Gary Cooper was originally chosen to portray Tom Dunson - ultimately played by John Wayne, but refused on the role because of the character's ruthlessness and contemptibility.The elevator door is broken and Alex must take the stairs.The wall inside his room is decorated with an erotic, spread-eagled female image on one side, and a poster of Beethoven on the other.For the group, Marco describes the "first duty" he will undertake after being returned with his patrol to Korea: "I will make my report on the patrol.As he strides from the room, he turns toward the patients, refusing to acknowledge defeat, maintaining by his example that it is better to try and fail than o meekly accept an unsatisfactory status quo:But I tried, didn't I? God-damn it.Miles gettin' bumped off upset me, and then you birds crackin' foxy, but it's all right now, now hat I know what it's all about.