User reviews

It's gratifying to read so many other appreciative reviews of this too-little-seen film.

I was 12 years old when Life magazine ran a spread on "The Victors" late in 1963, shortly before its release, and I recall the article was a bit negative in describing the film, as though the reviewer couldn't accept a film that depicted World War II so bleakly. Few films about Americans in that war had ever portrayed them so unheroically. (The only one I can think of is Robert Aldrich's "Attack!") The movie's Christmas season release in a country still reeling from the JFK assassination knocked this grim film out of theaters in a matter of three or four weeks. It was shown several times on the old CBS late movie series in the late '60s (where I first got to see it), but I've only seen it once on a premium cable presentation, in the mid-'90s. Several years ago I was able to obtain a 16mm print from the only rental house that offered it, but it was a scan-and-pan version from which some scenes had been cut.

One of these scenes, quickly trimmed from the initial release version, depicted a young European boy trying to sell a sexual service to American GIs; I think the other scene that was cut involved one of the female stars in the film. Even for the early 1960s, "The Victors" was a sexually frank film (without being in any way pornographic), which certainly must have offended some early viewers and exhibitors. Indeed, despite the American characters, the film really is more European in flavor and moral atmosphere. (Foreman, blacklisted by Hollywood in 1953, had been living in England for several years when he made the film, and his directorial style seems to owe much to the Italian neo-realists.)

(It's also interesting to contemplate that Foreman's previous film outing had been as writer and producer of "The Guns of Navarone." One is tempted to think that the gala heroics and spectacular action of that popular film may have prompted Foreman to make a more realistic war movie.)

The episodic format of "The Victors" also makes it a difficult viewing experience for people used to more continuity in their films. Foreman based the film rather faithfully on Alexander Baron's novel, "The Human Kind," itself essentially a collection of short sketches involving the same wartime characters (in the novel, they're British soldiers, but Foreman retained their names for the American film characters). Still, for a repeat viewer, it is possible to see the characters change through the episodes. Some of the characters disappear with no explanation, others are suddenly promoted, new characters appear unheralded. Life, and war, are like that sometimes. And there is some shrewd foreshadowing: Early in the film, Trower (George Hamilton) remarks that he hopes to meet a Russian soldier; and be sure to take careful note of Grogan (Jim Mitchum) in his first few scenes.

"The Victors" is not without humor or compassion, but Foreman's purpose was to eliminate the heroics and the excitement of combat and to demonstrate that, as much as we try to rationalize it, war is a degrading experience for all concerned. The corrupting of a lovely young musician (Romy Schneider) by an American soldier (Michael Callan), the fleeting affair between Baker (Vince Edwards)and a young Italian mother (Rosanna Schiaffino), the encounter between Sgt. Craig (Eli Wallach) and a shell-shocked French woman (Jeanne Moreau) -- all remain vivid in the memory.

Another interesting feature of "The Victors," which was not in the novel, is Foreman's use of wartime newsreels as counterpoint to the fictional scenes. Sometimes it's a little too cute, but mostly it works.

Foreman knew that most people who saw "The Victors" would have an idea of what war action was like, if only from earlier war movies. What he wanted to show, what few earlier war films ever showed, was the moral wear-and-tear of combat on solder and civilian alike, in victory or defeat. To a large extent he succeeds. This is a film well-deserving of DVD release (in its complete widescreen version). And if you like this film, go the TCM website and demand that they show it!

I saw The Victors on the big screen in 1964 and its impact has never left me. I saw a cut version on TV a few years ago, and while forty years of film watching and life experience made the movie seem a little heavy-handed and sentimental to me, it still packed a punch. It is not a perfect film - there is the occasional bad moment, and some techniques that were startling in 1963, particularly the newsreels and the hand-held camera used in the opening scene, are now familiar.

