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Through a combination of bad diplomacy and an understandable war weariness from World War II, the USA was caught completely off guard when the Communist North Korean government attacked the Southern forces that we were training. We had few enough forces and they were driven to what became known as the Pusan perimeter in 1950 when General MacArthur pulled off the two pronged counterattack out of the perimeter and from the landings at Inchon.

Robert Ryan is a lieutenant leading a small group of survivors who are caught behind enemy lines to safety. These GIs are not battling for any glory, but simply for survival. Also retreating are Sergeant Aldo Ray in a jeep with a shell-shocked Colonel Robert Keith. Ryan commandeers both Ray and the jeep for his needs.

Ryan is a good officer, but by the book. Ray is a good fighting man, but very insolent. The remainder of the film is how these two guys who grate on each other's nerves, but manage to work together.

The film is directed by Anthony Mann, best known for his westerns in the Fifties that mostly starred James Stewart. Men in War is probably best compared to Bend in the River. Jimmy Stewart is taking supplies to settlers for their survival and his own and Ryan is essentially doing the same thing in this film.

Ryan was a multi-faceted actor who sometimes played leads, but mostly did good character parts as bad guys. He had worked with Mann and Stewart previously in The Naked Spur where he was as bad as they come. He's just as convincing as the gritty, but decent lieutenant here. Mann and Ryan would team again the following year in God's Little Acre, a subject far removed from the Korean War.

Men in War is a good film, photographed very realistically in the outdoors and has the look and feel of a newsreel with depth.

Men In War was directed by Anthony Mann,who was really more known for his big budget westerns. This, his first and last attempt at a war film, stands out with its realistic battle scenes involving stylish camera angles and innovative editing. Robert Ryan as Lt Benson and Aldo Ray as "Montana, are outstanding as their characters are at odds from the very beginning. Look for James Edwards, who was one of the first black actors to rise above the general sterotypes, even before Sidney Pottier came along. Men In War is worth seeing, especially the last half of the film as it builds to an intense conclusion.

Another movie long considered 'lost', and now mercifully restored, Anthony Mann's "Men in War" is a war film worthy to take its place beside Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line", (you can see its influence on Malick's masterpiece); in other words, this is a near-masterpiece and certainly one of Mann's greatest films. The war in question is the Korean and another American patrol find themselves caught out in the open, like so many before them in so many other war films, as they try to survive and like Robert Aldrich's brilliant "Attack" is as much about the conflict between an officer and a sergeant as it is about the external conflict with the enemy. The principle protagonists are Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray whose contempt for each other is only matched by their contempt for the enemy. Both actors are outstanding and others in the exceptional cast include Robert Keith, Vic Morrow, Nehemiah Persoff, James Edwards and L Q Jones. You might call it an anti-war film since few films about men in conflict have painted such a dark picture of the costs of war and what it can do to men in the field. Indeed, this has even been called an 'art-house' war film which is probably just another way of saying that it's different and very intelligent. It's also stunningly well photographed in black and white by Ernest Haller and boasts another very good score by Elmer Bernstein. How it ever came to be 'lost' in the first place is something of a mystery, (did audiences simply find it too bleak?). Let's just be thankful, then, that it's been 'found' again.

No director I know made the scenery as much a dramatic player as Mann did. Whether it was the West in the great Westerns he directed or the imaginary Korea of this movie, it seemed as though you were in the scene yourself watching from a tree. The movie is calm, almost contemplative, and even though you could argue the soldiers were stereotypes, they were so believable and so well acted, they seemed part of the scenery as well. The danger in the movie is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and the men die as most men do in war, carelessly, and almost wastefully. The actors are superb, totally believable, and in the case of Robert Keith heart-breaking. I recommend this film to anyone, it's simply the best largely unknown war film ever.

A war film should have a sense of time and place for it to be exceptional and as I`ve said in previous reviews basically any movie featuring The Korean War could have easily taken place in any campaign of WW 2 . MEN IN WAR is a case in point that could have been set in the Ardennes in December 1944 as an American platoon are cut off by a German counter offensive . In fact it could easily have been set during the Indian wars of the 1870s with a bunch of calvarymen lost and surrounded by hostile natives

And yet director Anthony Mann and screenwriter Philip Yordan have made a very memorable and compelling Korean war movie that lifts it above B movie standards . The story is simple with a bunch of US soldiers stuck behind enemy lines but we`re shown what it`s like to be a soldier fighting a war , we`re shown the courage , the fear and the camaradeire of reluctant warriors. In many ways this could have been an Vietnam allegory like MASH or TOO LATE THE HERO . Only thing is MEN IN WAR was made several years before America got involved in Vietnam . It`s difficult to believe but it`s true as we see Lt Benson and Sgt Montana come close to " fragging " each other at one point or the quite remarkable scene where Sgt Killian picks some flowers and puts them in his helmet . If I have any problem with this movie it`s the final sequence that suggests that soldiers fight and die for medals when in fact soldiers fight and die for one another

