User Reviews

If you're looking for a hard-hitting Korean War film made in the 1950s, something that illuminates the anguish, tension and hard command decisions made in the heat of battle, you'll do well to seek out Sam Fuller's THE STEEL HELMET (1951), Anthony Mann's MEN IN WAR (1957), and Lewis Milestone's PORK CHOP HILL (1959). Even Tay Garnett's ONE MINUTE TO ZERO (1952), starring Robert Mitchum, has its penetrating moments. If, on the other hand, you're looking for laughable dialogue and hoary clichés, then you're best left with Harmon Jones' TARGET ZERO (1955), about allied soldiers—and a woman—lost behind enemy lines and wandering rather aimlessly over a sunny American landscape doubling for Korea.

You can tell where the film is going right after the opening credits as a truck carrying two women, an attractive American blonde and an Asian woman in fatigues, is hit by North Korean mortar shells and goes crashing into a ravine. The blonde gets out, a little shaken and dazed but thoroughly unscathed, with hair and makeup intact, while the poor Asian woman is dead, having had about one line of dialogue and mere minutes after the actress's name (Angela Loo) appeared in the credits. The hot blonde is Annie Galloway, a "biochemist" with the United Nations health team, and she's played by Peggie Castle, a regular in westerns and Mickey Spillane adaptations of the era. She quickly hooks up with a straggling English tank crew led by a sergeant named David (Richard Stapley), all of whom are then joined by a lost American platoon seeking Easy Company. The Americans commandeer the tank to aid their search and recruit Annie to act as nurse to a wounded man (Strother Martin) whom they place on the back of the tank. After a few miles of this she complains that the bouncing of the tank in motion is hurting the wounded man, so they take him off and make one of the soldiers carry him on his back, as if that wouldn't hurt him even more! Even if that soldier happens to be Charles Bronson!

The ranking American officer, Lt. Tom Flagler (Richard Conte), soon starts putting the moves on Annie, making the uptight English sergeant very jealous indeed. Annie, in an unlikely turn of events, eventually responds to Flagler's rather crude charms. At one point, they're in a bunker and exchange this dialogue after a rather foreseeable tragic occurrence: Annie: "What's the matter with me, Tom? Why can't I cry?" Tom: "You've been at war, Annie. In here, death is like rain. Some days you have it. Some days you don't." Annie: "It's all so distorted. Nothing seems real or lasting." Tom: "We're real, Annie. You and me." That's what the script is like.

Unlike the Korean War movies cited in my first paragraph, no one here ever seems to take their situation seriously enough. There's a wisecracking southerner named Felix (L.Q. Jones) who jokes at every turn. There's an American Indian named Geronimo (Abel Fernandez) who tells Felix that the Indians joined the army so they can learn the white man's fighting skills and take America back from them. Later, Flagler approaches Geronimo as he's preparing to face down attacking "Reds" and asks him, "Whaddaya say, Injun?" Geronimo responds with "Now I know how Custer felt." It's that kind of film.

L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin both play members of the platoon and would later famously team up as the pair of scuzzy bounty hunters, T.C. and Coffer, in Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH. Chuck Connors (TV's "The Rifleman") turns up as radioman Moose. Aaron Spelling, the future TV mastermind behind "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island," and "Love Boat," shows up as "Strangler," one of those annoying, obsequious little sidekicks you often saw in war movies (and Warner Bros. cartoons). Charles Bronson is his usual earnest self. Richard Conte walks through his part with a casualness that's a pale echo of the studied unflappability he brought to his roles as infantry grunts in World War II movies such as GUADALCANAL DIARY and A WALK IN THE SUN ("Everybody dies").

The film was shot on the grounds of Fort Carson, a U.S. Army base in Colorado, and made use of the Colorado Air National Guard in the film's one impressive combat sequence, in which we see a team of four fighter jets attack the oncoming Reds as our heroes defend a hill called "Sullivan's Muscle." The jets do some stunning maneuvers and are seen in shots with the actors, including one startling bit where a jet appears from below and flies right over Conte's head. That must've required some heavy-duty persuasion.

In another comment here, the writer mentions "freezing winter conditions" and "the plight of civilians." The terrain presented here seems quite sunny and warm and if there were any scenes with civilians, they were completely absent from the print of this film that I saw.

