While there are films made about the Korean war in the 1950's, their numbers are small compared to the second world war. This film deals not only with the small troop stranded in snowy mountains but the knowledge that the enemy is possibly just yards away. With sergeant Sidney Poitier in charge under the orders of lieutenant Alan Ladd, the troop deals with their feelings about being given orders by a black man. Poitier takes no guff, shows his own anger, yet his motive is pure and simple: keep his men alive, racist or not, and kill the enemy. James Darren and Glenn Corbett are among the other troop members, some of whom look up to Poitier as a great leader.
This is at its most tense when it deals with the silence, all the young men knowing that at any moment the enemy could appear out of nowhere. There are some very gruesome moments, one involving a hostage situation and another involving a Korean tank set on fire. The most racist of the troop tries to rape a Korean girl and is stopped by Poitier, leading to both of their hatreds to emerge. Basically, this is about survival and the ugliness of a war mostly forgotten outside advanced history classes, the movie and TV show "M.A.S.H.", and most notably, the political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate". Perhaps with tensions rising between North Korea and much of the world, films like this will start to be remembered and the history books will be picked up a bit more. A hokey propaganda style ending is silly, but the film makes its point.
This is at its most tense when it deals with the silence, all the young men knowing that at any moment the enemy could appear out of nowhere. There are some very gruesome moments, one involving a hostage situation and another involving a Korean tank set on fire. The most racist of the troop tries to rape a Korean girl and is stopped by Poitier, leading to both of their hatreds to emerge. Basically, this is about survival and the ugliness of a war mostly forgotten outside advanced history classes, the movie and TV show "M.A.S.H.", and most notably, the political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate". Perhaps with tensions rising between North Korea and much of the world, films like this will start to be remembered and the history books will be picked up a bit more. A hokey propaganda style ending is silly, but the film makes its point.