Nevertheless, The Victors should serve as a needed lesson to "kids today" that WWII was not fun, not easy, and not "an adventure." Beating the Nazis was a grinding, miserable task that was paid for in suffering and loss. (As for concentration camps, a previous reviewer missed the scene in which one is indeed liberated.) Unusually, the film shows the effect of war on women and children, as well as on the fighting men. It's also remarkable that the movie was released years before the "disillusionment" of the Vietnam War. Had more Americans seen The Victors they might have had a better idea of what the nation was getting itself into. Watch The Longest Day or Patton, then watch The Victors and then decide which seems the most "true to life." If you don't know what "symbolism" means, the final episode, filmed at the height of the Cold War, and its epigraph by World War I poet Wilfred Owen, will show you.

The opening credits suggest the historical relationship between World war II and World War I. They also should remind everyone that there were plenty of Black GIs in WWII, and that Uncle Sam didn't win the war all by himself.

There are moments of real humanity here. The Vince Edwards episode was considered "controversial" in 1963, and in today's film culture may actually seem banal, but it's about understanding as well as loneliness. The memorable sequence involving George Peppard and the English family is wonderfully understated.

Somebody should explain why this occasionally flawed but excellent and provocative film has never been released to home video.

It's been many years since I've seen this picture, but there are scenes and sequences which I will never forget.

Essentially, the film tells how war, any war, ultimately de-humanizes everyone it touches. Some survive. Some don't. Others are permanently scarred. Through the cracks in the rubble, human goodness and feeling sometimes emerges, but the overall cost is unbearably heavy.

Particularly powerful are sequences where George Hamilton returns to the European city to visit the girl he'd fallen in love with, not expecting to find what he finds has happened to her; George Peppard visiting "old sarge" in the hospital, also to be surprised; the ugly face of racial violence within the armed forces.

Episodic, yes, even maddeningly so, as the film loosely follows a group of sometimes unconnected soldiers and what happens to them and others--but still, THE VICTORS haunts and reminds us that war is the last acceptable choice of human activities.

This WWII epic from writer-producer-director Carl Foreman follows members of an American army squad as they fight their way up through Italy and throughout Europe, all the way to the end of the war, and even slightly after. The main soldiers are played by George Hamilton, George Peppard, Vince Edwards, Michael Callan, and Eli Wallach. The film is episodic in nature, a series of small vignettes, and appearing in individual segments are Rosanna Schiaffino, Jeanne Moreau, Senta Berger, Romy Schneider, Melina Mercouri, and Elke Sommer. Also with Jim Mitchum, Peter Fonda, Maurice Ronet, Mervyn Johns, Alf Kjellin, and Albert Finney.

The lack of a central story almost makes this feel like several TV show episodes strung together. As with most episodic things, some parts work better than others. I liked a sad and unnerving bit with Wallach, on his own, discovering Moreau shell-shocked in a blasted house. The acting by both is underplayed and excellent. The copy I watched was 155 minutes but apparently this originally ran for just under 3 hours. Scenes that were cut from the original version include one dealing with a child prostitute, and another where British soldiers sing a bawdy song that included the first use of the "F word" in a major motion picture. I watched the movie for second-billed Albert Finney, who doesn't show up until literally the final 4 minutes of the picture, with no lines in English (he plays a Russian soldier).

This movie follows a group of American soldiers through different European battlefields in World War II: Italy, France, Belgium, Germany. It is composed of several short stories that share the same theme and characters, divided by sequences of actual newsreels from the war. This creates a very strong contrast between the stories served to the movie theater audiences at home in which the soldiers were portrayed as optimistic heroes and the dark reality: brutal conditions, exhaustion, depression, futility, sexual exploitation, the black market, war profiteers...

It was made at the time when Second World War movies were still big-budget epics, with an atmosphere of heroism and optimism very similar to the wartime newsreels, and most of the action was limited to battle-scenes. In this film, the focus is on daily life, moreover there are no combat scenes, and short stories complement each other to create an atmosphere of pervasive emptiness and quiet desperation. A few weeks after its release the movie was briefly withdrawn to be modified, abridged and virtually censored. As far as I know, the original uncut version of the movie is still not available.

