50 Fun Facts About Hacksaw Ridge

About how many wounded soldiers is Desmond Doss credited with rescuing from the top of Hacksaw Ridge?

75 was a compromise: Doss put the number he had saved at about 50, his commanding officer wanted to credit him with 100, and they met in the middle.

In which country was Hacksaw Ridge filmed from start to finish, with a disused quarry standing in for the cliff?

Australia supplied the locations, most of the cast and the government subsidies that made the financing possible.

Which faith, in which his mother raised him, leads Desmond Doss to refuse to carry a weapon in Hacksaw Ridge?

Seventh-day Adventist teaching also made the real Doss a lifelong vegetarian, and his congregation made him a deacon at twenty-one.

The actor who plays Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge had earlier starred in two films as which comic-book superhero?

Spider-Man came first, in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel, but he called Doss a real superhero and found playing him much more inspiring.

Desmond Doss of Hacksaw Ridge was the first conscientious objector to receive which American decoration?

The Medal of Honor went to a man who disliked the label: Doss preferred to call himself a conscientious cooperator, eager to serve but not to kill.

Which Oscar-winning director made Hacksaw Ridge, his first film behind the camera in ten years?

Mel Gibson kept computer effects to a minimum and would yell to his actors during the battle scenes, reminding them what they were fighting for.

On which Pacific island is the real Hacksaw Ridge, where Desmond Doss's unit fought in the spring of 1945?

Okinawa's defenders had dug a maze of tunnels and caves into the hill, which is why the summit proved so costly to hold.

Which US president appears in archive footage at the end of Hacksaw Ridge, decorating the real Desmond Doss?

Harry S. Truman decorated him on the White House lawn in October 1945, one of fifteen servicemen recognised that day.

Which star of comedies such as Dodgeball plays the drill sergeant who torments Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge?

Vince Vaughn plays Sergeant Howell, who tries to drive Doss out with gruelling labour and is later rescued by him under heavy fire.

What does Desmond Doss use to lower wounded men one at a time down the cliff face in Hacksaw Ridge?

A rope tied in a double bowline, a knot the real Doss had stumbled on in training, let him lower each man to the medics below.

Which actor plays army medic Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge, a role that brought a Best Actor Oscar nomination?

Andrew Garfield said he cried the first time he read the script, and he visited Doss's home town and handled his tools to prepare.

What is the job of Dorothy Schutte, who visits Desmond Doss in jail in Hacksaw Ridge?

Nurse Dorothy catches his eye at the Lynchburg hospital when he brings in an injured man, and he tells her of his own interest in medical work.

Which gift from Dorothy is Desmond Doss clutching as he is lowered from the cliff at the end of Hacksaw Ridge?

A Bible was the real Doss's constant companion too, and in training fellow soldiers threw boots at him while he prayed at night.

On which day of the week does Desmond Doss refuse to train in Hacksaw Ridge, because he keeps it as his Sabbath?

Saturday is also the day set for retaking the ridge, and the assault is held back until Doss has finished his prayers.

Whom does young Desmond Doss nearly kill while roughhousing in the opening scenes of Hacksaw Ridge, set in 1929?

His brother survives, and the scare fixes the boy's belief in the commandment against killing. Nathaniel Buzolic plays the grown-up Hal.

After fellow soldiers beat Desmond Doss one night during training in Hacksaw Ridge, what does he refuse to do?

Identify his attackers he will not, and that refusal earns the respect of the men who had made him an outcast for his beliefs.

Which event does Desmond Doss miss in Hacksaw Ridge when he is arrested for insubordination as his unit goes on leave?

His wedding has to wait until the charges are dropped; the real Doss and Dorothy had married in August 1942, before he went on active duty.

Which Hacksaw Ridge soldier, a composite invented for the film, apologizes to Doss for doubting his courage?

Smitty Ryker, played by Luke Bracey, stands in for the various men who tormented the real Doss; Doss saves his life before a counterattack kills him.

How do Japanese soldiers set up the final ambush of Hacksaw Ridge, in which Desmond Doss is wounded?

Pretending to surrender is their cover for a grenade attack, and Doss deflects the grenades to save Captain Glover before a blast wounds him.

Which Avatar actor plays Captain Glover, the officer who comes to respect Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge?

Sam Worthington's character is based on a real officer: Jack Glover tried to have Doss transferred and ended up among the men he saved.

Which star of The Matrix films plays war-scarred veteran Tom Doss in Hacksaw Ridge?

Hugo Weaving, the trilogy's Agent Smith, plays the father who bursts into the tribunal with the letter that saves his son.

Which actress earned an AACTA International Award nomination as Dorothy Schutte in Hacksaw Ridge?

Teresa Palmer was already known for the zombie film Warm Bodies, and starred the same year in the horror film Lights Out.

Which Six Feet Under actress plays Bertha Doss, the devout mother of Desmond, in Hacksaw Ridge?

Rachel Griffiths, a Golden Globe winner for that HBO drama, plays the parent whose strong faith shaped the real Doss as well.

The director of Hacksaw Ridge turned the project down twice, just as he first had with which earlier epic?

Braveheart won him the Best Director Oscar, and producer Bill Mechanic wanted the same blend of violence and faith he had brought to The Passion of the Christ.

Critics including Rex Reed called Hacksaw Ridge the best war film since which 1998 release?

