The Hasty Heart is a 1949 war drama film, an Anglo-American co-production starring Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, and Richard Todd and directed by Vincent Sherman.

In Burma during the Pacific Theatre of World War II in 1945, a group of wounded Allied soldiers is at a makeshift British military hospital in the jungle.

They include "Yank" (Ronald Reagan), the lone American, recovering from malaria; "Tommy" (Howard Marion-Crawford), an Englishman; "Kiwi" (Ralph Michael), a New Zealander; "Digger" (John Sherman), an Australian; and "Blossom" (Orlando Martins), an African.

Lt. Col. Dunn (Anthony Nicholls), the senior doctor of the hospital, tells the men that they will be receiving a new patient soon, and that they should be extra kind to him.

Margaret tries to convince Lachie to buy a regimental kilt, something he feels is too expensive to purchase, because he recently bought a house in Scotland to which he intends to return.

He reveals to Margaret that his aloof and suspicious behaviour results from cruelty inflicted on him in his youth as an illegitimate child.

When Warner Bros. asked the director to make Backfire (completed in 1948, though not released until 1950), he agreed on condition that the studio would also let him direct The Hasty Heart.

The studio would provide Sherman and two American stars, Patricia Neal and Ronald Reagan, but was open to the part of Lachie being played by a newcomer.

[3] Gordon Jackson tested for the part of Lachie, but the studio wanted someone who was more of a leading man to play the role.