A few weeks after this film was released to mixed reviews it was briefly withdrawn from the theaters. A great deal of wonderful footage was cut including two major episodes, and then the adulterated version was quietly returned to theatrical distribution. I feel so very fortunate to have had the chance to see the very atmospheric, thoughtful and original film which was "The Victors" prior to this radical re-editing. The cut version is not bad, but quite ordinary compared to the original. The question remains: Where is the master negative now? Why is the film unavailable in any video format? What happened to the deleted scenes? Despite the vast cost that went into producing these, were they merely thrown away? I would dearly love to know why no answers to these questions can be found? Does anyone know what happened here?

I saw this the first day it came out in 1964 and among the strange and memorable (if episodic) vignettes was this brief bit toward the end with this 12 year-old German boy visiting the tents of the American soldiers. It's pouring rain and the men are in their tents and this little blond kid goes into one of the tents. He comes flying out the door a minute later, having been thrown out apparently, by an angered, and cursing G.I. Another soldier reproaches the angry G.I., saying "What's the matter with you?" and the G.I. answers "Did you see what he tried to do to me?" The boy, picking himself out of the mud, yells back at him "The Russians didn't mind!" I was a teenager so I was a bit scandalized by this and mentioned it to my friends. But when they saw the movie a few weeks later - they told me that scene was gone. When I took my girlfriend to see it the following week - it was indeed gone. I had no idea at the time the movie had been recalled and re-cut, and I couldn't figure out why I would imagine a scene like that if it hadn't existed. Now I know I actually saw it (and other scenes that promptly disappeared). I wonder where the original print is.

This was the only film that producer/writer Carl Foreman ever directed and it's easy to see why. It's a dog of an anti-war movie, lugubrious and without any sense of style or pacing. It follows the members of a platoon through the invasion of Sicily to Germany and the end of the war in much the same way that Samuel Fuller's later and much finer "The Big Red One" did. It purports to show the horrors of war and how it dulls a man's soul but the camera is too in love with it's photogenic heroes, (George Peppard, George Hamilton), and the film is too stuffed with all-star cameos, (Melina Mercouri, Jeanne Moreau, Albert Finney), and scenes that drag on long after the point is made. (Foreman doesn't have a clue when to say 'Cut'; the film drags on for close on three hours).

It's meant to be bleak, (a soldier is executed for desertion to the strains of Frank Sinatra singing 'Have yourself a merry little Christmas'; another's pet dog is shot for a bet), but instead it just induces the kind of nullifying boredom that portentous 'significant' epics often do. Needless to say, it was a huge failure.

I first saw this movie in 1984. And, try as I might, I have never been able to see it again. It is not available on video (why???) and it seldom plays on television.

More is the shame. We should scream for its imminent release on DVD.

The cast itself is impressive enough: Eli Wallach, George Peppard, Elke Sommer, Peter Fonda...

Still, just try to find it on video.

The movie is of the "War is Hell" genre. It makes some unpleasant watching, long long before "Saving Pvt Ryan" came to the silver screen. And it has a few moments of humor. As a series of vignettes -- each of them memorable -- it is a true masterpiece, as each vignette is a story told and enclosed in and of itself.

The movie builds to a very memorable ending, one I haven't yet forgotten 21 years since the last time I saw it.

Elke Sommer, the luscious, beautiful beauty from Berlin is great in this War film. This actress was fluent in many languages and highly intelligent and unfortunately was pigeon-holed in to "dumb blonde" parts because of her pretty face and nice figure. This was a shame because she NEVER (exception of A SHOT IN THE DARK) was in a good film with some meat to her character. Anyway, as Helga she rocks in THE VICTORS.

