Amazing Stories (TV Series) No Day at the Beach (1986) User Reviews

Was Is It Real, Or Was It........?

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 31 August 2007]

Steven Spielberg has always been fascinated with World War II. He mentions this in the main bonus feature on the DVD of "Saving Private Ryan." While that great motion picture was released in 1997, this television episode done a dozen years earlier, also has a D-Day beach scene that is crucial.

In this story, however, the guy who was picked on by the other guys, bullied and tormented for being mentally slow, turns out toe be the hero. He's the one who single-handedly destroys an enemy pillbox and enables the Allied soldiers to successfully take a beachhead. After all the action, however, it's discovered that the guy, "Arnold," never left the boat. He was killed instantly when the guys landed.

Huh? What's going on? They leave that to your imagination I guess but knowing Spielberg and his affinity for ghosts and the like, I would guess that's the angle. What's touching and the best part of the segment, in my opinion, was the letter "Arnold" had written home that Charlie Sheen read. You wonder how much guilt those guys felt for picking on his man.

There used to be a popular television commercial for recording tape with the catch-phrase, "Was it real, or was it Memorex?" That sort of applies to this episode.

I thought it was refreshing to see an episode in black-and-white and gives the World War II story more authenticity.

Classic Ghost Story

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 23 May 2014]

We are introduced to a group of soldiers on board a transport, ready to attack a Normandy-like beachhead. We get to know them. They banter, play cards, fight, argue, and play practical jokes. One of them is a sad, wimpy character who is the victim of their bullying. He is an outcast, almost like a little boy. They do things like asking him if he knows how to play 52 Pick Up. They don't respect him. The first half of the episode introduces us to a group of young men who may die the next day. Obviously, our guy is going to play prominently in the remainder of the episode. The impressive part of this offering is some really impressive battle scenes. There are some good actors, including Charlie Sheen who looks pretty much the same as he does now (28 years ago). You've seen this plot before but enjoy it.

A Sacrifice.

[blanbrn · 6/10 · 30 January 2016]

This "AS" episode called "No Day at the Beach" was one that I remember for one Charlie Sheen had a small part in the tale as a soldier. Anyway the tale is mixed with war and a little bit of humor still it entertains. During an assault in World War II Italy, a liked yet simple minded and made fun of GI named Arnold(Larry Spinak)all of a sudden finds a chance to shine and prove himself to his entire platoon. As in life it's always unexpected never expect the norm as those who you think can't do usually surprise. As in this case a screw up becomes a war hero yet at a price a sacrifice. Overall good well done episode and it's got Charlie Sheen in it.

"Hey, where's the hero?"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 5 November 2021]

This was a surprisingly good story, though more suitable I think for an episode of 'Twilight Zone' than for 'Amazing Stories'. It contains a twist of the supernatural that can't be explained rationally, but what really makes the show poignant is that letter that Arnold (Larry Spinak) intended to send back home after the D-Day invasion that ultimately took his life. Even though Arnold lied in that letter about how he was surrounded by a platoon of good military buddies, on the flip side it demonstrated a strength of character for him to try and find the good in the guys who kept dumping on him. You can tell this was done relatively on the cheap because the beach location doesn't come close to resembling the Normandy landing, but the black and white stock footage lends the episode an air of credibility. Notable in the cast are Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini as soldier Irish, and a young Charlie Sheen as perhaps Arnold's only real friend, Casey. I liked this one, primarily because it departed from much of the silliness earlier episodes had to offer.

Pill-box busters

[sonnyschlaegel · 9/10 · 28 February 2007]

SPOILER warning: Please don't read this if you haven't seen this episode yet. I don't think it's possible to say much about it without giving away crucial plot details, including (most of) the ending.

Arnold is a soldier in WW II. On the eve of his first battle he is being bullied by his comrades. He is shy and not as strong as they are. The next day they land at the beach of Porto Nuevo, Italy. There's heavy enemy fire and there are lots of casualties. Arnold's group is being fired on by artillery and machine guns in a German pill-box. They're in great danger and don't know how to destroy the pill-box. Then Arnold runs to it and single-handedly destroys it by throwing in some explosives. But how could any human being survive such heavy machine gun fire?

I think this one can be called a ghost story. When Arnold's group come back to the beach, they find out that he's been dead ever since they first reached the beach. At first, they can't believe it, but then they are shown Arnold's body. So it must have been a ghost that saved them from the pill-box. Arnold probably came back because he still had to do something and couldn't find rest because of that. It's a very good ghost story in my opinion, and I also liked the acting. I think if you liked the other ghost stories in this series - for example 'Ghost Train' and 'Vanessa in the Garden' - you will probably like this one, too. It's also a bit similar to 'The Mission'; both episodes are about WW II, and in both episodes, a miracle is needed to get out of danger alive.

Three footnotes: 1) This one is in black and white, probably because they wanted to use stock footage from WW II (or from movies about WW II). 2) It reminded me of the story that is told in Stan Ridgway's great song 'Camouflage'. I think this episode probably was the inspiration for it (or there's another source that both Spielberg and Ridgway used). 3) There are some connections and similarities to 'Saving Private Ryan': the story of this episode was written by Spielberg, 'Saving Private Ryan' was directed by Spielberg - and this episode is a bit similar to the beginning of the later movie: there's an Allied landing and they are under heavy fire from machine guns that are difficult to eliminate. However, it's much less intense than 'Saving Private Ryan'.

This one makes no sense....none.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 23 June 2015]

Aside from the episode featuring a young Charlie Sheen as well as Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini (a HUGE boxing star in the 80s), there isn't much to see in this one. The biggest problem is that the story just doesn't make much sense.

The show begins on a troop transport ship during WWII. A group of really obnoxious young soldiers are playing poker and treating an outcast, Arnold, like dirt. Later, when the troops hit the beach and it appears as if they'll die, Arnold comes to the rescue.

While the idea of the show is interesting...the twist just makes no sense and it leaves you with feeling like you wasted a half your of your life.