Hell Is for Heroes (1962)

Autumn, 1944: A small, yet determined group of American soldiers are forced to hold back a bunch of Nazis all by themselves on the German Siegfried line. Adroitly directed in customary mean'n'lean economical fashion by Don Siegel, with a gritty, realistic, and bitterly cynical tone, a taut and hard-hitting script by Richard Carr and Robert Pirosh, exciting (and harrowing) combat action, crisp black and white cinematography by Harold Lipstein, a refreshing dearth of both pretense and sentiment, and startling moments of brutal violence, this powerful little gut punch of a picture even comes complete with a strong central statement on the intrinsic futility and wastefulness of war (the ferocious climactic battle set piece in particular leaves the soul-crushing overall impression that it was all for nothing). The uniformly fine acting from the tip-top cast keeps this movie on track: Steve McQueen excels as austere and rebellious loner Reese, Fess Parker delivers a sound performance as the sturdy and resolute Sergeant Pike, and Bob Newhart in his film debut provides some amusing comic relief as the bumbling Private Driscoll, plus there are spot-on contributions from Harry Guardino as the no-nonsense Sergeant Larkin, James Coburn as the easygoing and resourceful Henshaw, Bobby Darin as amiable and irreverent hustler Corby, Nick Adams as endearingly goofy Polish refugee Homer Janeczek, and Mike Kellin as the tough Kolinsky. Well worth seeing.

This movie is a real stinker, with one redeeming scene.About 1 hour and 21 minutes into the movie, there is an order to charge. Some badly modified artillery footage, then some morters, and a machine gun scene. Then -- the best scene in the whole movie.Sgt. Pike gives the order to charge - and they take off running. One poor guy does a fantastic face plant right in front of the camera. The, as the camera pans right, you can see the guy getting up and trying to put on his helmet.I've watched this move dozens of times - but never noticed the face plant until this weekend. I laughed so hard, I cried.

OK. Everyone is different. We all like stuff that others may cringe at, like, agree on etc. So this is what I liked, didn't thought of etc. For me this film was not the best. The film was gritty in appearance, black & white, which really, I thought, was a great creative decision to make to shoot it that way. It added a lot to the feel/atmosphere to the film.The characters were good, and I felt worked well developing the story but a kinda formula that's repeated a lot in early films of this genre. A usual mixture of characters, ranging from funny, then a fall guy, the only me guy, the serious guy the troubled guy (McQueen)The environment, budget film? $2,500,000 (estimated) shot in the states so the terrain the film was played out in just wasn't war torn European enough for me, although the tank traps on the German side look convincing! McQueen. Held the whole thing together. Great performance with the underlying possibility that he could explode any second. Love him in this film.Action sequences were pretty good actually. Well done. Worth watching? Yes. Maybe a 2nd look. BUT See the film make up your own mind. ;^)

The title says it all. While it might offend some people with its "Hell" reference, there is a purpose to it as in "War is Hell" or "Only the strong will survive hell on earth". Don't expect a happy ending a la "Destination Tokyo" or "Air Force" as far as World War II movies are concerned. This is almost 20 years after the war ended, and Hollywood was desperately fighting to get past the restrictions of the production code. This is battlefield combat at its most grizzly and realistic.Steve McQueen is a former sergeant demoted to private, a soldier who is just inches away from inner explosion. He shows up to join a battalion in France who believe they are about to be sent home. McQueen fears going home more than combat, so he is most grateful that doesn't happen. The company, lead by McQueen's old acquaintance Harry Guardino, ends up in the trenches, battling unseen Germans. Bob Newhart comes in as a clerk/typist who quickly learns to shoot. He is strictly there for comic relief of course. A small group of soldiers try to break through a mine field with disastrous results. One of the wounded screams over and over that he can see his guts before expiring. It's chilling and truly horrific, considering that several years later, Vietnam would be underway, with an advanced media showing the gore on a daily basis.There really isn't much to the story, just a vision of the horrors of war not presented realistically during that time. People don't just die after being shot or blown up when a grenade explodes in front of them. They die slow, agonizing deaths, so this could be almost called an anti-war film in that perspective. It shows the panic, mental anguish, and torment that the soldiers must face. While he is of course top billed, Steve McQueen is merely part of an ensemble which includes James Coburn (who plays the most likable of the men), Bobby Darin, Fess Parker and Nick Adams. Michele Montau has a memorable small role as a French barmaid who has an unforgettable exchange with McQueen. While the movies made during World War II about the war served their purpose in reminding us of our goals in this war, films like this and "The Dirty Dozen" give us more grizzly and realistic portrayals of what the war was really like.