George Peppard is steady, George Hamilton is a wuss, and Peter Fonda looks lost as he did for many years. Eli Wallach is creepy as usual. This film isn't bad, but I believe was released in different versions which really messed up any chance of success. A 6 out of 10. Best performance = Elke Sommer!

Carl Foreman's "The Victors" is extraordinary for two reasons:

1) it emphasizes the characters over the action

2) while being a "spot the star" flick, this is a film made up of smaller stars.

Among the "smaller" stars in this, we have Vince Edwards, George Hamilton, Albert Finney, Peter Fonda, Eli Wallach and George Peppard. Perhaps they are not as big as the ones who appeared in the popular war epics of the time, but I think it benefits from this approach. The film is a bunch of low-key stories strung together by the war and these low-key actors are perfect for this approach.

There are action scenes. It wouldn't be a war film without them. But after a while, I got tired of action scene after action scene and I appreciated a film that let us get to know these soldiers and how they felt about the war and life. It predates Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" by about 33 years, but it's just as effective.

Carl Foreman was famously blacklisted during the 1950s and only now is his work appreciated. His credits include "The Bridge Over The River Kwai" and "The Guns of Navarone" and in this, his directorial debut, he demonstrates the skill and drama of the earlier pictures along with the character studies. The result: a richly textured film, one of 1963's best. If only more people knew about it. Columbia, if you're reading this, release it on tape and DVD NOW!

**** out of 4 stars

A WWII movie detailng a sprawling saga with a weightiness all its own that follows an American infantry unit from Sicily, up throughout Europe, to the fall of Berlin and after. The story follows the path of a squad of young American solders: George Peppard, George Hamiltton, Vince Edwards, Elli Wallach, Michael Callan, Peter Fonda, James Mitchum from the early days of the Battle of Britain, through the fierce fighting in Sicily, Italian peninsula, and France, to the uneasy peace of Berlin. Dynamite - From the man who fired "The Guns of Navarone.". A Shattering Entertainment Experience!. The most beautiful woman in the world meet the toughest fighting men in the world!. The six most exciting women in the world...in the greatest war story ever told!. War has no victors, only survivors !. Killing destroys the killers as well as the killed, because it murders decency, self-respect, and ultimately life itself !.

Interesting film set during World War II, a group of American soldiers make their way through Europe in the campaigns of Sicily, the Italian peninsula, France, Belgium, Holland and finally Germany. As they pass through each country, several women show them the other reality of the conflict, thus narrating together some significant events of WWII. Serious War movie centred on a platoon , being compellingly recreated on the European outdoors and complemented by a lot of newsreel. Wartime buffs will appeal this vivid action film in which American troops fighting enormous odds ; at the beginning there's a certain vein of humor and subsequently happen the dramatic scenes . The film feels somewhat disjointed with some uneven war episodes that are strung together without much sense at times. Filmmaker loses no chance to make true human beings out of the roles on the battlefield. Filmmaker Carl Foreman follows Wiilliam Wellman style from 'Battleground' (1949) , portraying an ordinary GI unit across Europe. Foreman offers emotional complexity, and a rather shallow and cheap sense of irony , sometimes effective, more often ponderous. There's a star-studded cast made up of known actors at the time: Vince Edwards, George Peppard, George Hamilton, Michael Callan , Peter Fonda, James Mitchum , Maurice Ronet that play some of the soldiers who get theirs at various stages of the long slog towards the last destination and Albert Finney as a drunken Russian soldier who takes on Hamilton in a knife fight in occupied Berlin. Interludes between campaigns are beefed up by the presence of various sexy European actresses, such as: Rosanna Schiaffino, Romy Schneider, Elke Sommer, Senta Berger, Melina Mercouri, and Jeanne Moreau.

There's an atmospheric cinematography in black and white by Christopher Challis . As well as evocative score by Sol Kaplan. The motion picture was professionally written/produced/directed by Carl Foreman, in his film debut, but its has some flaws and gaps. Foreman wrote or produced notorious films , such as: The Men (1950), High Noon (1952) , The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Key (1958), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Force 10 from Navarone (1978) , among others. The Victors (1963) rating: 6.5/10.

