Un homme doit mourir

Sgt. P. J. Briscoe (Kirk Douglas) and two others are clearing out an outpost when they are attacked by a plane during the waning days of the Korean War. Their job is to destroy all the equipment and load the remaining fuel onto a civilian ship run by Capt. Van Ryn. The plane crashes and Private Dennison manages to save one of the pilots. The three Americans and their prisoner get a ride on Van Ryn's ship. They are ordered by command to get rid of the prisoner.

This is trying to be a character study play rather than a compelling war thriller. There seems to be an easy solution right from the beginning. The way the order is worded, Briscoe could simply let the prisoner swim for freedom. There has to be more. By his own words, Briscoe is only concerned about getting out of the Army and retiring with a full pension. He's been hardened by the war but he needs to be harder. There has to be some malevolence in his character for the good vs evil to work at peak performance. It's also weird to have the enemy bomb them with what looks like a WWII allied bomber. The dialogue is overly wordy. I like the unique premise but it feels too much like an overly written play. It feels dragged out.

The intro to this film indicates that this story is universal and could apply to any war...or any country...and this is quite true. And, this universality of the story make this an exceptional war film.

When the story begins, some American soldiers are loading trucks with airplane fuel which will soon be transported to the front. However, during this process, a North Korean plane attacks...killing one of the men. The plane soon crashes and a lone man bails out of the craft. Now when the surviving three American soldiers enter the ship, they have a prisoner.

Once aboard the ship, the men contact headquarters and are told that they were NOT to bring the prisoner in with them. In other words, they were to kill him! This is clearly a war crime...and is against the articles of war. The sergeant (Kirk Douglas) clearly seems to LIKE this order...one of the men, one of the privates (Robert Walker Jr.) thinks the order is monstrous and refuses to do it. The sergeant takes delight in goading this private but despite this, he will NOT kill the man. So, the sadistic sergeant then tries to get the other private to do it...

The story is a great look at human nature...the good as well as the bad. And, it reminds us that the German soldiers of WWII were not the only ones who murdered and chalked it all up to 'just following orders'. A very strong film whose only shortcoming is its pacing (it could have been shortened a bit and that would have made a stronger picture).

It's 1953 in the wee small hours of the Korean War winding down. While the peace talks proceed slowly at Panmunjom, the UN forces are evacuating their positions as the truce lines come into being. But the fighting still goes on. Another Korean War film, Pork Chop Hill, also dealt with this time of the war which President Truman called a police action.

A Korean pilot in a MIG Jet attacks some US soldiers who are loading supplies on a freighter and only three of them survive, Kirk Douglas, Robert Walker, Jr., and Nick Adams. Later on the pilot of the MIG is shot down and he's picked up by the freighter that the three soldiers are on with the supplies which includes a lot of barrels of oil.

Radioing for instructions, Kirk Douglas is told by a South Korean major to kill the North Korean pilot. He's certainly up for it, he's a veteran from this war and World War II. Walker doesn't want to and Adams is kind of on the fence because he's personally loyal to Douglas who got him out of a jam once.

The majority of The Hook is spent on the conflict between the three GIs. It's a rather unreal story because these three would be up for war crimes charges, Walker realizes this best. But two wars against oriental people have given Douglas some pronounced views on the subject. The holes in the script are covered up by the performances of the cast.

Nehemiah Persoff turns in a fine performance as the ship's captain who on his ship is the one in charge. But the best acting is done by Filipino player Enrique Magalona as the confused and frightened North Korean prisoner.

Pork Chop Hill is a better film, but The Hook is not a bad one. The ending is ironic to say the least.

When you think of Nick Adams, you probably think of Boomer in Picnic, the irritating nerd who pesters Kim Novak for a date. Or you remember his drunken ridiculousness in Pillow Talk as he paws Doris Day in his car. You certainly don't think of a good actor, which is why you should rent the heavy drama The Hook. If he earned a Rag award for his performance and beat out Bobby Darin in Captain Newman, M. D., it's a safe bet he's impressive.

This mental thriller involves a prisoner of war held captive by three American soldiers, Kirk Douglas, Nick Adams, and Robert Walker Jr. The unnamed Korean (played by Pancho Magalona) doesn't speak any English, so they're just left to interpret his expressions from his haunting stare. When they receive orders to kill the prisoner, each man goes through his own reluctance to pull the trigger. Kirk is the macho head honcho ordering everyone around, Bob Jr. Is the sensitive one who tries to get to know the prisoner, and Nick is the obedient soldier with a secret past.

This movie is very tense and at times hard to watch, especially since you can imagine situations like it playing out in real life. Sometimes soldiers received orders not to take prisoners. The Hook will keep you on the edge of your seat, so don't get up for more popcorn.

I have to agree with Bosley Crowther and the other critics of the day who largely advised audiences to give this one a pass. THE HOOK is noble in its intent, but nothing about it rings true. When I was seven years old, watching TV alone at home on a Saturday afternoon, some network show without warning broadcast the footage of a Vietnamese prisoner being executed by an American military man. I have never been able to get the image out of my head -- and nothing anyone can say will convince me that the Kirk Douglas character in this movie, on receiving the order to execute his Korean prisoner, would do anything other than march the prisoner immediately to the deck of the boat, blow his head off and let the body drop into the water. End of story. It's all very well to have the discussion that THE HOOK has and wants us to have -- but military men do what they are trained to do and they don't have philosophical arguments about it. There's a lot of good work on screen, and the purpose is admirable, but it never for one second feels authentic.