tyrianacacia Reviews

Above and Beyond (1952)

realistic

[9/10 · 5 June 2006]

This movie is the best production of the first A-bomb attack. Though Hollywood produce another shortly after the war and despite the cast, Brian Donlevy, as General Groves, and Robert Walker it was highly fictional.My late uncle served with Colonel Tibbits in the 509th and he said that Robert Taylor captured the colonel exactly. James Witmore is very effective as the security officer whose task is as difficult as Taylor's. The film captures the enormity of the task of developing the A-Bomb in almost total secrecy from the public and the enemy.The grimness of this is clearly shown throughout the movie. There is very little flag-waving in this picture and one does not fail to realize that the bombing was necessary to prevent a greater loss of life if the Japanese homeland was invaded.

Pork Chop Hill (1959)

Grim realistic war movie for the 1950's

[8/10 · 13 November 2005]

Pork Chop Hill is one of a small group of films that deal with the Korea War realistically. The other two are Men at War and the Steel Helmet. Peck's character is carrying out orders to take a worthless hill with peace on the horizon. The movie shows that the fog of war clouds and confuses everything. They are reluctant warriors in a war nobody wanted to win or lose. Lewis Milstone's direction in the panorama of battlefield is his trademark. The cast was made up of familiar faces, Harry Guardino, George Peppard, Norman Fell, Rip Torn, Kevin Hagen, Robert Blake, Woody Strode. What makes the film more interesting is that the Korea War had only been over for six years and Peck's character was still alive.