Target Zero is your typical war film, this one set in Korea and it gave some due to one other nation present on the peninsula. Richard Conte leading an American squad finds themselves a 3 man British tank crew headed by Richard Stapley. That tank prove to be essential though there is one rather unreal scene where the tank should have been blown up.

Shapley doesn't like Americans he saw his sister ravaged by one during the last war. You know that British saying about the Yanks, "overpaid, oversexed, and over here". Words he lives by.

And there is a woman in the mix. Peggie Castle and Angela Loo UN health workers also stuck behind the lines. Loo is killed and Castle gets both Conte and Shapley's mojo going.

They're trying to reach the rest of Conte's company. What happens when they do is one nasty climatic battle.

One scene I thought rather stupid. The group uses the protection of the tank to clear a path through a mine field. I have to think in real life the tank would have been crippled and useless trying it. Could not buy that at all.

The film is rich in character players though. Charles Bronson is Conte's sergeant and he's got such people as L.Q. Jones, Strother Martin and Chuck Connors among the troops.

An average war film, nothing special.

Usually Leonard Maltin and I agree on movies....

Not this one. I have seen it perhaps four or five times. An American unit, sitting astride a strategic hilltop, plugging the Main Line of Resistance, is over-run and wiped out. Only a patrol and some stragglers picked up along the way are able to reach the now-undefended hilltop in time.

I found this story to ring true....with good characterizations and plot developments. Sure, the enemy is the two-dimensional Yellow Menace....that's standard with fifties-era movies.....but the mix of up-and-coming young actors is in itself worth the time to view this film.

A good story, well-acted, worthy of a look. And quite useful to someone trying to get a real look at war in Korea after the conflict settled into a stalemate. I recommend it.

I will forever prefer Anthony Mann's MEN IN WAR, concerning Korean war from the US Army point of view. This film is not uninteresting, good acting, but I don't understand what women do in this film. This is a men's story; sure Bob Aldrich would have made something different. Harmon Jones deserves to be discovered again, or discovered at all, he was a director whose filmography is more than worth watching: GORILLA AT LARGE, BEAST OF BUDAPEST, CANYON RIVER, DAY OF FURY....

There have been some very good Korean War flicks..."Target Zero" really isn't one of them. Instead, the film is pretty dull...as well as ridiculous.

The film begins with a small band of American soldiers finding a hot blonde (Peggy Castle) as they try to get back to their unit. This part of the film really annoyed me, as the well-coiffed lady NEVER would have been in this situation and it seemed beyond just a bit contrived. Soon, they come upon a British tank and its crew and a bit later they come upon an American Lieutenant and some more men. Together, this rag-tag group of men...and a woman...need to fight their way back to safety.

This film seemed pretty dull and offered little in the way of excitement. It also had some silly dialog and never seemed the least bit credible or interesting.

Spot the Upcoming Stars is as Good as it Gets in this Standard, Clichéd, Static, and Pretentiously Penned Korean War Flick. The Dialog Tries Mightily to be Poetic and Insightful but is Nothing but Lame, Sophomoric, and Silly.

Richard Conte Leads this Band of Stereotypes, who are Introduced in a Prolog with a Jingoistic Melting Pot of American Soldiers Brought Together to Fight the Invading Commies.

This is a Typical 1950's Movie About Fighting Men. Made Just a Few Years After the Conflict Ended, Seems to Offer a Forced and Apologetic Tribute to the 50,000 Americans Who Perished in the Stalemate.

Peggie Castle is Recruited to Nurse the Wounded and is a Striking Blonde Bombshell that is Somehow Found on the Frontlines Amidst the Action but Never Loses Her Made Up Fifties Style Face and Hairdoo.

While Nice to Look At Among the Goofy Grunts, She is Only There for Love (and marriage) Interest for the Soon to be Returning Lieutenant, Have Some Baby Boomers, and Live Happily Ever After.

Overall, a Somewhat Bland Movie with One Good Action Sequence and can Only be Recommended for War Movie Completest.

It's Korea 1952. The war has descended into a grinding morass. There are various soldiers and non-coms of the coalition trying to survive the unrelenting death machine. Ann Galloway's car gets blown off a ridge. She's picked up by a British tank crew driving an American Sherman. They encounter a squad of American soldiers led by Lt. Tom Flagler who aims to head for a hill which has been surrounded after the push by the Chinese.