Saving Private Ryan was also the yardstick for Uproxx's Mike Ryan, who said two moments in the second half made him jump out of his seat.

Hacksaw Ridge is based on The Conscientious Objector, a 2004 work by Terry Benedict in which form?

Documentary footage from it, including an interview with Doss late in his life, plays just before the end credits.

At which film festival did Hacksaw Ridge premiere in September 2016, to a ten-minute standing ovation?

Venice saw it two months before American cinemas did, where it opened in third place behind Doctor Strange and Trolls.

Hacksaw Ridge won two Academy Awards, one for Sound Mixing; in which other category did it win?

Film Editing went to John Gilbert, while sound mixer Kevin O'Connell finally won after a record 20 nominations without a victory.

Why did the director of Hacksaw Ridge leave out Desmond Doss's real 300-yard crawl with a shattered arm?

Too hard to believe, he felt: the real Doss gave up his stretcher to a worse-off man, was shot in the arm and crawled alone to an aid station.

In which state does Desmond Doss grow up in Hacksaw Ridge, in the town of Lynchburg where the film opens?

Virginia remembers him: the Lynchburg house where Doss was born became a shelter for homeless veterans, marked with a plaque in 2020.

Under which provision do Sergeant Howell and Captain Glover try to have Desmond Doss discharged in Hacksaw Ridge?

Section 8 covered soldiers judged mentally unfit, and the attempt is overruled because religious conviction is not a mental illness.

Which composer, who had scored three films for the same director, was first asked to score Hacksaw Ridge?

James Horner died in 2015 when the aircraft he was piloting crashed; his replacement's score was rejected, and a third composer finished the job before the premiere.

Which war hero turned film star was among the producers who tried to film Desmond Doss's story?

Audie Murphy got nowhere, because Doss refused every offer for years, wary of seeing his life and faith portrayed inaccurately or sensationally.

Why did the real Desmond Doss remove his medic's markings during the fighting at Hacksaw Ridge?

The enemy targeted medics on purpose, knowing that the loss of one could cost the lives of the wounded he would have treated.

A picture of which biblical killing, illustrating the Sixth Commandment, shaped the real Desmond Doss's vow?

Cain and Abel appeared on an illustrated Ten Commandments in his childhood home, a poster that captivated him from a young age.

Hacksaw Ridge invents the first meeting of Desmond Doss and Dorothy Schutte; where did the real couple meet?

At church in Lynchburg, in fact; the real Doss did once walk miles to a hospital to give blood, and the film merges the two events.

Only two other conscientious objectors have received the decoration Desmond Doss won, both as medics in which war?

Vietnam War medics Thomas W. Bennett and Joseph G. LaPointe Jr. both received theirs posthumously, leaving Doss the only one of the three who lived to wear it.

Which disease, caught in the Philippines, kept the real Desmond Doss in hospital for years after the war?

Tuberculosis cost him a lung and five ribs, and with his war wounds it meant he was never again able to hold a full-time job.

Hacksaw Ridge was its director's first film behind the camera in a decade, since which 2006 release?

Apocalypto and his other epics had heroes who acted violently, which made a film about a man who would not touch a weapon a clear departure.

In which US Army division, nicknamed the Statue of Liberty Division, does Desmond Doss serve in Hacksaw Ridge?

The 77th Infantry was first raised from New York City draftees, hence the nickname and the Statue of Liberty on its shoulder patch.

At which South Carolina army post does Desmond Doss go through basic training in Hacksaw Ridge?

Fort Jackson is where the real Doss trained too, and during training he was given a pass to attend services on his Sabbath.

What is the proper name of the tunnel-riddled feature that American soldiers nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge?

The Maeda Escarpment's top 35 feet overhung the rest of the cliff, so the men had to climb cargo nets to reach the summit.

Which codename did the Allies give the 1945 battle shown in Hacksaw Ridge, the bloodiest of the Pacific War?

Operation Iceberg opened with the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific theatre, and the fighting became known as the typhoon of steel.

On which island, left out of Hacksaw Ridge, had the real Desmond Doss already earned a Bronze Star in 1944?

Guam is where his comrades' contempt turned to respect, so the film's picture of Doss as still an outcast a year later is invented.

What did the real Desmond Doss of Hacksaw Ridge bind to his broken arm as a splint before crawling to safety?

A rifle stock, strapped on by the man who would never carry a weapon, held his shattered arm as he crawled 300 yards to an aid station.

The real Desmond Doss of Hacksaw Ridge was offered a draft deferment because of his job in which industry?

Shipbuilding at Newport News could have kept him home, but he chose to join the army, asking only to serve where he could save lives.

Which actor beat the star of Hacksaw Ridge to the Best Actor Oscar at the ceremony held in 2017?

Casey Affleck won for Manchester by the Sea, a film that, like Hacksaw Ridge, took home two Oscars that night.

Bulldozers and backhoes built the battlefield set for Hacksaw Ridge on land that had previously been what?

A dairy pasture it was, with a bank of earth raised around the edge so cameras could turn full circle without catching the trees beyond.

The director of Hacksaw Ridge was drawn to his lead actor after first seeing him in which 2010 film?

The Social Network cast him as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, six years before he put on a medic's helmet.

On which NBC television show did the real Desmond Doss of Hacksaw Ridge appear as the featured guest in 1959?

This Is Your Life retold his story to the whole country in February 1959, and many invitations to speak in public followed.