This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Robert Mitchum plays Colonel Steve Janowski--an infantry genius who is stationed in South Korea just before the outbreak of the Korean War. His job is to help train the South Korean Army to defend their country in case of invasion...something that occurs in the first few minutes of the film. The story consists of either the Colonel and his Staff Sergeant (Charles McGraw) in combat or the Colonel chasing a pretty UN worker (Ann Blyth). Generally, the film is well made and the action sequences good, though the overuse of stock footage is a problem common to many war pictures. The viewer might also be surprised because it's a surprisingly bloodthirsty and brutal picture--with footage of charred corpses and the like. Not a war picture for the squeamish, that's for sure...but very well made and acted.

In 1999 there was a big to-do about a supposed atrocity during the Korean War, the strafing of civilians fleeing fighting during the initial push by the North Koreans down the Korean peninsula at No Gun Ri. It turned out that the main eyewitness for the story was a liar who was not even in in-country in 1950. The fuss would have been no surprise to viewers of this movie. Here it was artillery fire rather than air attack that caused civilian casualties, but the situation was basically the same. The film depicts the sad necessity of firing on a column of refugees, driven at gunpoint by communist soldiers hidden among them in civilian clothes, who were trying to get past U.N. lines. The blame in the movie is clearly on the commies, but there is no attempt to gloss over the ugly necessities of war. This movie was the first time I ever heard the phrase "Fire for Effect", a phrase I was to utter myself frequently years later as an artillery officer in Vietnam and Cambodia.

A real good Korea war film that captures the realism and tough decision making without it being a 'Combat TV' show look-a-like. Renting it and watching with my father, a Korean war veteran, on Veterans Day 2007 was great. Still, that one segment in the movie with the terrorist hiding among a line of hundreds of Korean refugees and seeing US sends Cannon shells among the crowd was gut wrenching. Nonetheless, the actual F-94 Starfire jet Scenes were the most footage ever shown in a Korean war film more so than "Men of the Fighting Lady" a distant second.Lastly, the casualty footage for a '51 /'52 was shocking. However, that the film contains a Romantic storyline & some comedy relief by young GI Gomer Pyle type soldier was amazing for the Director to squeeze these items in this film. This film, IMO, is one of better Korea war films along with "Retreat Hell" with Frank Lovejoy, along with a couple other films like "Pork Chop Hill" with Greg Peck.

One Minute To Zero is a cold war film about Korea, very typical of its time. President Truman called it a police action, like we were going there to arrest Kim Il Sung and his cronies. It sure looked like a war from the point of view of the World War II veterans and their younger brothers who fought it.Robert Mitchum plays one of those veterans, a career army man who rose from the ranks to become a Colonel. He's training the South Korean Army when the North attacks. His personal story is interwoven with the progress of the war from the initial attack until the landings at Inchon. Mitch is every inch the combat soldier in this film.And Mitch falls big time for widow Ann Blyth, a United Nations worker. When the UN was founded post World War II a lot of people put hope and faith in it that it would prevent future wars and it would deter aggression with force if need be. The only reason it got into Korea was because the Russians were boycotting the Security Council at the time and couldn't veto anything. A gambit they never used again. Ann is a World War II widow who believes she's carrying out the ideals her husband fought for. Lots of folks felt that way back in 1950.Director Tay Garnett did a good job editing in real combat footage with his actors. The film has a good sense of realism.But it's a good romantic story as well, helped along by one of the most durable popular songs in history. When I Fall In Love came from this film, heard in the background but never sung. Curious because Ann Blyth is an excellent singer. Nat King Cole and Doris Day had hit records of it when the film was first out. Later on Etta James, The Lettermen, Donny Osmond, Natalie Cole all did well by this song. And right up to the present day Celine Dion and Clive Griffin did a duet record back in 1993. The good ones always survive and I wouldn't bet against a future hit single for some artist with this one.There is one scene in this that would definitely jar today's audiences. At one point Mitchum directs his men to fire into a group of refugees who the North Koreans are using as a blind to smuggle men and arms into the South. And the movie makes sure you see that that was the case. I don't doubt such things happened. They're happening today. But the movie verdict acquits Mitchum and assuages Ann Blyth that she shouldn't doubt her man. What CNN would do with that today.The supporting cast includes Charles McGraw, Wally Cassell, and William Talman. All do a good job.It's a double treat. Lots of action for the men and plenty of romance for the women, or the other way around if that's what floats your boat.