i WAS SO GLAD TO SEE THAT”ATTACK” WAS REVIEWED BECAUSE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER IT GOT NO COOPERATION WHATSOVER FROM THE ARMY, WHICH IS WHY YOU SEE THE GERMANS WITH WATER-COOLED MACHINE GUNS AND STUART TANKS (FILMED AT LOW ANGLES TO MAKE THEM LOOK BIGGER) AS PANZERS. THE PERFORMANCES MAKE THIS FILM-IY MAY BE JACK PALANCE’S BEST PERFORMANCE AS THE FATALISTIC, SARDONIC LT. JOE COSTA, DEFINITELY A MAN YOU WANT IN YOUR FOXHOLE, BUT VERY MUCH ON THE EDGE OF MADNESS, A ROLE PALANCE COULD DEFINITELY PLAY. EDDIE ALBERT, USUALLY CONSIDERED A LIGHTWEIGHT ACTOR HAS HIS CHOICEST ROLE HERE AS THE INCOMPETENT, COWARDLY, ALCOHOLIC CPT ERSKINE COONEY. ALBERT ELICITS SHEER CONTEMPT FROM THE VIEWER. THIS PERFORMANCE BOOKENDS WITH HIS COL BLISS IN CPT NEWMAN MD. LEE MARVIN AS COL CLYDE BARTLETT, A CONNIVING MANIPULATIVE GOOD OL BOY FROM RIVERVIEW WITH A TASTE FOR CIGARS AND BONDED LIQUOR-HE IS COMPARABLE TO FRED MACMURRAY’S CHARACTER IN TEH CAINE MUTINY. BUDDY EBSEN IS GREAT AS PALANCES’S PLATOON SGT. RICHARD JAECKEL MAKES HIS UMPYEENTH APPEARANCE IN COMBAT FATIGUES. RICHARD STRAUSS REPRISES HIS ROLE OF ANIMAL IN STALAG 17, BUT IT’S NEEDED HERE AS EVERYONE ELSE IS SO GRIM BEST SCENES: THE DETERIORATION OF THE CARD GAME BETWEEN COSTA, COONEY, BARTLETT AND WOODRUFF(THE CO EXEC, AND THE ACTUAL ISHMAEL OF THIS STORY, PLAYED BY AN UNKNOWN),EBSEN TELLING COONEY THAT A MAN DON’T DRINK WITH SOMEONE IF HE DON’T RESPECT HIM, COSTA THREATENING TO SHOVE A GRENADE DOWN COONEY’S THROAT IF HE LOSES ANOTHER MAN ON ACCOUNT OF HIM, COSTA PRAYING BEFORE HE FALLS BACK WHILE UNDER FIRE, BARTLETT MOCKING COONEY ” CLYDE, I TRIED ” WHEN THE GERMANS BREAK THROUGH, AND THE LOOK ON COONEY’S FACE WHEN HE ATTEMPTS TO SURRENDER AND LOOKS UP THE STAIRS-WHAT’S THERE IS WHO HE FEARS MORE THAN CLYDE OR THE ENEMY!!!

By paul penrod on Apr 3, 2009 at 10:37 am

For my part, I was glad to see the inclusion of “Saints and Soldiers” in the article on five lesser-known WWII movies. I haven’t seen that movie yet but from what I heard it is very good.

Regards,
Alex Wilson

By Alexander Wilson on Apr 9, 2009 at 9:44 pm

“Ike’s Warriors” was as appalling and dishonest an article on General Eisenhower as any I’ve read.

It’s yet another puff piece, in a seemingly endless series of puff pieces written by American historians, that tries to portray Eisenhower, one of the most inept and incompetent military commanders of WWII, as the second coming of Alexander the Great.

I gave the article zero marks.

By Aquila Be on Apr 22, 2009 at 3:07 am