What a disappointment! How many things were wrong with this movie? The music was completely inappropriate; it was distracting, "classical" and orchestrally inventive, it leapt out from the screen and grabbed your attention rather than being quiet and complementary. Soft moods, such as when soldier finds flowers, were given musical flourishes that were grossly overdone, painfully "romantic," completely out of place for a war movie like this. The plot line had little to offer; the soldiers set off for a distant hill, and along the way one little incident happens, then another, then another; nothing knits them all together or makes them feel organic, they occur as separate little islands, modular as Lego blocks. The dialogue is often awkward ("You didn't shave today."). The tension between the two leading characters is forced and unconvincing. The devotion of Aldo Ray to his officer was not believable, certainly not before the scene in which he confesses his father fixation and not really afterwards.
As for the battle scenes, especially near the end, the North Koreans appeared so inept as to be implausible. As the G.I.s sneaked up on them, rather openly really, the North Koreans seemed to have no lookouts, they couldn't hear the clanking of the American equipment, they were caught completely off guard. Part of this sense might be attributed to bad camera work, as it was very difficult for us to gauge exactly how far up the hill the Koreans were from the Americans.
The ending - oh no! the American heroes are about to die - but wait! what's that? Oh, my goodness, thank the lord, in the distance we hear American heavy equipment coming to the rescue. O, glory, O glory! Hallelujah!
If TCM hadn't presented this as a serious war movie, and comments here at IMDb hadn't been so positive, I would have dismissed this as just another bad B movie. That's all it is. I wouldn't have felt I had to point out its obvious flaws in such detail.
As for the battle scenes, especially near the end, the North Koreans appeared so inept as to be implausible. As the G.I.s sneaked up on them, rather openly really, the North Koreans seemed to have no lookouts, they couldn't hear the clanking of the American equipment, they were caught completely off guard. Part of this sense might be attributed to bad camera work, as it was very difficult for us to gauge exactly how far up the hill the Koreans were from the Americans.
The ending - oh no! the American heroes are about to die - but wait! what's that? Oh, my goodness, thank the lord, in the distance we hear American heavy equipment coming to the rescue. O, glory, O glory! Hallelujah!
If TCM hadn't presented this as a serious war movie, and comments here at IMDb hadn't been so positive, I would have dismissed this as just another bad B movie. That's all it is. I wouldn't have felt I had to point out its obvious flaws in such detail.