Le supplice des aveux

Please god. Let the decision makers, stop charging into wars at the behest of those who'll make outrageous profits. Ignoring the thousands of young men and women that come home smashed into pieces, for many irreprably..

If theres a conflict that threatens the security, of the U. S., thats different. But no more 3rd world esoteric, thinly constructed conflicts, in which the ones deciding are future employees of the weapons industry (read Eisenhower on the military industrial complex, and its threats to America).

Way too cozy, classic conflict of interest, having those who'll gain, personally opting to jump in.

This movie, is set on that back drop....tangentially, with a young man (boy), no mom, military dad, trotted down the path to glory. Only his "glory" is in a courtroom, where his behavior is judged by many who never faced what he did,

It was trials like this one that led to a reexamination of the expectations, of a soldiers behavior once hes taken prisoner.

Addendum to part 1.

Theres a scene where Paul Newman confronts his son. It brought to mind, an experience that brings home the costs of war. 1966, I had complete my combat medic training, and was waiting for my next class, pharmacology and compounding meds.

I was loaned out to the burn center, at Brook. Army medical center, Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas.

Daily planes would arrive bringing young men, pilots whose planes had crashed, soldiers, marines who were engulfed in napalm, a jellied gasoline. And by far the worst, white phosphorous grenades, with faulty fuses that at times exploded as it left the throwers hand.

What was left looked more like 150 pounds of clay, then a human. All facial features, arms, hands vaporized.

I know how dreadful this sounds....but its the reality combat soldiers face, that I believe makes them more vulnerable to coercion.

I'm 74, and if I live to 174 I'll never forget the young wives, 19-24, thrilled to finally see their husbands, only to stare wide eyed, mouthing the right words, and only when they left the room....would they drop to the ground sobbing. The reality that a part of their psyche was just as horribly disfigured.

Yes, see this movie. Know, none of the gore is in the movie, but offered to help explain the movie. One other movie you must see is, "Johnny got his gun" directed by Dalton Trumbo.

Wars aren't just pork. Not a way to pay back, the folks in your district for getting you elected. They are dirty rotten nightmares, in which our sons and daughters will be ground into hamburger. Rember how gay the mood was as the south, sent their boys off for a 2 week war. Remember the depth of their disillusion?

Fight if we must. Only if we must.

Caught this rarity on TCM. Much heavy duty talent is involved in this production - Rod Serling as writer, and the acting talents of Paul Newman (his second screen appearance), Edmund O'Brien, Walter Pigeon, and Anne Francis, with bits by Lee Marvin and Chloris Leachman, even! The effort must be marked as a success, with an even-handed treatment of the issue of "breaking point" in a war when the Koreans openly sought to crush their POW's thru "brainwashing", a term that came into currency at that particular time. The cut and dried atmosphere of the courtroom proceedings are balanced by portrayals of the personal effects of the tragedy on the principals, especially the searing scenes between Newman/Hall and his father. A thoughtful film dealing with a major issue of the day, that is well worth seeing.

I have to agree this is one of Pauls best movies and it never seems to come up when he is mentioned, the cast is also terriffic. I am sorry it has gone so unnoticed I can only think that it may have been set about the Korean War and that doesnt seem to get much attention.. I thought the acting was sincere and I was draw to this character that seemed to feel he lost his way by being human..

The Rack casts Paul Newman in his third film as a returning prisoner of war who is put on trial for collaborating with the enemy during the Korean War. After the disaster of The Silver Chalice and his subsequent success in Somebody Up There Like Me, Newman's performance in The Rack assured his future stardom.

Making things triply worse is the fact that Newman comes from a military family. His father Walter Pidgeon is in the service, his brother was killed in Korea, and the brother's wife Anne Francis has stayed with Pidgeon. It was after a welcome home party for Newman that Pidgeon receives the word about Newman's court martial. Walter Pidgeon gives the best performance in the film, his scenes with Newman after he gets the news are what great acting is all about.

Prosecuting Newman is Wendell Corey and his defense counsel is Edmond O'Brien a good pair of cinematic legal adversaries if there ever was one. Also in the film is Lee Marvin who was a fellow prisoner and who is the original accusatory witness against Newman. Marvin's scene in the witness stand is also classic.

The Pacific Theater of World War II and later the Korean War put us against enemies of an oriental culture and the second one flavored with Marxism. Their view of prisoners was one radically different from the western one. Someone who didn't die at his duty and allowed himself to be captured was one worthy of contempt. It's why the atrocities that happened and more important the fact that the prison keepers never viewed what they did as atrocities. These were all new issues for the American public to face. It would come even closer to home during the Vietnam War.

The Rack is the story of one man who reached a breaking point while in captivity. Those points are not the same with every individual. That fact is brought out quite clearly in this fine film.