A quick word about the cast: All are very good but the stand out performance is by Robert Keith as the nameless Colonel . As the movie progresses the audience care as much for the Colonel as much as Sgt Montana does . Perhaps when I mention that the Colonel has hardly one single line of dialogue you`ll understand just how superb Keith`s performance is

MEN IN WAR comes highly recommended

By good luck, I came across a VHS video (good print) of this 1950s Anthony Mann film. It was well worth watching. It is stark, unflinching, and offers an altogether convincing depiction of how soldiers behave in a harrowing, no-win situation. Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray, both truly fine actors, are excellent in their symbolically contrasting roles of two kinds of military men. Robert Keith and Vic Morrow are standouts in supporting roles. Keith is especially wonderful in an essentially non-speaking,though key, part...his face says it all. The music by Elmer Bernstein and the cinematography by the great Ernest Haller are perfect...the soundtrack creepy and other-worldly, and the cinematography capturing the "no man's land," confusing, deadly landscape in longshots, as well as the emotions of the soldiers when photographed close-up. See this film!

The only problem I have of this film is that the prints I've seen are of very low quality, or perhaps the original cinematography was poor. Otherwise it is a very interesting action piece about the first days of the Korean War.

They got lucky with the cast. Who can beat Robert Ryan in a war flick role? No matter what movie he was appearing in, he always looked like he'd spent the night sleeping in a foxhole. LQ Jones is in this too, I love his face. Even Vic Morrow, he of the outstanding acting ability, makes an appearance, years before he was cast in that television masterpiece, 'Combat!' The trek of the squad through North Korean held territory plays like a thriller. The sound editing is excellent, you can make out the little noises that would play havoc with your imagination on a battlefield, where you're sweating and half crazed with nervous tension.

This was supposed to be based on a novel called "Day Without End" but I found it in a bookstore, and the screenplay has absolutely nothing to do with the original story. I always wonder why it gets a screen credit. The novel was a conventional dull novel of world war two combat, and the film is a striking and unusual,an almost psychological thriller set on the battlefield. You can do well to check this one out.

A squad of G.I.'s, separated from their division, begin a trek of many miles trying to re-group with their comrades on a distant hill. They are harassed by snipers, sappers, and artillery barrages, but manage to reach their objective. After reaching the hill, a vicious firefight breaks out with the enemy. Excellent portrayal of the fear and horror of war.

The Director is so at home with this sort of stuff. That is Characters, their faces and their World gone wrong predicaments. This study of Men in the Korean War Conflict is a scathing, gritty, realism counterpointed by a slight Artistic Touch.

It has a fine cast with standouts all around, led by one of the Screen's most intense Actors, Robert Ryan. Fans of War Movies may find this a bit too Psychological with its lack of Action made more intense by a claustrophobic feeling of closed quarters in a wide open landscape.

The Camera lingers and the perspective is odd giving this a phantasmagorical feel. Things seem real but not really. This becomes, at times, unbearably Suspenseful and that's what its all about. Men in War and that's not a comfortable thing. Neither is this Movie and that's the point.

The Korean Conflict, as this Movie illustrates, was an unsettling and confusing inclusion that was a hard fit for America's usual clear and decisive fight for Freedom. It foreshadowed a forever blurring line that would Haunt our Military to this day. From this point on there was no longer a sharp Good vs Evil template that could be embraced by everyone, no matter Ideology or Political leaning.

Anthony Mann directs this low budget, but realistic glimpse of the men that crawl, scratch and lay their lives on the ground to accomplish their military objective. Lt. Benson(Robert Ryan)and his platoon find themselves surrounded in enemy territory during the Korean War. The battle-worn outfit is assigned to take command of one more hill infested with snipers. Plenty of action with eye catching camera shots and close-ups. Also featured are: Aldo Ray, James Edwards, Phillip Pine and Vic Morrow. Robert Keith plays the shell-shocked Colonel. Really worthwhile.

A basic but nicely made platoon movie, shot entirely in the great outdoors. It's supposed to be Korea but there's not much Korea in it. There are a few anonymous North Korean bad guys to fight. It doesn't get into the politics of the war (there is a brief reference to the UN).

Instead, it gives us a soldier's-eye view. In this it's very effective. It plays almost like a submarine movie set in the hills-- all group tension and unwanted surprises and a lot of slinking about in bleak landscapes. There are almost no battle scenes. There's not much shooting, and the only vehicle we see is a jeep. Instead, Mann focuses on the men. With one exception, we are given no background at all on any of them; we just see them as they are, as if we were attached to the platoon. Mann makes excellent use of the actors' faces, often filling the frame with them in ones and twos and threes in different compositions. Perhaps the most intriguing character is the mute, shell-shocked colonel (beautifully played, Falconetti-style, by Robert Keith). The acting is far better than usual for a B movie. The ending is a bit disappointing, but overall it's worth seeing.

