Und der Herr sei uns gnädig

It seems that most war films about the Korean War during the time this one was made struggled to get their message across. They wanted to show action like all war pictures but also wanted to convey an anti-war message without being openly blatant about it. This picture while often times sluggish has some good moments in it. Comedian Mort Sahl gets a scene where he's allowed to do what he does best, semi-sarcastic comedy. All in all it's not an overly bad war film but it's not one of the better ones either. Former heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson who hailed from Sweden has a role in this movie.

I had a friend that fought in the Korean War as a combat soldier and he told me about one winter they had a 20yr snow (hip deep) and blistering cold in Korea and this movie reminded me of those kinds of conditions, many soldiers died in Korea but not only by the enemies bullets but also by freezing to death.

Not a fast paced war movie like most people prefer because of the snow and it also has a racism content as it becomes clear from the beginning that not many like the character Sgt. Towler played by Sidney Poitier and that included Sgt. Kincaid played by Allan Ladd but over time they captured each others respect.

I actually enjoyed the movie, true Poitier and Ladd carry the movie at times but IMO its not as bad as some might think based on the other review. Worth a watch IMO.

Yes, folks, before he lost his soul in Disney garbage junk, as James Neilson, James B Clark, or Robert Stevenson, Hal Bartlett was a damn good director, a promising film maker, and this gritty, tough war movie - speaking of the Korean conflict - is the best proof, with a Sidney Poitier in a terrific performance, during a period when civic rights for Black people were at stake. I guess this is an underrated war film, which scheme is in the same line of THE LOST PATROL, but I admit that many war films were too. War movies and not war dramas where you can have some romance behind the front line with a female character. Here, you have only one supporting female, that's all. Unfortunately the ending is a bit lousy, ankward to me. I am sure Bob Aldrich, who could have been in charge for such a film, would have given us something totally different. Despite its quality, this movie can be seen as a didactic message. Such a shame.

1960 was an in-between year. Between Eisenhower and Kennedy. Between the Beats and the Hippies. Between Elvis and Fabian. Between Korea and Vietnam. And in that in-between year, there was a grab bag of rehashed styles in fashion and music. The 1920's were "in" for a while and remakes of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" became contemporary hits in 1960. "All the Young Men" is a grab-bag of a movie, apparently written by a committee composed of agents and accountants, which tossed in music, themes, topics, scenes, and personalities designed to appeal to the movie audience of 1960. To try to understand the film from any other historical or logical or artistic or symbolic perspective would be an exercise in futility. In 1960 we had has-beens Alan Ladd ("Shane") and Richard Davalos ("East of Eden") marching along the Korean countryside with breaking-the-color- barrier Sidney Portier, topical night club comic Mort Sahl, new face Glenn Corbett, and teen heart throb James Darren all to the tune of "The Saints" which, as mentioned, was an old song during the Korean War but a re-vamped hit in 1960. So, although the portrayed drama was of the Korean war of the early 1950's, "All the Young Men" is really a kind of filmed time capsule of 1960 America. As such, it is a combination piece of nostalgia, a reminder that 1960 really was a pretty "dumb" time in America, and a kind of scary reminder that in 1960 America was living in blissful ignorance of the horror and chaos that was to befall in a few years in the form of a presidential assassination, counter-culture struggles, and an eleven year quagmire in Vietnam.

During the Korean War, up in the snowy mountains, a marine platoon is attacked and their lieutenant is killed. But just before he dies he places the platoon sergeant, Eddie Towler, in charge. Towler is black and has to get his men to safety amidst racial tension and constant in fighting.

All The Young Men is a Saturday afternoon time filler of a movie. Not brilliant, but certainly not bad. Sidney Poitier takes the lead role as Towler and gives it his usual guts and emotional thunder. Alongside Poitier is Alan Ladd, who at 47 was coming to the end of his career. Now if one can cast aside that Ladd was a bit old to be bombing around the snow laden mountains, then his interplay with Poitier is actually very good. It certainly gives the character's edge, and thus keeps the picture being the character driven piece it's meant to be.

This is no stock war film with blitzkrieg battles and dirty dozen like shenanigans, this is men holed up in a mountain station forced to win the battles amongst themselves in order to win the war. Nicely shot in stark black and white on location at the Glacier National Park, Montana, All The Young Men is very much a mood piece. Odd then that the makers shoehorn in some light relief courtesy of Mort Sahl's Corporal Crane. It's not Sahl's fault of course, but it doesn't sit right in context with the story. It's as if someone said to director and writer Hall Bartlett, you can't make an overtly bleak mood piece, put some fun in there!

Still this was one I had a real good time with, partly because of its two lead actors and partly because of the locale. It's recommended on proviso that you expect character over action, oh yes sir. 7/10