War Hunt (1962)

I'm nostalgic for a good war drama pre 1970. I thought I had seen them all, being middle aged, but I had never watched this one before (it's on TCM). At first I was dismissive, Robert Redford? Oh boy this is going to suck. But no, I was wrong, this is a great war film. It's totally unpredictable, I honestly did not know where this was going. I would suggest to not read any reviews past this point and just watch it first as a spoiler would probably ruin the film. John Saxon puts on an awesome performance and the dialog of everyone involved was real enough for me to become involved. It's not over the top, it's very, very character driven and very engrossing. If you liked low budget war films such as Attack!, Men In War, and Hell Is For Heroes, you will enjoy this. 10 out of 10. It probably deserves it's mid 6 rating technically but as a character driven war drama I don't think you can do any better. I don't want to give away spoilers but every character involved in this was plausible and real. The less you know before watching the better your experience will be.

It's May 1953, and fresh-faced US Army recruited Robert Redford (as Roy Loomis) has joined the battle for Korea. Women in the area greet the American private by saying, "Welcome to Korea, I hope you don't die" and "I love you." Mr. Redford soon notices strange behavior from fellow handsome private John Saxon (as Raymond Endore). A loner, Mr. Saxon nightly paints his face, stealthy makes his way into enemy territory, single-handedly kills an enemy soldier, and performs a ritual Indian dance over the body.Redford finds Saxon's behavior troubling, and tries to separate the increasingly disturbed man from his only friend, eight-year-old Tommy Matsuda (as Charlie). The orphaned Korean lad has formed a hero-worshiping relationship with Saxon, which Redford seeks to sever. There are things to admire about this inexpensively made anti-war drama, especially Saxon's characterization, but the film makes the old symbolic points rather ordinarily and the new ones haphazardly. Some character motivation is noticeably lacking.***** War Hunt (4/6/62) Denis Sanders ~ Robert Redford, John Saxon, Sydney Pollack, Tom Skerritt

Other comments made here about the film are accurate enough. A few words about John Saxon's character though......The question was asked how he ever made it through boot camp... being unable to "comprehend authority, let alone obey it..." The answer is that most serial killers do not spring forth fully developed. ...Whatever his background, (almost certainly a loner) he was an easy target for the draft if he had not enlisted. Most discipline problems show up as individual ones, and not with someone in ranks... Not all nut jobs are weeded out in boot camp (I have served in the Marine Corps and elsewhere and have seen such... though certainly not on his scale) He probably completed his training with all of the inspiration of a man on an escalator......Whatever his demons... they could suddenly spring out on his first solo patrols... like an airbag in an accident, and just as impossible to put back... ...He was permitted to set up not only his own rules, but his own world... The military establishment existed in his mind only to support that world... His sole loyalty to command was to the company commander who both supported him and gave him fatherly approval... ...He chose not to take R&R. His company commander could not afford to be without his services... and if not fearing mayhem during such a leave, at a minimum feared that his most valuable man would get into enough trouble to vanish into the military justice system... ...Historian T.R. Fehrenbach in his work THIS KIND OF WAR: Korea-A study in unpreparedness, tells the story of "Gypsy" Martin... While not a serial killer, he submerged his whole identity into the war... headscarf and all. Martin was different from most soldiers... utterly useless for anything but combat. He had the good fortune to be killed in action before the fighting ended... F.J.

If memory serves, the Sanders brothers came out of the UCLA film program at a time when film schools were still forming and not yet the minor leagues of movie-making. The brothers made their mark with a prize-winning amateur production entitled Time Out of War, about quiet moments during the Civil War. I may be wrong about details, but I believe the thrust is accurate-- I wish IMDb's profile of Terry and Denis were more complete than the meagre data provided.Anyway, my point is that this was a non-studio production of stark originality at a time when war was still being celebrated by a WWII-besotted studio industry. War Hunt is not exactly an anti-war film on the order of a Paths of Glory or Attack-- after all, Endore's scary psychopath can be shrugged off as a wild exception to the average GI. What the movie does suggest is that a deranged mind like Endore's can prove highly useful in wartime, even get a medal slapped on his chest for the tactical value his obsession with killing provides (on a more strategic scale, consider the intellectual value of the equally deranged Dr.Strangelove). Because of his battlefield information, Endore is allowed to fight his own war, by his own rules, free from the restrictions placed on normal soldiers, while command looks the other way. In short, Endore's particular form of psychosis finds a home in combat where it not only thrives, but also proves of real instrumental value to the higher-ups. In peacetime, he would get a strait-jacket; in wartime, he gets a commendation. Whether his psychopathic actions also promote a greater good amounts to an unspoken ethical dilemma not taken up by the picture-- and is likely why the script fudges the dilemma by having his obsession threaten the very truce itself. (An unlikely consequence since truces are notoriously slow to take hold, anyway.)The movie itself is no unmixed triumph. There's no motivation for Loomis' standing up to Endore over the Korean boy, unless we extrapolate some symbolism about youth representing the future and Loomis standing for American idealism. In fact, the film's very last line supports some such surmise. Moreover, John Saxon's Endore is truly frightening-- until he opens his mouth. I don't know whether it's the uninspired lines given him or Saxon's rather pedestrian delivery, but neither measures up to Saxon's coldly menacing presence nor the character's bold concept. Then too, the scene with battalion command fails because no one, including Saxon, has a good grasp of how a unique character like Endore should handle it. (And on a more minor note: How could he possibly get through Basic Training since he doesn't just resist authority, he can't even comprehend it!-- as the battalion command scene shows.)On the plus side stands Redford's nicely understated Loomis, whose character wisely resists heroic proportions. Charles Aidman too, comes across intelligently as a weary and beleaguered company commander willing to bend the rules for tactical advantage. At the same time, as others point out, the photography is appropriately grainy and gritty, blending well with the occasional stock footage. But most of all, there remains that frighteningly eerie glimpse of Endore's demonic little dance around his latest slashed throat. What mysterious god of madness is he invoking somewhere inside that dark pool that is his psyche. And what strange secrets has he imparted to the boy to carry into the future. I've seen nothing like this peculiar ritual before or since, and it is truly more unsettling than the gallons of fake blood spilled by contemporary horror-fests.Judging from the Sanders' profile, it looks like their careers petered out on television. What a disappointment after such a promising beginning. There must be some inside story here that I wish I knew. Be that as it may, War Hunt remains truly one-of-a-kind, a really scary glimpse of a mysteriously psychotic figure freed up by the dogs of war.