It had the gritty in the trenches documentary look. Robert Ryan was said to look like he crawled all through the movie. It was about a chaotic retreat gone bad during the initial assault of the North Korean Army into South Korea. It was a little melodramatic, with the confused teenage act from Vic Morrow. Aldo Ray as Sgt. Montana was too gritty, like a Mad Max or Clint Eastwood type freewheeler as he tries to shepherd his mentally broken Colonel to safety. He is dragooned into Ryan's little column against his will. Very rough ending for the brave little band. Lot's of action but no Hollywood heroics!

This is a bit of a plodding story in parts, but not without merit.

First, it has an excellent cast: one of my all time favorites, Robert Ryan as Lt. Benson; the much underrated Aldo Ray as Montana, the bully of a sergeant with a soft spot for the Colonel (Robert Keith) who has battle fatigue; James Edwards, an African-American ahead of his time as Sgt. Killian; Nehemiah Persoff as another sergeant, a very young Vic Morrow as a nervous wreck corporal, L.Q. Jones as gutsy Sgt Davis...and so on. All in all, a well-picked crew to portray a platoon of soldiers squeezed between enemy lines in Korea and trying to make it to Hill 465 and break out from the enemy encirclement.

Such a story has been done quite a few times: Pork Chop Hill (1959), once again with James Edwards. Think also of Hell is for Heroes (1962) where a squad holds off overwhelming forces. And, more recently, the elegance of Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998) where still another company must take a hill from the enemy.

Men in War is very much a low budget film, but that pales when you just sit back and let the characters show their stuff. And, blissfully, the music soundtrack remains silent, for a lot of the time; although, the choral group voice-over at the end was just a tad tacky for me. However, the film was made in 1957 and that fact goes a long way to explain that ending. The story, however, gives the viewer a gritty look at how men interact when under stress of being killed. Sure, that's been done before also, but Ryan's and Ray's performances, as they verbally and physically spar, are realistic to the very end.

The black and white photography very much suits the whole setting: a dried up creek bed where the platoon is trapped. From that position, they work their way towards the hill, through snipers, shell barrages and mine fields to finally launch an attack on enemy gun emplacements on the heights. The final battle for the hill is full of the usual pyrotechnics and heroics, and where all but three of the whole platoon is lost, two of whom are Lt. Benson and Sgt Montana – a great touch of irony considering they were in direct conflict with each other at the start of the story.

It's well directed by Anthony Mann, famous for El Cid (1961), God's Little Acre (1958) where Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray appear again together, The Tin Star (1957), The Man from Laramie (1955), one of James Stewart's best westerns, and many others. Good fast editing for the action sequences and the use of many low and high angle shots all make for an entertaining action movie. The standout – and very suspenseful – scene, however, is when Killian is stalked by a pair of enemy assassins while he decorates his helmet with wild flowers. Sounds silly, I know, but it works.

Recommended for all, especially war movie fans.

Men in War (1957)

Take a small group of survivors in a hardscrabble part of Korea during that neglected war and watch them squabble and worry and scramble to stay alive.

This is an admired war movie for the simple reason that it is shorn of romanticism or heroism. Not that there aren't heroic acts, and true intelligence in expert soldiering. But the acting is vivid and honest, not pandering to our need for greatness in ordinary men. And the result is that these ordinary men are great.

Robert Ryan is the star here, and he earns his keep. A smart, stubborn, hardened officer who knows the chips are down and isn't going to give in to excess or despair. The dry, open landscape with a few trees and some distant hills is almost a symbol for the movie, plain and unadorned, nothing unnecessary. The other actors are sharply seen, as well, some desperate and losing their grip, others just scared and watching, others subtle and observant.

Anthony Mann is best known in the 1950s for his Westerns, and this isn't so far from that kind of landscape and battle to survive. His earlier film noir experience must have also taught him about storytelling and character. This is sharply seen and directed. The Pentagon hated it (because it shows a disorderly military unit, according to Wiki), and wouldn't help in the production, so the only real equipment in use here is a Jeep and some guns. And this helps in the end, since it forces the movie to focus on character and the ensemble acting.

After viewing this movie and reading some of the reviews i couldn't keep myself from making a few comments.......when i was a boy i saw this film and thought it was great and scary........after actually having been in a war i realized how foolish it really is.......NCO's who act like children, soldiers who act as if they have no idea where they are and seem incapable of carrying out direct and simple orders, unbelievable behavior while attacking a fixed position....of course everyone is scared....that is common knowledge by now but it is not an excuse for failure.........as far as i could tell the technical director, john Dickson, may actually have been a 64 year old female war correspondent named Sigrid Schultz....what was that all about?.......I would have to come to the conclusion that Anthony Mann had very little to do with WWII and clearly never had a clue what soldiering was all about.

Clearly, Anthony Mann was adept at character development but there are some genres of film where factual believability is just as important.......he could get away with over characterization in a western maybe........even though a bit too much for my taste......but not in a modern war film.......this movie was a lot more like a twilight zone episode than a war film......even the music was rod serlingish if you ask me.