What makes it different from others?

Truly Dreadful Film

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Forgotten gem of a classic war drama, delivered with taste and nice looking b/w cinematography. The story follows a platoon of US soldiers across several cities on their conquest of Europe during WWII. It's more of a compilation of vignettes on the platoon members' wartime affairs with local European women rather than a traditional war film, being almost devoid of battle scenes. Yet the presence of war is always felt; as in the superb bombing scene with Sgt Craig and the wealthy French war widow, played by Wallach and Moreau."The Victors" has a great all-round cast of characters, including George Hamilton as corporal Trower, Eli Wallach as the tough sergeant, Jeanne Moreau and Rosanna Schiaffino playing short but memorable segments as the conquered women, to name a few. The version I saw has a relatively long running time of two and half hours, and is sometimes slightly slow for all tastes.... which is however compensated with several high impact scenes that linger well after the fact... for example one with Peter Fonda and a doomed puppy. The film is a great character study on human condition and makes a strong anti-war message, especially in the snowy execution scene of a deserter with Sinatra's Christmas song playing in the background... a contrast of tender music and violence which contributes to one of the most striking scenes in cinematic history... a combination later seen in many films such as Kubrik's DR. STRANGELOVE (1964), Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966), Peckinpah's CROSS OF IRON (1977) - and of course various Tarantino films where the meaning is to rather glorify violence instead of criticizing it."The Victors" is based on British writer Alexander Baron's book "The Human Kind", which is a collection of short stories based on the author's own wartime experiences. Excellent film.

This is a truly excellent film and is perhaps the greatest American war film ever made; a soldier's version of The Cruel Sea, where the relentless frightfulness of the war grinds down the participants humanity to a degree they never imagined possible.Too many war films portray some inane gung-ho spirit (any John Wayne film; Where Eagles Dare) or too much manufactured pathos (e.g. any John Wayne film; Saving Private Ryan)to be truly saddening; but The Victors really tears at the heart and mind when showing how ordinary people (soldiers and civilians) are emotionally damaged by the war (e.g. the dog scenes or the violinist's actions that starts the erosion of George Hamilton's basic decency)and we care about their fate or cry at what they become (actually I only felt tears for the final dog scene, but really identified emotionally with Hamilton when he saw the violinist with the oafish soldier).The viewer is given no easy consolation by characters dying to save others or marrying that desolate woman, and will emerge from the film a little sadder, but wiser. I cannot recommend this film too highly.As an amusing (ish) and friendly aside, I have worked out how manufacturers of American helmets could have saved manufacturing costs! How? Easy.......just dispense with the chin straps because no American soldier ever appears to use them in any film I have ever seen and the helmet stays on under all and any conditions!!!

I was tuning in my television to another programme and the film caught my attention. The scene must have been something like half way through the film and it was where a soldier was being shot for desertion.What a dreadful waste of life all war is? I spent the rest of the film glued to the screen.It has some faults - it has not the seamless quality of a truly great film, but it is so very, very good on the merciless pain suffered by the military and civilian population.When will we learn to negotiate our differences and that it is only the war mongers and megalomaniacs of the politically driven that cause wars. The newsreel of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta conference (the outcome of which was written on the back of a postcard by Churchill and handed to Stalin) was particularly poignant viewed today and confirming that most of our current conflict has its roots in the outcome of those decisions.Why isn't this film available to all to view? it should be shown against the current obscene recruitment advertisement for COMMANDOS being shown in cinemas.

I've only seen The Victors twice. First when originally released in London. That certainly was the "long" version; there was an interval, which followed the execution in the snow, and was the only time I've seen a full cinema audience remain hushed in their seats for several minutes. That was not the only sequence in the film that impressed itself on my memory. Some years later I was unfortunate to see the cruelly massacred version on TV. I've always wondered why it never figured highly in those lists (top 100 best of...) as I consider it to be one of the truly great films, in any genre. I gave up trying to find a video/DVD but reading these comments I now see I've not been alone. Does anyone know why we're deprived of seeing this film and, more importantly having the opportunity to introduce today's generation to an important movie?