Les marines attaquent

"All the Young Men" is a Korean war movie that finds an aging Alan Ladd and an up-and-coming Sidney Poitier leading a platoon of soldiers into a snow-bound Korean pass where they have to hold a farm-house against all the odds. It's not a bad film, just a rather formulaic one full of stock characters yet it's even quite exciting at times. The writer/producer/director was Hal Bartlett, a B-Movie stalwart of the period who liked to tackle 'difficult' issues, a kind of poor man's Sam Fuller, (Poitier's presence here ensures racism rears its ugly head). The first-rate black and white photography was by Daniel L Fapp who was to win the Oscar a year later for his work on "West Side Story".

All the Young Men is a film about a marine patrol in Korean War where the lieutenant in charge is killed in the first couple of minutes of the film. His last words are to tell the sergeant that he's now in charge, to complete a mission by taking a strategic farm house.

Seems natural enough, there's a sergeant who's the next ranking one on the scene. The joker in the deck is that this sergeant is black, played by Sidney Poitier. In 1951 the Armed Services were newly integrated and the civil rights revolution was but a few years off.

Poitier has the support of most of the men. Two he doesn't have, the first is southern redneck Paul Richards and the second is seasoned marine Alan Ladd. Ladd's the guy who should have been in charge, but Ladd hasn't the stripes of authority as he's been busted for doing things his way in the past.

The problem with the film is that Ladd just doesn't convey in it that he is a maverick spirit. We see him doing things in the Alan Ladd heroic mold and we're never given any reason to see why he wouldn't still be a sergeant and in charge. His problem with Poitier isn't racial, but there seems to be no reason for the conflict to be happening at all.

Alan Ladd and Sue Carol Ladd refused to see that he was growing older and had to transition into character parts. They kept him going in action films almost to the very end. In this case it was their own doing as Ladd's Jaguar Productions was a co-producer.

Even with an artificial conflict All the Young Men does have some good moments. In addition to Poitier, Ladd assembled a good cast of young players to guarantee some box office. Dick Davalos, Lee Kinsolving, Glenn Corbett and most of all current teen idol James Darren are some of the men on patrol.

Mort Sahl who was the Bill Maher of the 1960s plays the patrol radio operator and manages to work in some of his monologue from his comedy act into the film. Definitely some needed comedy relief.

And it has an appearance by the then heavyweight champion Ingemar Johanssen. During that year 1959-1960 he was champion, the Ladds befriended Johanssen and gave him a brief part in this film. It didn't lead to a movie career after Johanssen lost the championship back to Floyd Patterson while All the Young Men was still in theaters.

It seems that most war films about the Korean War during the time this one was made struggled to get their message across. They wanted to show action like all war pictures but also wanted to convey an anti-war message without being openly blatant about it. This picture while often times sluggish has some good moments in it. Comedian Mort Sahl gets a scene where he's allowed to do what he does best, semi-sarcastic comedy. All in all it's not an overly bad war film but it's not one of the better ones either. Former heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson who hailed from Sweden has a role in this movie.

There isn't really much to be said about this movie. Poitier gives the only good performance but nobody can be said to have come out of this effort with much pride. The cast is filled with non-actors, including a stand-up comic and an ex-prize fighter. The singing is done by non-singers, including the ex-prize fighter. And the song after which the film is named is not only sung poorly, it's poorly written. The production values are low. There are some nice outdoor shots towards the beginning, a snowy mountainous slope. The majority of the time is spent in a single indoor set. And some of the outdoor shots are thoughtlessly done -- here are these marines dug into the snow on a hill top and there is neither wind nor smoking breath. The obligatory woman is shoehorned into the plot, but fortunately doesn't act as anyone's love interest; she's there mainly to provide a target for attempted rape. The action scenes aren't bad but they conform to every convention in the book. The marines occupy an isolated post and must prevent the Reds from coming through the pass. They are attacked by about two dozen faceless extras, all of whom are slaughtered. They die like flies, building up a big body count. Our guys die one at a time, and always live long enough to utter a few last lines -- "Find that farmhouse and take it," or "Navahos shouldn't have to die in the snow." The humor is limited and is provided entirely by Mort Sahl in monologues and occasional wisecracks. Come to think of it, the whole thing reminds me a bit of a Sam Fuller movie, maybe "Fix Bayonets". What in-group tension there is, is provided by the competitive clash between Alan Ladd (looking too old for this kind of business, but he was a producer) and Sidney Poitier as the sgt. who inherits command of the unit. There is also a racist Southern redneck who wises up before the film ends. There is no sociopolitical content to speak of. All in all, it's not a hateful movie -- there's nothing disgraceful about it -- but you can probably find better ways to spend your time.

I had a friend that fought in the Korean War as a combat soldier and he told me about one winter they had a 20yr snow (hip deep) and blistering cold in Korea and this movie reminded me of those kinds of conditions, many soldiers died in Korea but not only by the enemies bullets but also by freezing to death.

Not a fast paced war movie like most people prefer because of the snow and it also has a racism content as it becomes clear from the beginning that not many like the character Sgt. Towler played by Sidney Poitier and that included Sgt. Kincaid played by Allan Ladd but over time they captured each others respect.

I actually enjoyed the movie, true Poitier and Ladd carry the movie at times but IMO its not as bad as some might think based on the other review. Worth a watch IMO.