Set in 1952, this Korean War pic is better than you expect from a programmer, just not better enough. Demerits come with Arizona locations which hardly look foreign, let alone Korean; a lazy sense of logistics in actions sequences (until an excellent climactic big battle probably not from director Harmon Jones, but sterling second-unit work); and a script that stops too often for philosophical speechifying. (What does it all mean? Every man dies alone. You fight to survive. Unconvincing talk at best.) Too bad, since the character mix & basic situation show potential. We open behind enemy lines, not that U. N. Medical aide Peggie Castle knows it. But a trio of Brits in a tank, along with gruff Lt. Richard Conte and his small unit of war-tested men fill her in before heading back to see what might be left of Conte’s base company up in the hills. There are nice touches: a South Korean soldier takes off his boots to enter a Buddhist Shrine; friendship signified by whether you share cigarettes or smoke your own; and rising names like Charles Bronson, Chuck Connors & L. Q. Jones. Just not enough distinctive elements amid boilerplate stuff until they reach Conte’s slaughtered company and try to hold the position by calling in air & sea strikes. Those low-flying jet bombers are something to see. But then they take on hordes of Red Army Regulars as if they were shooting fish in a barrel (or Indians in a serial Western) and the film gets a bit silly.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Instead, try a personal, even eccentric Korean war film like Anthony Mann’s MEN AT WAR/’57.
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