The dialogue is stale and the actors don't always help. Peggie Castle is more notable for her perfect hair and beautiful face. She has an overly dramatic breakdown scene. Charles Bronson has a minor role but at least, he delivers his self-contained brute. The filming and the acting are all pretty flat. There is some real action with real machinery. It's not exciting due to its old filming techniques. Mowing down the enemy is done with the old style dying. It's all rather old fashion.

Good depiction of the Korean war. Desperate, cut-off UN troops must fight their back to a strategic hill where they hope to be relieved. The action is good with all the elements of the war, a fanatical enemy, little support for UN forces, and freezing winter conditions. Though the love interest may have been unnecessary the film is realistic, especially depicting the plight of civilians and well acted. Surprising that there is no DVD/VHS release as other Korean war films are available. The naval gunfire support using real footage is good though the accuracy achieved somewhat imaginary. The tone of the film is grim and gritty throughout. Reminiscent of "Combat" in look and feel. Highly Recommended.

Awfull script. Decent cast deliver performances well below their ability. Simply should not have been this bad a film....but it is.

Korea, 1952, a UN patrol and a woman are trapped behind red Chinese lines.

Unfortunately, this war film comes close to being truly dreary with about every cliché in the book. Had director Jones registered some troubled emotion from a generally talented cast, it would have helped. Instead, Conte and company act as if being trapped in combat is little more than a walk in the park. And what could be more absurd than those wooden romantic scenes in the middle of life and death.

Then too, the script registers some genuinely leaden dialog, along with limp action staging that has all the combat intensity of a round of hide and seek. Good thing for our side that the Chinese bunch up across open terrain so that a couple of bullets can mow 'em all down.

I get no satisfaction from belaboring these results since I recall when the movie was shot south of Colorado Springs and we high school boys were thrilled at seeing a movie star like the lovely Castle. (Look quickly and you can see Cheyenne Mountain where air tracking defenses for North America are now located underground.)

Still, the movie does have one stunning sequence where a squadron of Lockheed jets swoops really low over uneven terrain to drop their napalm. It's a breath-taking air show. Nonetheless, I expect the movie's most memorable feature are the up-and-comers in the supporting cast—Bronson, Connors, and future TV mogul Aaron Spelling. All in all, however, it's an unfortunately forgettable 90-minutes of people managing to go through the motions.

... from Warner Brothers and director Harmon Jones. After a major battle leaves United Nations forces scattered, an unlikely squadron forms: an American army platoon led by Lt. Flagler (Richard Conte), a British tank crew led by Sgt. Kensemmit (Richard Wyler), and stranded American aid worker Ann Galloway (Peggie Castle). This meager outfit must try to survive in hostile conditions long enough to rendezvous with allied forces. Also featuring Charles Bronson, Chuck Connors, L. Q. Jones, John Alderson, Terence de Marney, John Dennis, Angela Loo, Joby Baker, Abel Fernandez, Strother Martin, Don Oreck, and Aaron Spelling.

This low-budget war picture is of note purely for the interesting cast of future film and TV stars, including Bronson, Connors, Jones, Martin, and TV mega-producer Aaron Spelling as Private Strangler. The conflict here goes beyond the UN forces vs the Communists, as it also includes tank commander Wyler resenting American Conte because an American made time with Wyler's sister during WW2. Not very compelling drama. Castle's character seems to exist purely to add a female to the cast, a trend that I've noticed with more than war film. Some of the action scenes work well, while others look like bad television. There's a lot of awful rear-screen work, too.

I disagree with the negative reviews. Obviously, it's beyond unusual to have a beautiful woman in combat with a platoon. Other than that, the lieutenant (I was one) examines the terrain, makes decisions on the disposition of the troops, encourages them and doesn't ask them to do anything he wouldn't do. He knows details about each of his men. We were required to carry a small notebook at all times with data on each Marine in our platoons, including blood type, boot size, family, etc. I thought Conte and Bronson, the senior sergeant, were much more realistic than most movies. The brief discussion and mutual understanding of the tactical situation are real. I only question why the Korean and the Apache were always on point. Why not rotate such a dangerous role? One review felt there was too much joking around but so many Irish wakes I've attended have more laughter than tears. Probably a way to release tension.

Small point but when they saved the North Korean trucks to get fuel and searched American dead for weapons and ammo, I thought that they must have had a good military advisor's help on the movie. Well done.