Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

MartinHafer The plot of "Counterpoint" might see ludicrous. However, during WWII, the USO provided entertainment for American troops--both at home and abroad. And, during the Battle of the Bulge, various performers were in Belgium entertaining the troops. In addition, during this surprising German offensive, the Germans frequently murdered their prisoners. All this being taken into account, "Counterpoint" doesn't see so far-fetched.The film begins during an orchestral performance for US Army troops during a break in the war. However, in the midst of this, the Germans attack and the orchestra is soon taken prisoner. The German general in charge (Maximilliam Schell) presents himself as a decent, professional and cultured man. His second in command, the Colonel (Anton Diffring) is essentially a Nazi monster...a man who enjoys murdering prisoners. During much of the film, there is tension between the two, though ultimately the General agrees that AFTER the orchestra performs for him, the Colonel can do what he wants with them. The orchestra leader (Charlton Heston) knows what's in store for them and is trying to find some desperate solution other than to all walk willingly in front of a firing squad! What's next?This is a very unusual war film...extremely unusual. It deserves to be seen just for that reason. However, it is NOT a great films...just a very good one. Much of it is because the film often seems very talky. There is, ultimately, lots of action at the end...but precious little before that. So much so that I am sure the film would bore some viewers.

juan carlos I make a difference, referring to war movies. There are some that are very faithful to the history such as Midway, Tora, Tora, Tora and there are some that emphasize the epic and heroic aspects of soldier life in terrible circumstances. I have to say that I am more interested in the second ones such as The Dirty Dozen, The Eagle has landed, etc. Counterpoint belongs to the second category. A famous music director (C. Heston) and his orchestra is kidnapped by the Nazy army in Belgium. The German General (M. Schell) wants this orchestra to play for him but the director delays this concert as much as possible to avoid his musicians to be killed. I think Ralphn Nelson felt some empathy for the character, starred by Heston because he was in the Army in the II World War and participated in different plays in Broadway to entertain people in the same way Heston tries to entertain soldiers in the cold Europe. Schell and Heston perform their roles perfectly: they admire each other but war has placed them in different sides of the river. Schell is far from the archetype of the Germans in the Hitler era. There is a love subplot between Heston and one old love, his musician,Kathryn Hays, who is now married with a partner, a serious Leslie Nielsen. This love story and the sequence in which an American soldier is nearly discovered by a German Colonel but he feigns to be a musician of the orchestra, playing the U.S. hymn, remind me of Casablanca. The cinematography of Russel Metty, in which the shadows have a relevant role, is quite brilliant. So, it deserves to be seen.Juan Carlos del Castillo Álvarez

silverscreen888 This is perhaps not a great movie; but as many viewers have attested over the years, it is a very memorable attempt at entertainment. The context of this dramatic film is WWII. People do strange things in wartime, I suggest; but once one accepts the physical presence of a fine orchestra led by a pompous but talented man in harm's way, where he can be coveted, captured and coerced by a civilized Nazi officer and menaced by an SS type, everything else falls into place. The other elements in the plot about an orchestra leader "not playing, for time" to save the lives of his orchestra's members and two US soldiers who have been caught in the same zone with no escape are these: a traitor in the orchestra; a relationship between the leader and a cellist; his relations with her husband, his concertmaster, the SS officer's desire to exterminate them, and the desire of the Nazi captor to have them play something just for him in the midst of wartime--these are unusual attributes for a 'war film, I assert. Those who missed the main point of the film, that the ethics of emergencies are different than those of normative times, thus missed why the movie was made. There are examples, in history such as "Playing For Time": for instance, of musicians and Jewish ones and females being kept alive to play for Nazi officers; the clever part here is that writers James Lee and Joel Oliansky 'fictionalized' the idea by providing interesting additions to the basic situation, which are: the aforementioned affair, the danger that brings out the characters more strongly, the need NOT to play, and the additional element of a traitor in their midst, the two US types and the often-used but effective distinction between civilized Germans serving Hitler's Nazi war'machine' and SS types enjoying their unlimited power to do harm to anyone they single out during that war. The change in the leader's character during the film is that he must remain true to himself and also prioritize what he does for the good of the group, no easy task. And the music is wonderful, the atmosphere so good even naysayers have remarked on it. As to the acting, it is far better than the mumbling and often ludicrous submediocrity that has characterized Hollywood unprofessionalism since 1973. The film was directed by Ralph Nelson. The good cast included Charlton Heston as the monomaniacal maestro, Maximilian Schell and Anton Diffrimf as the German contestants for the lives of the orchestra's members, Leslie Nielse and Kathryn hays as the other members of the love triangle, plus Neva Patterson, Cyril Delevanti, Gregory Morton, Parley Baer, Ed Peck, Peter Masterson, Curt Lowens and many more. Original music for the film was composed by Bronislau Kaper; cinematography was done by Russell Metty. Art direction was done by Carl Anderson and Alexander Golitzen, set decoration by John McCarthy Jr. and George Milo with costumes by Burton Miller The film is well-=aced, the dialogue above average, many scenes well-thought out; and the music alone is worth the price of admission. Anyone who does not enjoy this film and believe in its essential logic is perhaps an opponent of realistic behavior, actions that consist of dealing with the unusual sometimes, and with something other than rock-and-roll level cardboard types characterized by what is wrong with them and not by anything higher. Worth seeing more than once.

rps-2 This is another cliched war picture in which the Germans are all sadistic psychopaths and the Americans are all noble and brave. If nothing else, this film proves that Charleton Heston --- Ben Hur with a baton --- was as rotten an actor in 1968 as he is now. The story is fanciful. The characters are about as deep as the phony snow they stumble around in. Women were non existant in the symphony orchestras of the era yet the orchestra in this story has several. Is it likely that a USO troupe entertaining American soldiers in 1944 Belgium would play Beethoven and other German composers. By the standards of 1968 it would rate a c-. Today it simply isn't a contender, even on the late show. Now maybe if they had used John Wayne rather than Heston...