Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

trosini The move starts slow and choppy but develops well into some dramatic scenes. The cast is outstanding and the dialog is excellent at times. All in all this is a movie worth watching; true, there are some chintzy scenes in the battles with obvious over acting and ridiculous action of the supposedly injured, but hey it was the 60s and there were no digital effects and those extras didn't get paid much! The black and white filming may turn off some viewers but it actually adds to the drama of this war movie. It is also interesting to watch Bob Newhart, Steve McQueen, Fess Parker, Nick Adams and even Bobby Darin (was he in any other movie in a serious role?) deliver a realism to their lines, and think of their later lives.

thormang Don't get your hopes up with all the great cast members, especially Bob Newhart. This is a ho-hum WWII movie. Part way through I thought, "Wow, that music sounds just like the TV show Combat!". Well, the director went on to do Combat!(!). Story line is just like an extra 1/2 hr of Combat! and not as good. For a TV show script it was great. For a $2.5 million dollar movie it was slow, disjointed and boring. The Newhart lines were funny but out of place during a war sequence of events. My generous rating : 4 of 10. No wonder McQueen was stand-offish. Who would want to be there? If you like WWII movies there are so many better ones to pick from.

zardoz-13 Actor Steve McQueen plays the least charismatic character of his entire career in the concise, Don Siegel directed, 90-minute World War II movie "Hell Is for Heroes," a first-rate, uncompromising anti-war movie about sacrifice and redemption set on the dangerous Siegfried Line in mid-1944. A woebegone squad of six rugged G.I.s that is overdue for rest and relaxation find themselves stretched perilously thin to defend a front for 48 hours against a numerically superior enemy until reinforcements arrive. Fess Parker, Bobby Darin, James Coburn, Harry Guardino, L.Q. Jones, Nick Adams, and first-time actor Bob Newhart co-star in this grim, realistic, thoroughly convincing but virtually all-male combat thriller. Indeed, there is one woman at the outset who operates a bar. Apart from her, no other females populate this serious, no-nonsense, but heavily ironic yarn. Our heroes must convince the enemy that they are 600 rather than a mere six. The production designers deserve a round of applause for their fabulous job of recreating the Type 10 bunkers of the Limes Programme that cover the enemy front as well as the tank teeth that constituted part of the line.Combat films by 1962 were steadily growing more and more cynical, and "Hell Is for Heroes" contains more examples of raw-edged cynicism than flag-waving, sentimental patriotism.. The wise-cracking G.I.s of World War II era movies were overshadowed here by cantankerous, paranoid soldiers not about looting a church or espousing atheism. Although color films were the standard, Siegel lensed "Hell Is for Heroes" in black and white and the choice is appropriate for the unglamorous subject matter. Like many World War II movies, the focus is on the grubby guys on the battlefront and Steve McQueen's Reese is a perfect example. The unshaven, less-than-fortunate protagonist has wrecked a jeep, basically cracked up, been demoted, but he remains a brave, willing soldier who has a difficult time recognizing, much less accommodating authority whether the authority figure is an enlisted man or an officer. McQueen clashed with BATTLEGROUND scenarist Robert Pirosh, a World War II veteran and later creator of the ABC-TV classic COMBAT!, who had been initially hired to direct. Don Siegel replaced him, but Siegel and McQueen had their share of spats. Reportedly, McQueen sought to enhance the lonely character of his anti-social hero by refusing to fraternize with the cast. Neither McQueen nor Darin were on friendly terms during the production.

Bill Slocum Of all the actioners Steve McQueen ever did, "Hell Is For Heroes" may be the most unpleasant, a grim, tightly-wound tale of GIs abandoned on the Siegfried Line. The only presence more threatening than the German soldiers in the distance is the guy with the grease gun taking point for your side.McQueen is the guy on point, a private named Reese who was a decorated sergeant until he tried to run down an officer with a jeep. Suffice it to say he has a problem with authority: "You wave that finger in my face once more and I'm gonna take your head off," he tells one non-com, eyes bulging.With McQueen delivering the line, you have no problem believing he'll do just that. "Hell Is For Heroes" catches him just as he was taking off as the "King Of Cool," his more sympathetic persona still to come. For the moment, he's all tough guy, someone whose ultimate welfare you might not care too much about but who you come to rely on in the same way his comrades do, however unlikeable they may otherwise find him.Other than McQueen, the film is an eclectic hodgepodge, including no less than three fellow icons, from pop music (Bobby Darin), comedy (Bob Newhart's debut film role), and television (stolid Fess Parker, TV's Davy Crockett and the best-known face in the cast back when the film was released.) James Coburn is also on hand as an agreeable mechanic handy with a flame-thrower; this easily is better than the two more famous films Coburn and McQueen did together. Another major presence is that of director Don Siegel, second to none at delivering "tough-guy cinema". Despite the presence of Newhart, and Darin's comedic turn as a soldier on the make, "Hell Is For Heroes" is every bit as tough as its name implies.It's not really a classic, just a very good war film. Many here liken it to "Saving Private Ryan", and you definitely notice a resemblance. There's even the same use of the term "flake out", which I never heard before "Ryan" and figured was an anachronism until I heard Harry Guardino as a sergeant use it here. Ultimately both are gritty combat flicks in which good guys get killed, sometimes suddenly and senselessly, and the question of whether it was worth it or just plain FUBAR is left hanging in the gunsmoke. I give "Ryan" the edge for its broader scope and characters, but "Hell" is every bit as unflinching for its time in its depiction of combat horror.Unlike "Ryan", the comedy in "Heroes" is rather broad and jarring, occasionally clashing with the rest of the action. Newhart even does one of his telephone routines, though it's integrated cleverly into the plot. Darin's more problematic, wisecracking and eyerolling like a svelte Lou Costello in "Buck Privates". It doesn't weaken "Heroes" exactly, so much as point up the conscious effort at providing entertainment.Okay, so it's a bit of a comic-book yarn beneath it all, and a bit far-fetched, with annoying stock footage and some dicey plot holes. But it stars McQueen showcasing another of his cool weapons (this time a Grease gun with three mags taped together for instant reloading) and his economy with words. Like reviewer HalfCentury noted in his May 2005 review, McQueen's physicality goes a long way to selling his performance, and in turn the film, the way he jumps into foxholes or stabs a German with the ferocity of a caveman in "2001: A Space Odyssey".When I was a boy, this was the kind of film that had me wincing at the screen, then looking for friends to act out the deaths of my favorite characters. War is hell, I guess, and this isn't that, but it's more than enough of a substitute for us couch-combat enthusiasts.