Männer - hart wie Eisen

The intentions are quite sincere, generous, but I hardly got glued to this story, despite the good directing from a guy whose movies have never excited me that much. I mean George Seaton, who was at his top with 36 HOURS, offering a plot far more engrossing than this tedious one. I won't say any harm about this movie though, as I did with another George Seaton's film : COUNTERFEIT TRAITOR. So, it remains a film to watch, if only for Kirk Douglas. Only the finale part is quite the best of the film, but that's not a surprise to find the most exciting of a movie in the end. It could be seen as a pacifist film; at least a bit.

There are no women...not listed behind the camera in any capacity...no make-up...no wardrobe-writers...nothin'...Try and find a random film today...(yes that means no ai)...with no female contributors...it can be in any genre from any conceivable time period from 'Roundhay Garden Scene' in 1874 until now...it would be a fool's errand to exclude them in a movie that anyone wanted to see...Unless it was pointed out beforehand that the film was targeted to a specific audience...Although Kirk Douglas was brilliant (i'm not usin' his real name...i can't remember it anyway) he probably wasn't thinking that anyone would think it was weird that there were no women listed anywhere on the set ??....

Sgt. P. J. Briscoe (Kirk Douglas) and two others are clearing out an outpost when they are attacked by a plane during the waning days of the Korean War. Their job is to destroy all the equipment and load the remaining fuel onto a civilian ship run by Capt. Van Ryn. The plane crashes and Private Dennison manages to save one of the pilots. The three Americans and their prisoner get a ride on Van Ryn's ship. They are ordered by command to get rid of the prisoner.

This is trying to be a character study play rather than a compelling war thriller. There seems to be an easy solution right from the beginning. The way the order is worded, Briscoe could simply let the prisoner swim for freedom. There has to be more. By his own words, Briscoe is only concerned about getting out of the Army and retiring with a full pension. He's been hardened by the war but he needs to be harder. There has to be some malevolence in his character for the good vs evil to work at peak performance. It's also weird to have the enemy bomb them with what looks like a WWII allied bomber. The dialogue is overly wordy. I like the unique premise but it feels too much like an overly written play. It feels dragged out.

Kirk Douglas runs the gamut of emotion from about A to C, and most of the rest of the performances are similarly limited. In other words, some better actors would have made this a better picture. The most convincing performance comes from Enrique Mangalona as the POW, who, speaking no English, is almost silent throughout.

It's by no means action-packed. The action all takes place on board a neutral ship, on which three US servicemen wrestle with their consciences which get in the way of their murdering a Korean POW.

It's a psychological think-piece, but it's tense and quite involving. It's not in the class of Twelve Angry Men, but it's that sort of genre.

Not worth staying in for, or renting the video, but very likely better than the crud on the other channels, given that it's most likely to be shown as a space filler in the small hours.

The intro to this film indicates that this story is universal and could apply to any war...or any country...and this is quite true. And, this universality of the story make this an exceptional war film.

When the story begins, some American soldiers are loading trucks with airplane fuel which will soon be transported to the front. However, during this process, a North Korean plane attacks...killing one of the men. The plane soon crashes and a lone man bails out of the craft. Now when the surviving three American soldiers enter the ship, they have a prisoner.

Once aboard the ship, the men contact headquarters and are told that they were NOT to bring the prisoner in with them. In other words, they were to kill him! This is clearly a war crime...and is against the articles of war. The sergeant (Kirk Douglas) clearly seems to LIKE this order...one of the men, one of the privates (Robert Walker Jr.) thinks the order is monstrous and refuses to do it. The sergeant takes delight in goading this private but despite this, he will NOT kill the man. So, the sadistic sergeant then tries to get the other private to do it...

The story is a great look at human nature...the good as well as the bad. And, it reminds us that the German soldiers of WWII were not the only ones who murdered and chalked it all up to 'just following orders'. A very strong film whose only shortcoming is its pacing (it could have been shortened a bit and that would have made a stronger picture).