Men of the Fighting Lady

 E-N, Korean War (1950-1953)  No Responses »
Nov 232017
 
Men of the Fighting Lady

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Set on an American aircraft carrier during the Korean War, a squadron of bomber pilots question the value of their mission. Similar to The Bridges at Toko-ri (1954), the two films share much in common including the respectful presentation of the dangers of air rescue and the frustration of married veterans of WWII called back into service, but Men of the Fighting Lady is filmed like a documentary, and appears to be intentionally boring. To be fair, it is an effective documentary. The planes are beautiful, and the bombing scenes use stock footage from the Korean War, which gives the film an authentic feel. Read More…

Dragonfly Squadron

 A-D, Korean War (1950-1953)  No Responses »
Sep 142017
 
Dragonfly Squadron

Rating: ★½☆☆☆
In 1950, an American officer is assigned to train South Korean pilots as war with North Korea seems increasingly likely. If ever there was a film that is a waste of time and money, this is it. For a movie about aviation, there is little air combat. Or entertainment.
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71: Into the Fire

 A-D, Korean War (1950-1953)  2 Responses »
Nov 142013
 
71: Into the Fire

Rating: ★★★☆☆
The movie is based on an actual battle that took place early during the Korean War, where 71 students defended a high school against a much larger for North Korean force, but it seems extremely likely that the events have been slightly exaggerated. The battle scenes are psycho, but there are far too many slow-motion death scenes, which unfortunately seem to be a staple in Korean war films. The movie’s main weakness is that it spends far too much time on the leader of the students, who writes letters to his mother, deals with guilt from an earlier battle and has a personality conflict with the swaggering leader of a group of toughs, therefore the other students receive superficial treatment. Despite the over-abundance of melodrama, it is a good film, just don’t expect The Front Line or Tae Guk Gi. Read More…

The Rack

 Korean War (1950-1953), T-Z  2 Responses »
Oct 242013
 
The Rack

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Returning home after spending two years in a PoW camp, Captain Edward Hall Jr. (Paul Newman) is in rough shape, both emotionally and physically, but he receives little emotional support from his family. Unknown to his family, Hall is being investigated for a court martial for collaboration with the enemy, and is charged immediately after being released from the hospital. Adopting a very sterilized view of the real situation, The Rack whitewashes the genuine problem of large-scale collaboration among American PoWs during the Korean War. Instead of shedding light on an embarrassing but real problem, the movie avoided controversy, and reassured complacent audiences that everything was all right. Read More…

Time Limit

 Korean War (1950-1953), T-Z  2 Responses »
Oct 172013
 
Time Limit

Rating: ★★★½☆
Several months after the end of the Korean War, an American officer is being investigated for a court-martial because he had recorded propaganda messages for the North Koreans. However, the investigator in charge of the case is suspicious, and continues to ask questions until he learns that the officer is covering up for the killing of a collaborator by his fellow PoWs. Time Limit does not fit any simple characterizations. A war movie that also appears to be a court-room drama, the movie ends before the court-martial has even begun, but there is the mandatory interrogation that causes a key witness to break down and tell the truth. However, it is worth watching because it was the first film to admit that American PoWs had collaborated with their Communist captors in exchange for better treatment. Read More…

All the Young Men

 A-D, Korean War (1950-1953)  2 Responses »
Oct 102013
 
All the Young Men

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Shortly before the Chinese intervention in the Korean War, inexperienced Sergeant Towler (Sidney Poitier), an African-American, ends up in command of a Marine platoon that has been separated from its battalion, and must deal with both the enemy and the racism of the veteran Private Kincaid (Alan Ladd). Made during the period between the end of Jim Crow laws in the southern states and the race riots in the early 1960s, the film was a radical look at racism in the American army. Unfortunately, aside from the theme of desegregation in the military, it is an average film. The action is good, the dynamic between Towler and Kincaid is good, but the scenes of the soldiers griping fall flat, the writing is tepid, and the secondary characters are mediocre. All the Young Men is a boring film that should be avoided by everyone except for Sidney Poitier and Alan Ladd fans. Read More…

