The Hook (1963)

Typical and inaccurate Hollywood portrayal of men in a difficult situation during war. Showing the American fighting man the way Hollywood wishes he were. Completely false portrayal of a situation that an NCO with 19 years service, including WW II and Korea could have handled easily. The prisoner would have been kept in the ship's brig or some locked space not in the same room as the soldiers. They would not have obeyed the orders of an ROK officer to kill the prisoner. There would have been no hesitation about ignoring the order. No soldier would kill a prisoner he had under complete control behind the front lines. Another thing, using a B-25 as a North Korean bomber was a laugh. In 1953 the US had complete control of the air over all of Korea South of the range of Chinese MIG-15s.

I didn't make it through to the end, beckoned instead to the comforting embrace of Morpheus. From the one hour that I saw, there was little evidence that I'd missed much. If you take away the name stars, what you wind up with is an inexpensive and very talky B feature.Kirk Douglas is Master Sergeant Briscoe, in command of two enlisted men, the erratic but compliant PFC Nick Adams, and the humanitarian youngster, Robert Walker Jr. They are the last men to leave a post in Korea, aboard a UN-chartered freighter, captained by Nehemia Persoff. As they leave, they pick up a downed North Korean aviator, half drowned. The Republic of Korea is in charge of the operation and over the radio the commander orders Douglas to kill the prisoner.There are some nice touches. Persoff runs a practical ship, full of highly explosive gasoline, under a neutral Finnish flag. Ordinarily a situation like this calls for a ship crawling with rats and manned by greasy, scarred, and rebellious lascars. Not in this case. Persoff's ship is tidy and he has a French cook who serves up beef Bourguignon, petite pois, and a robust and determined French wine with a fine nose.There are very few action scenes, not particularly well done but a welcome interruption to the drama taking place aboard the vessel.That's about it. The characters argue mostly, but not exclusively, over who is going to shoot and kill the friendly prisoner, Kim, with that .45. Each role is as subtle as a truck. Not even the banter sounds quite right. I suspect the novel might have been better than this adaptation.Most of the time it resembles a staged play. The three soldiers and their prisoner sit in their cabin and argue. Occasionally there is a visit from the captain or the steward. The men are groomed not like grunts who have been in a combat zone but rather like Hollywood stars. Douglas' moussed hair hasn't a strand out of place. All three were shaved that morning by the studio barber.Douglas does all right by the role of the sarcastic and ruthless sergeant, tormented by memories of child abuse. You see, that's why he's so tough on his men, especially the boyish non-actor Robert Walker Jr. Douglas is reenacting the role of his brutal father. (Ho hum.) I hope the Korean kid made it to the end of the movie. That's more than I could do.

I enjoy watching movies and will most often make a selection because of the actors, then maybe because of the theme, or occasionally because of a recommendation. "The Hook" is a movie that I had never heard of, so seeing Kirk Douglas on the cover is what hooked me for this war movie. Also Robert Walker Jr is someone that I first saw in TV's _"Star Trek" (1966) {Charlie X (#1.2)}_ (qv) playing a 17yr boy, so what would he be like in a movie produced 3 years earlier.The opening of this movie includes "This is a story of men in war, not men at war. And the two are not the same." To understand my view, I am a baby-boomer who has never served in the military, but I have known many who have served. Most of these men don't really talk about their experiences, so I often wonder if my views on war movies would be very different of those people who have served. My preference would be that countries would not be at war, but regardless of this I believe we need to support those who chose to serve in the roles in which they are assigned."The Hook" is a title that showed no relevance before I watched the movie, and I never did catch. Is this an anti-war movie, or a personal interaction story, or war conflict drama, and this question repeats itself for 90 minutes. Regardless the movie itself is compelling. We are engaged with three surviving servicemen vacating a military post upon a 'neutral' merchant vessel, plus an enemy retrieved after he has bailed from his failing aircraft. Your journey is to imagine your response to their scenarios. Would you have rescued the enemy at all? How would you treat him on this merchant ship? Just imagine how you would respond to engaging an enemy on the battlefield; how is it different or the same, across an eating table? Kirk Douglas, Robert Walked, and Nick Adams are the enlisted men facing these scenarios.I enjoyed this movie, in spite of moments of "I wouldn't do that!". The movie is a must for Kirk Douglas fans, and highly recommended for anyone interested in war movies. I don't know if actual enlisted people would behave this way, but "The Hook" is wonderfully acted and does not need the tonnage of special effects that are today's production norms.

Kirk Douglas runs the gamut of emotion from about A to C, and most of the rest of the performances are similarly limited. In other words, some better actors would have made this a better picture. The most convincing performance comes from Enrique Mangalona as the POW, who, speaking no English, is almost silent throughout.It's by no means action-packed. The action all takes place on board a neutral ship, on which three US servicemen wrestle with their consciences which get in the way of their murdering a Korean POW.It's a psychological think-piece, but it's tense and quite involving. It's not in the class of Twelve Angry Men, but it's that sort of genre.Not worth staying in for, or renting the video, but very likely better than the crud on the other channels, given that it's most likely to be shown as a space filler in the small hours.