Pork Chop Hill
Pork Chop Hill
| 29 May 1959 (USA)
Pork Chop Hill Trailers

Korean War, April 1953. Lieutenant Clemons, leader of the King company of the United States Infantry, is ordered to recapture Pork Chop Hill, occupied by a powerful Chinese Army force, while, just seventy miles away, at nearby the village of Panmunjom, a tense cease-fire conference is celebrated.

Reviews
WasAnnon

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

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Beystiman

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

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PiraBit

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

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Jenni Devyn

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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Theo Robertson

As I write this NATO has been involved in Afghanistan for twelve years . A political breakthrough almost came about this week when the United States were going to have peace talks in Qatar with the Taliban but due to anger from the Afghan government led by Hamid Karzai the talks were cancelled at the last minute . Even if the talks had gone ahead the talks probably wouldn't have gained much due . NATO will pull out of the country next year regardless of any settlement or political deal . There is a rather sad dimension to this and that is NATO soldiers will still die in combat between then and now and there's something much more poignant about dying in a conflict when the end - regardless of the outcome - is in sight The battle of Pork Chop Hill was the last major battle of the Korean War and this film tells the story of the battle . The UN and communist forces were weeks away from signing an armistice but for reasons of not losing face and to hold bigger bargaining chips continued to commit thousands of troops to a battle that had no strategic value . This is patently absurd and the film tries to put a human and ugly face to this absurdity but never manages it The film is directed by Lewis Milestone who won an Oscar for ALL QUITE ON THE WESTERN FRONT so he should in theory be the number one contender for making an anti-war movie . However the screenwriter is James R Webb who had previous and subsequent tradition in writing Westerns . Is there any genre that's more black and white than a Western ? This explains the rather sketchy characterisation of the soldiers involved , the a man's got to do what a man's got to do commanding officer , the reluctant hero , the malingerer etc . Even the climatic battle where the US forces are besieged and saved at the last minute resembles a Western cliché and negates any anti-war comment the film is trying to make . From a technical point of view it is a good war film but never becomes an anti-war film

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Guy

Plot: As an end to the Korean War is negotiated, US and Chinese troops battle over a hill vital to the negotiationsBased on the non-fiction book by the (in)famous SLA "Slam" Marshall, this is more of a docudrama than a film; therein lies both its success and its failure. Gregory Peck brings conviction to the role of a company commander whose mission is to seize and hold a hill that has just been lost to the enemy. The hill is militarily worthless but politically vital. So up he goes. The rest of the characters are one-note grunts and a politely malevolent Chinese propagandist. Where this film differs from the rest is in the combat: people get lost, mistakes are made, there are friendly fire incidents, orders go missing, and some soldiers simply don't want to fight. In short, nothing goes according to plan -- which was the message of most of "Slam"'s books. An example: a lone soldier finds an enemy machine gun nest and, in a scene we've all seen before, gets ready to blow it up with a hand-grenade -- only he misses the gun slit and nearly blows himself up! Beating the enemy also means overcoming the mistakes on your side too. The combat sequences are among the best ever shot: troops really hug the ground, it takes a lot of shots to kill people, units manoeuvre, the battlefield is littered in detritus, and leadership really matters. However, despite the compelling story, the tight focus, the excellent battle scenes, the lack of bombastic Hollywood heroics, the insight into combat, the rising tension and Mr Peck, the film never quite becomes a classic because the characters are too thinly sketched. Nonetheless, this is one of the best war films ever made.

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TheExpatriate700

For a film made in the 1950s, Pork Chop Hill is incredibly grim in its approach to war. Focusing on a battle late in the Korean War, the movie emphasizes the futility of the fighting, which served no other purpose than to assert American resolve during peace talks.The film's realism is complemented by a good performance from Gregory Peck as an officer in charge of the attack on the insignificant hill. Peck balances just the right amounts of determination and recognition of the futility of what he is doing. It stands alongside Tom Hanks's performance in Saving Private Ryan as one of the greatest performances in a war movie.The film does suffer at the conclusion from the studio's insertion of a patriotic coda, as was typical for the era. Nevertheless, Pork Chop Hill stands as an accomplishment in war movie realism.

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Bob_Zerunkel

This is a very well-written, well-directed, and well-acted movie. The faults are few, but real soldiers can find them. This was a horrific battle, but it would have been deadlier if the real soldiers faced open fire with the poor tactics used in the film.This isn't a pro-war film or an anti-war film, although I can see why the fanatics on both sides would like to claim it. It is an honest depiction of what happened in Korea. Both sides wanted this hill, and both sides were willing to lose great amounts of men to take this hill.Although most people miss it, there was a real reason for this battle, even though it happened right before the ceasefire. Both sides wanted to end the war, but they had not agreed on the terms. Both sides wanted to show that they were willing to continue to fight in order to secure the best peace agreement. Both sides wanted to show that if peace was not accepted on their terms, then the future terms would be worse.Some people say that the Americans won because the North Koreans did sign the peace treaty shortly afterwards. Others say that the North Koreans won because they got better terms than they should have. Either way, the true battle was not over Pork Chop Hill. That was merely where the battle took place. The true battle was to see which side could suffer such huge losses and not back down.Neither side quit. Nothing was gained. Damn fine movie.

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