Men in War

"Tell me the story of the foot soldier and I will tell you the story of all wars." One of the best platoon movies from Hollywood's classic age, this 1957 Korean War drama stars Robert Ryan as a commander caught behind enemy lines, and Aldo Ray as a gruff, field-tested sergeant who is reluctantly commandeered into helping him bring his men to safety. The platoon is exhausted—the men reaching the breaking point or already broken—while the unseen enemy surrounds them, picking them off in the silence. Director Anthony Mann sets the action in an almost abstract landscape of dry woods and scrub hills, presenting the enemy as disembodied weapons poking out from the brush or camouflaged shapes crawling through the foliage. Ryan delivers one of his most understated portraits of strength and experience as the commanding officer, bringing warm but firm leadership and calm authority to a desperate situation, while Ray, a real-life World War II veteran who saw action on Okinawa, is completely convincing as the brutally effective soldier whose superior skills and soldiering instincts are essential to keeping the platoon alive. This is a portrait of war from the grunt's-eye view, eschewing patriotism and sentimentality to depict the harrowing, grueling experience of survival in the hostile landscape of an enemy battlefield. Previously available in substandard editions, this Olive release has been newly remastered in HD for DVD and its Blu-ray debut. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)