THE GLORY BRIGADE – 1953
Victor Mature headlines this Korean War film from director Robert (Love Me Tender) Webb.
Victor Mature is a Lt in charge of a platoon of combat engineers. They have just destroyed a bridge they built the day before. This was done because the Red forces were in danger of capturing said bridge. This is the sort of back and forth the UN and various Red Armies are engaged in.
Mature is now assigned a job to move a company of Greek UN troops over the river at night. The Greeks are going on a recon into the hills. There is word of a large buildup of Red Forces. All the other patrols have failed to return. So this patrol one is going out in company strength. Mature, whose family is from Greece, is more than happy to help out the folks from the old country.
Most of Mature's non-coms are not all that sure about the untried Greeks. They wonder how the Greeks will behave in combat. Late that evening, they drive up to the river and unload the rubber assault boats. Right of the start there are problems. Quite a few of the rafts have damage and are unusable. They decide to leave most of the heavy weapons (machine guns, mortars etc) and some of the ammo behind.
The Americans get over the river and unload the Greeks. They then pull the rafts into the trees and wait. A short time later a group of Chinese Communists burst out of the brush and the fight is on. Mature and his men repulse the attack. Mature and his leading Sgt, Richard Egan, decide to send the wounded back across the river with most of the platoon. Mature and five men will wait here for the Greeks return.
Ten minutes later Mature and his men hear a massive blast of gunfire from down by the river. They hot-foot it back. What they find is the rest of the platoon dead to a man. They had been caught in a Red ambush. The rafts have also all been destroyed. Now a part of the Greek Company arrives back from the patrol. They say they had been in a firefight with some Reds. Mature looks at their weapons and they are all spotless. He figures they just ran and never fought anyone.
Mature leads the group back in country to find the rest of the Greek detachment. Several hours later the men run into some more Red type people. Mature leads an attack and the Red outpost is quickly taken. The Greeks show that they are no cowards and kill the majority of the Commies. The group discover several UN troops of various counties held prisoner at the site. They also uncover heavy engineer gear and a bulldozer.
Mature is now joined by the rest of the Greek recon group. Mature informs the Greek officer in charge he has found what the Reds are up to. They are building an underwater bridge on the river. They are laying sandbags under the surface to build up the bottom. This will allow the Red tanks to ford the river and launch a surprise attack on the UN forces.
Now they need to get the freed prisoners and their own wounded home. The bulldozer is put to use towing a wagon of wounded. Now they have the bad luck to run into a Chinese Red tank on the same trail. Explosives man, Lee Marvin sets up an ambush using some dynamite and fuel drums. The trick works and the Red tank is destroyed. (Interesting bit done by the effects people to make a Sherman look like a Soviet T-34) The group has now moved close enough to UN lines to use their radio. The info about the hidden bridge is transmitted to headquarters. The UN decides they will now use the bridge and launch a quick attack. This will take the Reds in the flank. The UN forces now send in a fleet of helicopters to pick up Mature and the Greeks.
This one starts out with a plenty of oomph, and then just plays out like a standard war film. Considering the cast and crew involved, I was expecting a little more bang for the buck. It is not a bad film, but comes off somewhat lacking in the story area.
But then again, I would watch anything with Lee Marvin in it. Director Webb started out as a second unit man and even won an Oscar for his work on, IN OLD CHICAGO from 1937. His best work as a helmsman is most likely, THE PROUD ONES, ON THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE and Elvis Presley's first film, LOVE ME TENDER.
The look of the film is quite good with the great cinematographer, Lucien Ballard at the controls. Ballard lensed films such as, THE LODGER, BERLIN EXPRESS, DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK, THE DESERT RATS, INFERNO, THE KILLER IS LOOSE, THE KILLING, CITY OF FEAR, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, THE SON'S OF KATIE ELDER, NEVADA SMITH, HOUR OF THE GUN, WILL PENNY, TRUE GRIT, THE GET-AWAY and THE WILD BUNCH.
