Sniper's Ridge

Little known but highly effective anti-war movie set in no-mans land around the 38th parallel in Korea in late July 1953.

With the agreed upon armistice, by the UN and Communist forces, to go into effect within 48 hours the Communist Chinese troops launch a deadly daylight attack on the troops along what's called Sniper's Ridge. The fighting shaking up the commander of the US unit stationed there Capt. Tombolo, John Goddard. With his best man Cpl. Sharack, Jack Ging,due to leave for home Capt. Tombolo pulls strings to keep him there in order to keep his US Army company, considered the worst US combat unit on the front-lines in Korea, from going under in another determined Communist assault.

Capt. Tombolo calls Cpl. Sharack into his office and tells the startled soldier that instead of leaving this hell-hole he's sending him out on a deadly night patrol in no-mans land against a company of heavily armed Chinese Communist troops.

Sharack just comes apart and not only goes AWOL but high-jacks a medical jeep and has himself taken back to the nearest MASH unit to be considered unfit for duty and sent back home to the states. With nothing found psychically wrong with him Capl. Sharack is sent back to his front-line unit but refuses to partake in any combat. Sharack even volunteers to dig latrines behind the lines to avoid being killed or wounded with his time already served and the Korean War slated to end at 10:00PM July 27, 1953, less then 24 hours away.

The night attack, without Cpl. Sharack, on the Communist troops turned out to be a disaster for Capt. Tombolo's troops. Now with the war about to end he orders his troops to launch another senseless attack which has his man, who want to be able to live out the day, about to mutiny against him. It's then when Capl. Sharack shows just what he made of by taking control of the matter not by killing any enemy troops or even the hated and despised Capt. Tombolo but by saving his life when he foolishly tries to be a hero to not only impress the men under his command but overcome the deep insecurity he feels about himself.

Solid performances all around in this almost forgotten and unknown little war movie with Jack Gling as the heroic and at the same time troubled Cpl. Shareck. Sharecks sense of pride and honor, as well as his concern for his fellow GI's, makes him forget the past and risk his life to save a man who had no good feelings towards him but only wanted to used Cpl. Sharack's skills and ability as a combat soldier in order to promote himself as an effective combat commander.

John Goddard as Capt. Tombolo also gives a standout performance as the obsessed minded military man who want's to make points with the brass upstairs. You can see how his mind is effected by the war and his need to please his superiors and how that causes him to push his men to the point where he's worse to them then the enemy that their facing on the other side of no-mans land.

Douglas Henderson gives a touching performance as the shell shocked Sgt. Sweatish who was a hero in WWII in Europe but here in Korea is only a shell of his former self. Older and wiser about war and what it can do to scared and emotionally broken, from the effects of war, men like himself. Sgt. Sweatish just can't be the soldier that he once was and feels that he's only a burden to the men that he's in charge of where he almost wants to be busted down to private so that the only person that he's really responsible for is himself.

There's also Stanley Celements as Cpl. "Pump" Pumphrey Sgt. Sweatish's friend and war buddy from WWII. Both brave and fearless, to the point of not even taking himself serious in what he does under pressure. Pump looked up to Sweathish as the perfect soldier under fire and man you can count on where your in a fix who sees that not every one can get used to war even those who become heroes because of it.

An unrelentingly grim and emotional Korean War drama, Sniper's Ridge is a tidy piece of work, well-directed by John Bushelman, it gives a nice sense of how confining war can be; accustomed as moviegoers are to vast beaches and endless jungles, this film paints a more accurate portrait of war, as small, remote and cramped, with men scurrying in and out of ditches and bunkers like rats.

The film is as much as character study as anything else, as it follows the unraveling of an heroic, reluctant and homesick soldier on the last day of the war. There are also parallel stories concerning, among others, a vindictive officer, a compassionate career dog-face, and a sergeant who has lost his nerve. The sergeant is the most interesting and tragic of the bunch, as he was once a genuine hero, for reasons he didn't understand, and is now afraid of being killed, and again doesn't comprehend what's going on. For all this, he remains highly likeable and sympathetic throughout the course of the film.

Jack Ging, as the reluctant hero, is excellent, breathing life into what in lesser hands might have been a thoroughly obnoxious if at times admirable character. Stanley Clements is superb and wholly believable as a two-fisted tough guy. As the sergeant, Douglas Henderson is magnificent, as he plays, with great dignity, a man haunted by ambivalance and fear, yet in whom we sense a fine if wounded individual.

Saying that Sniper's Ridge is just a poor man's version of Pork Chop Hill is not to denigrate this film, but merely to point out it's a B film. Sniper's Ridge is the kind of B film that used to fill out the bottom part of a double feature back in the day when they had double features. The sixties was the last decade that happened in.

The two most prominent names in this film are Jack Ging and Stanley Clements a pair of soldiers who are sweating out the final hours before the cease fire is to take effect in Korea. Both give good believable performances as do the rest of the cast. No mock Hollywood heroics here, these are men just trying to stay alive and get home.

If this is ever shown again on television try to catch it.

This is not an Aldrich nor Bill Wellman feature, but a not a crap either. A small scale topic, with few budget but, to compensate, with good characterization, with much psychological tension, far better than classic battle scenes with plenty of explosions and body count. The mine field scene is impressive as usual in this kind of sequence in any war film. Yes this is a pretty interesting little war film though not a masterpiece. There were many of them in the early sixties, indie movies for most of them, not from big studios, fast shot and released in double feature theaters. I think they are all more or less available now.

"Sniper's Ridge" was at the peak of something that was happening to war movies in the 1950s.

Although some of the tactics are ridiculous, the equipment and sets look realistic enough in this small-scale film. However it's the idea behind it that counts.

The opening sequence has a platoon of American soldiers totally monstered by North Korean troops. Everyone hides, including the sergeant. The only effective soldier in the outfit saves them by pretty much performing his duty. The company commander, whose cowardice is exposed by a new arrival, petulantly orders his reluctant soldiers to attack hours before the ceasefire.

Hardly a recruitment film.

These days we are used to cynical portrayals of the military often still as a backlash against the Vietnam War. However, 1961s "Sniper's Ridge" already showed the changing attitudes towards service and even patriotism.

Movies exaggerate and distort for the sake of drama or even an agenda, but whether or not they reflect the truth, they do create a perception.

Maybe Korea coming so close to the end of WW2 caused this shift. Earlier movies celebrated the allied victory and bravery of the military during the war. However Korea caught everyone napping. America dug deep, reservists called up and draftees filling out the ranks, but the "police action" was different to the effort in WW2. Movies of the 50s reflected this. Although some movies were still about WW2, many took on a cynical edge.

The cowardly captain in "Sniper's Ridge" had cinematic company. Look at Captain Cooney in "Attack" and Captain "Waco" Grimes in "Between Heaven and Hell", both in 1956. Then there was "The Bridges at Toko-Ri"; Navy fliers in Korea asking, "Why am I here"?

The guys in the Hollywood military weren't just following orders anymore they were questioning everything. And it was happening in the movies of other countries as well.

"Pork Chop Hill", made in 1959, but based on fact, showed American soldiers well led by competent officers. Still the overall disillusionment with the Korean conflict comes through, and some of the soldiers definitely represented the social issues of the 50s.

The baby boomers that went to Vietnam were brought up on those movies, which helped shape attitudes. Anyone viewing "Sniper's Ridge" in that context would have guessed that Vietnam would be even more problematic.