Les marines attaquent

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.

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.

"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.

During the Korean War, up in the snowy mountains, a marine platoon is attacked and their lieutenant is killed. But just before he dies he places the platoon sergeant, Eddie Towler, in charge. Towler is black and has to get his men to safety amidst racial tension and constant in fighting.

All The Young Men is a Saturday afternoon time filler of a movie. Not brilliant, but certainly not bad. Sidney Poitier takes the lead role as Towler and gives it his usual guts and emotional thunder. Alongside Poitier is Alan Ladd, who at 47 was coming to the end of his career. Now if one can cast aside that Ladd was a bit old to be bombing around the snow laden mountains, then his interplay with Poitier is actually very good. It certainly gives the character's edge, and thus keeps the picture being the character driven piece it's meant to be.

This is no stock war film with blitzkrieg battles and dirty dozen like shenanigans, this is men holed up in a mountain station forced to win the battles amongst themselves in order to win the war. Nicely shot in stark black and white on location at the Glacier National Park, Montana, All The Young Men is very much a mood piece. Odd then that the makers shoehorn in some light relief courtesy of Mort Sahl's Corporal Crane. It's not Sahl's fault of course, but it doesn't sit right in context with the story. It's as if someone said to director and writer Hall Bartlett, you can't make an overtly bleak mood piece, put some fun in there!

Still this was one I had a real good time with, partly because of its two lead actors and partly because of the locale. It's recommended on proviso that you expect character over action, oh yes sir. 7/10