I saw this movie forty one years ago and the feelings it engendered have never left me, even if the details are dim. Back in the post world war II era and before Viet Nam created vast dissent in the US, war was presented as the patriotic undertaking of young men. It's what a man did. No movie I had ever seen showed the human cost of war in this way. I was just a teenager raised on John Wayne movies at that time.

The next movie I saw which evoked such strong feelings was "The Pawnbroker".

Recently I tried to get both movies at a local video store for my daughter who is a film student and could not. Then I started asking around at other video stores and no one had it. I live in Chicago and everything should be available. This made me wonder why had I also never seen re-runs on TV or heard these movies discussed in film programs. I believe the answer is that both these movies create feelings that are impossible for most to cope with-they are after some thirty and forty years still too difficult. They both end in despairing desolation.

I saw this movie in a late spot more than 15 years ago and I hung onto its title. I've been looking for a copy of it since. The scene that I cannot forget was when Vince Edward's unit stumbled onto concentration camp prisoners escaping into the forest. One of the prisoners stop and vaguely making out the soldiers realize that these are not Germans. The prisoner approaches Vince Edwards, kneels and kisses Vince Edwards hand.

Regarding the ending, wasn't it a statement of how Germany caused two great countries to unite to defeat it and in the end caused the cold war. Remember, the American soldier was so angry because his German girl friend was raped by Russian soldiers. I don't think this is an antiwar movie. War movies aren't just about shooting and killing. They're about soldiers too.

Moody monochrome.

Love the ironic music behind the execution.

I decided to see this film again, and now know why I forgot it was ever made. Cheap explosions, chunks of history ignored, and more women than every other 60s war films put together for what !!?? How on earth it gets such a high rating beggars belief, as it is presented in the most wooden way possible. A dreadful mess of a so called war drama, that looks so dated now. Better to watch paint dry, as this is one of the worst war films I have ever seen. Believe the other reviews at your peril......be afraid very afraid of wasting your time !!..!!!!!!!!!

This is probably the most realistic war movie ever made. The characters are real, flesh and blood not paper heroes. The black and white only added to the realism. The irony at the end of an American and Russian soldier killing each other and falling into a V while Beethoven's Fifth plays in the back ground is not lost. The execution of Eddie Slovak to the strains of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" playing in the background is powerful, and you can't escape the injustice of this single soldier being executed for the act of hundreds. It anyone every thought their was any glory or romance in war this movie should disabuse them. Recent movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" have in my opinion skewed away from the stark truth of "The Victors"

What ever happened to this wonderful movie? When I was at the University of Oregon in the late 60s and early 70s it was shown on local t.v. in Eugene several times. I have not seen it since but it has lingered in my memory. What a great film.

One scene that has stayed with me all these years is the one with the dog. A new recruit shows up and joins a group of tired and war-weary vets. The new recruit has a young puppy and wants to bring it along. The puppy is cute and because I had watched a ton of American war films I thought that everyone would embrace the dog, make it their mascot and have a merry time as they wasted Krauts in the Hurtgen Forrest but the vets will not allow the dog to join them. What the vets know and the new guy doesn't is that they are headed for a place where only those with a hard heart survive. The Hurtgun is no place for pups or children. Only a certain type of individual could possibly survive there. You can see it in the vets that they would like to indulge the new guy and his dog, but they know better. They make the recruit leave the dog as they board the truck headed for the front. The puppy starts following the truck as it pulls away and the innocent new guy gets all excited and calls to him as it trails the truck. A vet pulls out his M-1 and shots the dog dead. Another vet turns to the new guy who is stunned in disbelief and says "it took a soldier to do that".

This movie, this scene and this line have stayed in my mind and its been over 30 years since last I've seen it.