Men in War: Anthony Mann

What do you do when you want to make a Korean War film but don't receive support from the US military because they don't approve of your story's content? You do what Anthony Mann did in Men in War and make a film that dives into the psychology of a group of infantrymen trapped behind enemy lines as they seek to reunite with the rest of their side's troops. Armed with his experience doing film noir and psychologically charged Westerns, Men in War is a remarkable examination of men under fire. If Samuel Fuller's The Steel Helmet (1951) tried to create a more truthful depiction of the Korean War, then Men in War seems to almost predict Apocalypse Now (1979) in its feverish, fantastical atmosphere. While searching for reinforcements, Lieutenant Benson and his men encounter two shell-shocked soldiers driving a jeep in the middle of a war zone. One is a Colonel who has lost his mind after seeing almost all of his men massacred by North Koreans. The other is an unhinged Sergeant nicknamed "Montana" who treats the Colonel like his father. When asked what they were doing, they respond that they were driving "home." When Benson commandeers their jeep and forces the Colonel and Montana to join with them, Montana demonstrates an almost psychic ability to detect enemy snipers and booby traps like North Koreans dressed like American GI's. Later, one soldier is killed when, incredulously, he stops to pick flowers and put them on his helmet. This is a film where none of the soldiers act like they are quite well in the head. Also like Apocalypse Now, the enemy soldiers are almost never seen. This leads to the greatest sequence in the film where an unseen artillery unit bombards the American infantrymen, forcing them to charge across an open field two at a time in-between shell-bursts. Another fantastic sequence occurs near the end of the film right before the Americans attack a North Korean stronghold. For the longest time all we see are the soldiers loading their weapons and getting into position in complete silence. Such scenes are perhaps common enough in war films. But under Mann's direction and Ernest Haller's cinematography, it almost enters the realm of the surreal. The unsettling score by Elmer Bernstein is just the cherry on top of this excellent film.

8/10