Pork Chop Hill (1959)

Directed by Lewis Milestone. Starring Gregory Peck, George Shibata, Rip Torn, Viraj Amonsin, Harry Guardino, Woody Strode, George Peppard, Bob Steele, Cliff Ketchum, Norman Fell, Robert Blake.

In the final days of the Korean War, U.S. Army lieutenant Peck is tasked with assaulting a useless piece of land, Pork Chop Hill, as a symbolic demonstration of his country’s military resolve in order to end the conflict. Peck follows the orders and commits himself to the attack, but his infantry division sustains heavy casualties and dwindling morale while the men hope for a ceasefire to save them from such a meaningless “sacrifice”. Worthwhile anti-war film is certainly flawed—mostly related to the two-dimensional characterizations and a few unexceptional performances (Peck is too wooden to reflect the nuance of his doubts and fears, Rip Torn channels Rod Steiger, etc.)—but the battle depictions are vivid, and the pessimistic view of war’s futility remains as applicable as it is palpable today. James R. Webb’s screenplay, adapted from a book by historian Samuel L. A. Marshall, belabors the message while rooting out snatches of insight and poetry in the dialogue among platoon leaders and infantrymen alike. Several up-and-coming actors appear in minor roles, such as Harry Dean Stanton, Gavin MacLeod, and, in their film debuts, Clarence Williams III and Martin Landau.

67/100