Rent Pork Chop Hill (1959)

Anti-War Drama (spoiler). - Pork Chop Hill review by Steve

Anti-war film set in the '50-'53 conflict in Korea which presents an astonishingly unflattering view of the US military. Sadly the clarity of the message was compromised by a loss of nerve in post production and by its star/producer Gregory Peck's refusal to portray his character as the less than heroic figure that was written.

Peck plays an officer commanded to lead three platoons to reclaim a stronghold from the Chinese army. The terrain has no strategic value, and the war is coming to a close with the politicians negotiating a treaty, but both sides feel that the territory changing hands would influence the balance of the ceasefire.

We see the US Government and military brass trading American lives for diplomatic leverage. It presents these leaders as not only indifferent to casualties, but incompetent. The soldiers are poorly trained and unmotivated. No one can explain the mission. Strategy is outdated, communications don't work and logistics are appalling. Out of 132 men, around a dozen survive.

There is an impression of what might have been. Peck took the film off Lewis Milestone and re-edited it, and the protest was muted. But even so, this condemnation of the American army was at least a decade ahead of its time. It's portrayal of events that are so baffling they actually feel crazy, anticipates the more satirical war films of the '60s.