Rent Attack (1956)
3.8 of 5 from 63 ratings
1h 43min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
December 1944. Rumours are flying among the battle-weary infantrymen of the Fragile Fox Company: they're being sent to the rear! But the rumours vanish in the dust of the approaching tanks as Germany unleashes a savage surprise counterattack. The Battle of the Bulge is underway. Oscar Winner Jack Palance stars as Lieutenant Joe Costa, a heroic soldier fighting on two fronts. One pits Costa and his men against the thundering Panzer 88s and spitting machine-guns of Nazi armoured units. And the other - a cowardly and incompetent captain is perhaps even more destructive than the enemy's elite troops. Breeding uncertainly and alarm within the ranks, his lack of leadership forces Costa into a fateful choice: continue to risk the lives of his men...or take the life of the captain! - Actors:
- Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Buddy Ebsen, Jon Shepodd, Peter Van Eyck, Jim Goodwin, Steven Geray, Jud Taylor, Louis Mercier, Henry Rowland, Mike Ragan, Ron McNeil, Strother Martin, Leonard Bremen, William Smithers, Bing Russell
- Directors:
- Robert Aldrich
- Producers:
- Robert Aldrich
- Writers:
- Norman Brooks, James Poe
- Studio:
- MGM
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Robert Aldrich
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Reviews (2) of Attack
Good character portrayal adds to war action film - Attack review by LR
This film is very well cast. Jack Palance is excellent as a decisive, courageous Lieutenant answerable to an unstable, cowardly Captain, also very well acted by Eddie Albert. Lee Marvin fits his role perfectly as the calculating General, keeping his eye on the advantages to be accrued for his political career when the war is over. So there is drama of the straight-forward kind as GIs fight Nazis, but there is also drama of a different kind as tensions simmer between the officers. An engaging story well told.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Combat Dystopia. - Attack review by Steve
This is a cynical, tough war film which deals with the complex dynamic of soldiers fighting within a defective hierarchy. The Lieutenant (Jack Palance) is a classic square jawed GI, but his bravery is undermined during every crisis by his incompetent, cowardly Captain (Eddie Albert).
The Captain is kept in position by the Lieutenant-Colonel (Lee Marvin) who seeks to gain politically from his stooge's family after the war. But how many casualties will he allow before he intervenes? This is a dystopian vision of the US infantry in the Battle of the Bulge which portrays the officers as a privileged elite, who benefit from the same preferment they expect back home.
Its weakness is that Palance is too much of a hero and Albert too much of a gutless zero, which makes the film schematic and less realistic. The sets are basic, though Robert Aldrich finds striking imagery among the ruins. There's plenty of talk, but with good action too. The usual running commentary of pessimistic infantry wit is punchy and funny. And there is nerve-shredding suspense...
Palance leads a dozen lightly armed soldiers into a heavily fortified village held by hundreds of Germans, with tanks. His superior doesn't even man the radio. The Lieutenant's isolation and abandonment is excruciating. This was ahead of its time. Its motifs of disillusionment and mercenary individualism would become more typical in the war films of the '60s.
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