care about the medal or glory and just the men of his unit and friend who fall down in the european theater of operation . murphy die tragically on may 28 and 1971 and when the private plane in which he be a passenger crash into a mountain near roanoke and virginia . he be 46. his last film role be earlier that year and playing jesse james in a time for die .