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A film about war behind the scenes.
It's been done before, and will be done again. This was much
more than those typical behind the scenes of war films. This
is a film about a ragtag bunch of men who are already on the last
leg of their military careers. Murderers, rapists, felons, and
men with nothing to fight for but themselves are all brought
together by a Major (Marvin) who doesn't always like the system.
Their job, and only chance for salvation, should they survive, is a
top secret mission into enemy territory where they are to attack a
heavily guarded mansion which is hosting the leaders of the German
army to disrupt the head of the "snake" before D-Day.
Through Major Reisman, the men must first trust him and each other and believe that they can not only carry out such a suicidal mission, but also redeem themselves in the process. This film looks into internal struggles as much as the external forces driving the action. Each man must decide that certain death in combat beats certain death in military prison. Each man must decide to redeem himself before others will even think about redeeming his actions. Each man must choose the team, and the common goal is more important than the individual. Each man, already shunning the system, and having been shunned by the system, must come to once again use the system, and fight for it's goals. This is a powerful film in terms of philosophy, but even further, this is a film that is extremely well carried out. With a roster including Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Jim Brown, and many others who live the roles and bring life and believability into the characters. This was my first look at Marvin and Bronson, but certainly will not be my last. While I was grossly engaged from the first, I'm not a fan of the interludes that take one out of the main film in order to make things a little lighter. In this film, for some reason there's a War Game being played out by certain divisions. It is an important turning point in the story leading into the climax, but I'm unsure as the the realism of U.S. troops putting on a war game in 1944 during a real war. It worked to take some of the seriousness of the film out, and only served to cater to one plot point, which itself felt a little tacked on for added drama. They could have left the drama to the 12 men preparing and the climactic invasion itself, as opposed to a tacked on bit of drama/comical relief. Still, this was an excellent film that creeps its way into my top 100 now. 9/10 |
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