Wordiezett So much average

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 31 December 1962 by Perlberg-Seaton Productions. Released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. U.S. release: 16 January 1963. New York opening simultaneously at the Embassy 46th Street and the Kips Bay theaters: 15 February 1963. U.K. release: 9 June 1963. 5 reels. 8,794 feet. 98 minutes.SYNOPSIS: To transport a dangerously high-octane plane fuel from an abandoned airstrip on a Korean island, is the mission of a four-man navy team, whose base is low on fuel. COMMENT: An unusually talkative and pretentious film from M-G-M, usually the home of slap-happy escapist entertainment. There's hardly enough action for a half-hour TV serial. For the rest of the time, the three principals, led by Kirk Douglas, who is the chief culprit, just stand about yakking on the moral dilemmas of war. True, the few action spots are excitingly handled, but the rest of the film is both stupefying and routine. It is also cluttered with lots of unnecessary close-ups — especially of Mr. Douglas. A bit of location filming helps, but otherwise production values and credits are well below M-G-M's usual slick standard.

jthompson16 Typical and inaccurate Hollywood portrayal of men in a difficult situation during war. Showing the American fighting man the way Hollywood wishes he were. Completely false portrayal of a situation that an NCO with 19 years service, including WW II and Korea could have handled easily. The prisoner would have been kept in the ship's brig or some locked space not in the same room as the soldiers. They would not have obeyed the orders of an ROK officer to kill the prisoner. There would have been no hesitation about ignoring the order. No soldier would kill a prisoner he had under complete control behind the front lines. Another thing, using a B-25 as a North Korean bomber was a laugh. In 1953 the US had complete control of the air over all of Korea South of the range of Chinese MIG-15s.

MartinHafer The intro to this film indicates that this story is universal and could apply to any war...or any country...and this is quite true. And, this universality of the story make this an exceptional war film.When the story begins, some American soldiers are loading trucks with airplane fuel which will soon be transported to the front. However, during this process, a North Korean plane attacks...killing one of the men. The plane soon crashes and a lone man bails out of the craft. Now when the surviving three American soldiers enter the ship, they have a prisoner.Once aboard the ship, the men contact headquarters and are told that they were NOT to bring the prisoner in with them. In other words, they were to kill him! This is clearly a war crime...and is against the articles of war. The sergeant (Kirk Douglas) clearly seems to LIKE this order...one of the men, one of the privates (Robert Walker Jr.) thinks the order is monstrous and refuses to do it. The sergeant takes delight in goading this private but despite this, he will NOT kill the man. So, the sadistic sergeant then tries to get the other private to do it...The story is a great look at human nature...the good as well as the bad. And, it reminds us that the German soldiers of WWII were not the only ones who murdered and chalked it all up to 'just following orders'. A very strong film whose only shortcoming is its pacing (it could have been shortened a bit and that would have made a stronger picture).

herbqedi For fans of the taut and psychologically grueling and philosophically provocative filmed one-act play, The Hook is right in the class of Lifeboat, The Petrified Forest, Obsession, The Desperate Hours, 12 Angry Men, and Time Limit -- all among my personal favorite movies. The movie hinges on one dilemma: What does a military man do when given a direct order from a Commanding Officer to kill an unarmed POW in cold blood? The questions of right and wrong are further blurred by the fact they are informed that all the other soldiers in the unit have all been wiped out by a brutal North Korean attack. Aboard a friendly vessel en route to reconnoiter with another fighting division, a Sergeant (Kirk Douglas), Corporal (Nick Adams), and Private (Robert Walker Jr.) have two days to dispose of the prisoner or disobey a direct order. For his part, the prisoner shows every sign of singlemindedly waiting for an opening to escape. He speaks no English and only one of the three speaks even a few words of Korean. The Sergeant orders each subordinate, in turn, to execute the prisoner, but they are both quite conflicted also. Kirk Douglas is perfectly cast as the tough-as-nails-on-the-outside-Sergeant Briscoe. But, Nick Adams truly steals the movie as the Corporal who nearly relinquishes his humanity trying desperately to support his Sergeant. Walker gives a solid if unremarkable performance as the Private that Briscoe relentlessly tries to bully into executing his dirty work. That's all of it. So, if you are looking for a war movie with lots of action and visual effects, look elsewhere. But, if you wish to look into the souls of three enlisted men faced with Hobson's choices within an unrelenting pressure cooker, this fast-moving and well-acted psychological study will haunt you for the rest of your film-going life. I give it 10/10 for its genre.