Pork Chop Hill

The last days of the war in Korea. While the ceasefire talks continue at Panmunjom, an order comes to take a hill. The hill has no military value; it is about who looks stronger in the bargaining at the table. Lieutenant Clemons goes up with his company. He starts with a hundred and thirty-five men and the number falls by the hour. The subject is not heroism but the reason for dying being settled at a table. The film cuts between the fighting and the negotiations; the man calling for support on the radio above and the diplomats haggling over words below are shown at the same moment. The form is bare and unamplified. No heroic scoring, few close-ups, night scenes barely lit at all. Most of the soldiers stay nameless and it is often unclear who has died. The source is S. L. A. Marshall's book about the same action; the battle really happened in 1953, immediately before the armistice was signed. Lewis Milestone had made All Quiet on the Western Front, and the position taken here comes from the same place. Gregory Peck leads and is among the producers. Rip Torn, Robert Blake, Martin Landau and George Peppard appear early in their careers. Who it is for: viewers who like anti-war war films. Who it is not for: anyone looking for attachment to characters; the film withholds it deliberately.