Victor Mature headlines this Korean War film from director Robert (Love Me Tender) Webb.
Victor Mature is a Lt in charge of a platoon of combat engineers. They have just destroyed a bridge they built the day before. This was done because the Red forces were in danger of capturing said bridge. This is the sort of back and forth the UN and various Red Armies are engaged in.
Mature is now assigned a job to move a company of Greek UN troops over the river at night. The Greeks are going on a recon into the hills. There is word of a large buildup of Red Forces. All the other patrols have failed to return. So this patrol one is going out in company strength. Mature, whose family is from Greece, is more than happy to help out the folks from the old country.
Most of Mature's non-coms are not all that sure about the untried Greeks. They wonder how the Greeks will behave in combat. Late that evening, they drive up to the river and unload the rubber assault boats. Right of the start there are problems. Quite a few of the rafts have damage and are unusable. They decide to leave most of the heavy weapons (machine guns, mortars etc) and some of the ammo behind.
The Americans get over the river and unload the Greeks. They then pull the rafts into the trees and wait. A short time later a group of Chinese Communists burst out of the brush and the fight is on. Mature and his men repulse the attack. Mature and his leading Sgt, Richard Egan, decide to send the wounded back across the river with most of the platoon. Mature and five men will wait here for the Greeks return.
Ten minutes later Mature and his men hear a massive blast of gunfire from down by the river. They hot-foot it back. What they find is the rest of the platoon dead to a man. They had been caught in a Red ambush. The rafts have also all been destroyed. Now a part of the Greek Company arrives back from the patrol. They say they had been in a firefight with some Reds. Mature looks at their weapons and they are all spotless. He figures they just ran and never fought anyone.
Mature leads the group back in country to find the rest of the Greek detachment. Several hours later the men run into some more Red type people. Mature leads an attack and the Red outpost is quickly taken. The Greeks show that they are no cowards and kill the majority of the Commies. The group discover several UN troops of various counties held prisoner at the site. They also uncover heavy engineer gear and a bulldozer.
Mature is now joined by the rest of the Greek recon group. Mature informs the Greek officer in charge he has found what the Reds are up to. They are building an underwater bridge on the river. They are laying sandbags under the surface to build up the bottom. This will allow the Red tanks to ford the river and launch a surprise attack on the UN forces.
Now they need to get the freed prisoners and their own wounded home. The bulldozer is put to use towing a wagon of wounded. Now they have the bad luck to run into a Chinese Red tank on the same trail. Explosives man, Lee Marvin sets up an ambush using some dynamite and fuel drums. The trick works and the Red tank is destroyed. (Interesting bit done by the effects people to make a Sherman look like a Soviet T-34) The group has now moved close enough to UN lines to use their radio. The info about the hidden bridge is transmitted to headquarters. The UN decides they will now use the bridge and launch a quick attack. This will take the Reds in the flank. The UN forces now send in a fleet of helicopters to pick up Mature and the Greeks.
This one starts out with a plenty of oomph, and then just plays out like a standard war film. Considering the cast and crew involved, I was expecting a little more bang for the buck. It is not a bad film, but comes off somewhat lacking in the story area.
But then again, I would watch anything with Lee Marvin in it. Director Webb started out as a second unit man and even won an Oscar for his work on, IN OLD CHICAGO from 1937. His best work as a helmsman is most likely, THE PROUD ONES, ON THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE and Elvis Presley's first film, LOVE ME TENDER.
The look of the film is quite good with the great cinematographer, Lucien Ballard at the controls. Ballard lensed films such as, THE LODGER, BERLIN EXPRESS, DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK, THE DESERT RATS, INFERNO, THE KILLER IS LOOSE, THE KILLING, CITY OF FEAR, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, THE SON'S OF KATIE ELDER, NEVADA SMITH, HOUR OF THE GUN, WILL PENNY, TRUE GRIT, THE GET-AWAY and THE WILD BUNCH.
