Stahlhagel

What can you say about a movie that has a Mexican playing a Korean kid, that looks as if it were shot on somebody's farm somewhere, and that dredges up every cliche out of every mediocre war movie ever made. Amazingly, this cheap junk has a pretty good cast (Rory Calhoun, William Bendix, Richard Jaekal, Richard Arlen and John Agar). However, a movie that has Calhoun yelling, "Our planes are coming in," and diving to the ground, without ever LOOKING at the sky, is pretty bad, by just about anybody's standards.

In the "woke" Hollywood of today, a movie showing the communist North Koreans as murderous would not be produced. In fact, it's hard to believe anyone would try in 1963.

But someone did try and did an excellent job.

It begins with a good script and is made excellent because of the cast.

Rory Calhoun beautifully underplays his role as the sergeant trying to lead a small group of escaped prisoners out of North Korea back to their own lines.

Along the way, they pick up an orphaned little boy, played by the youngster who stole all the acting honors, Manuel Padilla, Jr.

He has played other and different foreign kids, most famously "Jai" in the Ron Ely TV series version of Tarzan.

He was still young, only 52, when he died.

William Bendix was one of those great Hollywood fixtures who played so many different roles, from vicious bad guy to lovable and avuncular types.

Perhaps "The Young and the Brave" is not really a "classic," despite being presented on TCM, but it's an awfully good movie, reminding viewers that U. S. soldiers were the good guys more often than not, and that often they had to overcome their own "leaders" to not only win but far too frequently to survive.

Korea was the second of three wars begun because the "leadership" of the northern part of the country wanted to invade and conquer the southern part.

It's another reminder that all governments are rotten but some are worse than others.

And it's a reminder that, no matter that it's the men on the front lines, doing the killing and being killed, innocent women and children are equally, and even more unforgivably, victims of the horror and brutality.

Rory Calhoun has seldom done a better job, and all his co-performers have given us a movie I can easily recommend.

It's 1951 Korea. Three American soldiers have escaped from a North Korean POW camp. They are assisted by a Korean family until the North Korean soldiers massacre them. The surviving young son befriends a dog and they run into the Americans again.

The Americans don't come off that well. That reunion is very cringe-worthy. If this came out a few years later, the cynicism in the American soldiers would be more fitting. Then the movie becomes a simple escape journey. The Americans redeem themselves and it becomes an all-American type. I don't really buy these actors. The characters are one-dimensional. The story isn't that great. The location looks like California which is fine. It's tiny war movie with limited appeal.

Actually, I didn't find this movie as terrible as you might think. Yes, it has numerous flaws, and moves slow (even for an 84-minute movie). It doesn't compare favorably to other war / action movies of the time. Still, it's one of a comparatively few movies made about the Korean War, and the plot contains several twists to keep it interesting and keep you wondering about the final outcome. I would only suggest that THE YOUNG AND THE BRAVE is more appropriate for children (7-14 years old), who will enjoy and understand the relatively simple and understandable plot, not be confused by too many characters, and possibly identify with the young Han. Adults, on the other hand, will be easily distracted by the movie's flaws and find its "sanitized" story perhaps less enjoyable. Overall, through, it's not a bad movie on the scale of some supposed "classics." A good family movie for a cold Friday night around the VCR. Then put the kids to bed and watch SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

A.C. Lyles who is primarily known as a producer of B westerns utilizing players past their prime years decided to go in for B Korean War film which combines escaping GI POWS with a good old fashioned boy and his dog story in The Young And The Brave. The results are less than gratifying.

The trio of escaping GIs are Rory Calhoun, William Bendix and Robert Ivers. Bendix is really looking way too old to be a convincing combat soldier and in fact he was in his middle Fifties. A friendly Korean farmer and wife help them out which causes their deaths, but their son played by Manuel Padilla and his adopted German Shepherd dog escape with the soldiers. The kid and the dog prove most useful like Rusty and Rin Tin Tin.

The location for the film looks a whole lot like many a western was shot there and I suspect A.C. Lyles went to familiar turf to shoot this film. All the players look like they've really got no conviction in this project.

Maybe A.C. should have stuck to westerns.