Best movie of this year hands down!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

"All the Young Men" is a Korean war movie that finds an aging Alan Ladd and an up-and-coming Sidney Poitier leading a platoon of soldiers into a snow-bound Korean pass where they have to hold a farm-house against all the odds. It's not a bad film, just a rather formulaic one full of stock characters yet it's even quite exciting at times. The writer/producer/director was Hal Bartlett, a B-Movie stalwart of the period who liked to tackle 'difficult' issues, a kind of poor man's Sam Fuller, (Poitier's presence here ensures racism rears its ugly head). The first-rate black and white photography was by Daniel L Fapp who was to win the Oscar a year later for his work on "West Side Story".

It must have been pretty awful filming this movie at Glacier National Park. There was a lot of snow and ice as the film makers were trying to re-create the cold winter in the Korean mountains. The movie is about a group of soldiers who are cut off from the rest of their troops during the Korean War. When their commanding officer is hit, he assigns the black sergeant (Sidney Poitier) to be in charge. The other sergeant (Alan Ladd) is mad he wasn't chosen and gives Poitier a lot of crap--as does a racist man in the group who loudly voices his contempt for a black leader. This all could have been interesting, as the Korean War was the first fully integrated war for the US. Plus, there was a lot going on in 1960 regarding racial equality--so the film actually was dealing with 1960s social issues--not just the Korean War.Unfortunately, the film loses its way very quickly--mostly due to dumb casting that shows that the film makers really didn't care about racial issues. Instead, it looked almost as if the film was created by tossing darts at a cork board filled with ideas! First, perhaps "All The Young Men" started a small trend in Hollywood casting stand-up comedians in war films! Here, we have Mort Sahl (a big name during his day but all but forgotten today) and two years later, Bob Newhart was cast in "Hell is for Heroes" and a few years later Don Rickles was cast in "Kelly's Heroes". An odd mini-trend, I know. And, like Newhart's performance, Sahl inexplicably does a stand-up routine during a tiny break in the action! I am sure that happened all the time during the Korean War and WWII!!!! In addition to this dumb casting decision, the film makers also decided to insert James Darren. Now this alone is not bad--he was lovely in "The Guns of Navarone". However, like Sahl, the insane movie producers thought it would be great to have this 1950s/60s teen heart-throb sing a number as well! Think about it...it's in the middle of the snow during the Korean War and Darren's character breaks into song!!!! What were they thinking?! Did they think audiences wanted this is a war flick?! Who was their audience?! As a result, the film just came off as fake--as fake as the eyes in the obviously white extras who were cast as Koreans! The bottom line is that if the film makers didn't care enough to get the film right, why should the audience care enough to bother with the film? Plus, there are just a lot more films that deal with racism without all the superfluous crap tossed in as well! By the way, Alan Ladd appearing in such a film isn't a huge surprise, as his career was in a downward spiral--partly due to changing tastes and partly due to his alcoholism.

During the Korean War, up in the snowy mountains, a marine platoon is attacked and their lieutenant is killed. But just before he dies he places the platoon sergeant, Eddie Towler, in charge. Towler is black and has to get his men to safety amidst racial tension and constant in fighting.All The Young Men is a Saturday afternoon time filler of a movie. Not brilliant, but certainly not bad. Sidney Poitier takes the lead role as Towler and gives it his usual guts and emotional thunder. Alongside Poitier is Alan Ladd, who at 47 was coming to the end of his career. Now if one can cast aside that Ladd was a bit old to be bombing around the snow laden mountains, then his interplay with Poitier is actually very good. It certainly gives the character's edge, and thus keeps the picture being the character driven piece it's meant to be.This is no stock war film with blitzkrieg battles and dirty dozen like shenanigans, this is men holed up in a mountain station forced to win the battles amongst themselves in order to win the war. Nicely shot in stark black and white on location at the Glacier National Park, Montana, All The Young Men is very much a mood piece. Odd then that the makers shoehorn in some light relief courtesy of Mort Sahl's Corporal Crane. It's not Sahl's fault of course, but it doesn't sit right in context with the story. It's as if someone said to director and writer Hall Bartlett, you can't make an overtly bleak mood piece, put some fun in there!Still this was one I had a real good time with, partly because of its two lead actors and partly because of the locale. It's recommended on proviso that you expect character over action, oh yes sir. 7/10

1960 was an in-between year. Between Eisenhower and Kennedy. Between the Beats and the Hippies. Between Elvis and Fabian. Between Korea and Vietnam. And in that in-between year, there was a grab bag of rehashed styles in fashion and music. The 1920's were "in" for a while and remakes of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" became contemporary hits in 1960. "All the Young Men" is a grab-bag of a movie, apparently written by a committee composed of agents and accountants, which tossed in music, themes, topics, scenes, and personalities designed to appeal to the movie audience of 1960. To try to understand the film from any other historical or logical or artistic or symbolic perspective would be an exercise in futility. In 1960 we had has-beens Alan Ladd ("Shane") and Richard Davalos ("East of Eden") marching along the Korean countryside with breaking-the-color- barrier Sidney Portier, topical night club comic Mort Sahl, new face Glenn Corbett, and teen heart throb James Darren all to the tune of "The Saints" which, as mentioned, was an old song during the Korean War but a re-vamped hit in 1960. So, although the portrayed drama was of the Korean war of the early 1950's, "All the Young Men" is really a kind of filmed time capsule of 1960 America. As such, it is a combination piece of nostalgia, a reminder that 1960 really was a pretty "dumb" time in America, and a kind of scary reminder that in 1960 America was living in blissful ignorance of the horror and chaos that was to befall in a few years in the form of a presidential assassination, counter-culture struggles, and an eleven year quagmire in Vietnam.