Tae Guk Gi

 Korean War (1950-1953), T-Z  2 Responses »
Oct 032013
 
Tae Guk Gi

Rating: ★★★★☆
When North Korea suddenly invades South Korea, two brothers are drafted into the army. Hoping to win the medal of honor, which will ensure that his younger brother is sent home, Jin-tae, the elder brother, repeatedly volunteers for suicide missions. Band of Brothers-level scary, the battle scenes are brutal with blood and body parts flying everywhere, so they are not for the weak at heart. Since the majority of English-language books were written by Americans, they naturally focused on the American view of the war, and ignored the Korean contribution. Tae Guk Gi understandably intends to remedy the situation, and succeeds. The first big-budget movie to look at the Korean War from South Korea’s perspective, Tae Guk Gi is outstanding. The film’s greatest drawback is the relentless melodrama. There are tearful goodbyes at the train station, a scene where one of the brothers cradles his slowly dying lover, and several fights between members of the same unit. It is no exaggeration to state that aside from the tranquil interlude at the beginning, the rest of the movie is a relentless battle, either with bullets or emotions. Read More…

The Front Line

 Korean War (1950-1953), T-Z  2 Responses »
Sep 262013
 
The Front Line

Rating: ★★★★☆
In the third year of the Korean War, the negotiations at Panmunjon have been stalled for two years, but the fighting continues without any end in sight. An ROK officer is sent to Aerok Hill, which has repeatedly changed hands, to investigate a letter written by an NKPA soldier that was mailed in the ROK, and discovers that some of the veterans, exhausted by the endless fighting, have been communicating with the NKPA through a message box buried in a bunker in the hill. While the action scenes are astonishing, quite a few scenes are painful to watch, so the script balances the pain with humor. Although there are a few too many long death scenes, and the script focuses more than I would like on the friendship between Yang and Kim, The Front Line is definitely the best movie I have seen on the Korean War. Read More…

MASH

 E-N, Korean War (1950-1953)  7 Responses »
Aug 222013
 
MASH

Rating: ★½☆☆☆
An important part of New Hollywood, MASH may have been radical at the time, but it does not hold up well today. The story of three hell-raising doctors in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, it spawned the long-running television show M*A*S*H (1972-1983). Unfortunately, viewers will not even learn about the Korean War since director Robert Altman ensured that there were no references to the Korean War because he wanted viewers to think of the then-current Vietnam War. Famous at its release as a daring anti-war comedy, it has not aged well, since it is simply an annoying, homophobic, misogynist film where a football game is all that matters. Read More…

War Hunt

 Korean War (1950-1953), T-Z  2 Responses »
Aug 152013
 
War Hunt

Rating: ★★★½☆
Essentially a B movie, the film was made in fifteen days on a miniscule budget. Exploring similar themes, War Hunt is a precursor to Platoon. A young American infantryman is sent to the front line in Korea during the last few months of the war, and encounters a psychotic soldier who appears to be a serial killer. The two men clash over a young Korean orphan. One wants to place the boy in an orphanage and the other wants to turn him into a killer. The first hour of the movie is brilliant, but the last twenty minutes are strange. Lacking the resources for large-scale battles, the production team chose to create a snapshot of life on the front, and they succeeded. The movie has a tiny budget, and it shows, but the set design is excellent, providing an accurate copy of the real bunkers on the UN lines. No other movie comes close to capturing the futility of the Korean War once it had entered the stalemate stage. Read More…

Retreat, Hell!

 Korean War (1950-1953), O-S  2 Responses »
Jul 252013
 
Retreat, Hell!

Rating: ★★★½☆
Retreat, Hell! tells the story of the First Marine Division, including its participation in the amphibious landing at Inchon, the bloody fight for Seoul, and the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir following the Chinese intervention in the Korean War. Made on a Marine base with the full cooperation of the Marine Corps and when MacArthur was still worshipped as an iconic general, the script avoids any criticism of the controversial general. This is not a movie for people who value richly developed characters; while the characters are made from cardboard, it is sturdy cardboard. It is not a great movie, and there are a couple more stirring speeches than are required but Retreat, Hell! is a no-nonsense look at the successful breakout from a carefully planned Chinese trap. Read More…

Battle Circus

 A-D, Korean War (1950-1953)  4 Responses »
Jul 182013
 
Battle Circus

Rating: ★★½☆☆
The movie’s title Battle Circus refers to the hospital’s ability to pack up and move like a circus. Intended as a tribute to the doctors and nurses who staffed the MASH hospitals, the movie presents the rough conditions they faced, including rain that turns the roads into mud, near-typhoon winds that threaten to blow down the tents and the constant need for more blood, as well as snipers outside the perimeter. There are people in the world who enjoy a performance by June Allyson. I am not one of them. The impressive detail ensures that the film is better than expected, even though tepid would be the kindest description of the romance between the characters played by Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson. Read More…

Battle Hymn

 A-D, Korean War (1950-1953)  No Responses »
Jul 112013
 
Battle Hymn

Rating: ★★½☆☆
Major Dean Hess (Rock Hudson), an ordained minister, volunteers to train South Korean pilots at the beginning of the Korean War. When his airfield is overrun by orphans, he persuades two Koreans to help him build an orphanage. Romance develops between Hess and one of the Koreans, but he is already married. When the enemy suddenly breaks through and the airfield is abandoned, Hess evacuates the 400 orphans on foot, and it seems that they will be trapped. Col. Dean Hess, the model for the film, was the technical adviser, but he clearly did not have script approval or did not look carefully at the script, since there are significant differences between him and the screen version. A forgettable film, it is not John Sturges’ best work, although it does sidestep the morass of saccharine melodrama, and is surprisingly color-blind for the period. In fact, the movie shows more about Korean culture than other movies on the Korean War. Read More…

The Bridges at Toko-ri

 Korean War (1950-1953), T-Z  2 Responses »
Jun 132013
 
The Bridges at Toko-ri

Rating: ★★★½☆
A naval reservist, fighter pilot Lieutenant Harry Brubaker (William Holden) resents having to give up his life and law practice when he was called up, especially since he had already fought in WWII. The movie is an adaptation of a novel by James Michener, who based the main characters on real people he had met when he stayed on the carriers Essex and Valley Forge while they were performing missions off the coast of Korea, as research for a series of articles. While the script is an unblinking support of the United States’ involvement in the Korean War, it bravely acknowledges the fear faced by pilots before dangerous missions. In a nice twist, Holden is the star of the movie, and the story revolves around him, but Mickey Rooney’s helicopter pilot Chief Mike Forney is the hero, since he rescues Holden’s character, not once but twice. Given the bleak ending, the superb realism, and the accurate view of Japan during the war, it is one of the better movies on the Korean War.
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A Hill in Korea

 A-D, Korean War (1950-1953)  2 Responses »
May 302013
 
A Hill in Korea

Rating: ★★★½☆
During the Korean War, a small British patrol, a mixture of regular soldiers and National Servicemen, is sent to check if a village is occupied by the Chinese. However, they find themselves trapped in a temple, surrounded by a powerful Chinese force. The story of a small patrol on its own, disconnected from the main army, is not especially original, but its gritty realism makes the movie worth watching. At first glance, the story seems to have been copied from numerous WWII films but this is definitely a Korean War film because the men know that everyone back home thinks the war is unimportant, the Chinese use mass attacks, and friendly fire incidents are far too common. A tribute to the national servicemen, it is one of the better movies on the Korean War.
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One Minute to Zero

 Korean War (1950-1953), O-S  No Responses »
May 232013
 
One Minute to Zero

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
One Minute To Zero is a jingoistic film on the Korean War that shows powerful America nobly defending little South Korea, which is incapable of fighting for itself. Aside from the obligatory and entertaining romance, it attracted much attention during its initial release for the inclusion of graphic combat footage instead of regular special effects. When North Korea suddenly invades South Korea, an American military adviser must first help evacuate all American civilians, and then block the enemy’s supply route to relieve pressure on the defenders at Pusan. The film transforms the South Koreans into helpless victims, papers over Syngman Rhee’s dictatorial excesses, skips over the thousands of friendly fire deaths caused by aerial bombing, and ignores both the embarrassing routs of American units and the general chaos. Read More…

Inchon

 E-N, Korean War (1950-1953)  No Responses »
Jan 312013
 
Inchon

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Numerous film critics have ranked Inchon as one of the worst movies ever made. Inchon is not horrible, but it is painful. Set during early days of the Korean War, the movie is an epic tribute to General Douglas MacArthur. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church and main financial backer of the film, later stated publicly that he wanted the movie to portray MacArthur and his love of God, as well as his battle against tyranny and communism. He succeeded. Unsurprisingly, director Terrence Young blamed the final mess on the producers’ interference. Probably best-known as the director of the first two films in the Bond series, Terrence Young’s career had started to decline. It did not bounce back after Inchon. Read More…