Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Jimmy L. ONE MINUTE TO ZERO (1952) is a hokey Korean War movie filled with tired war movie clichés, but it's easy enough to digest and Ann Blyth is soooooo pretty that you don't mind sitting through it.The initial conflict between Army colonel Robert Mitchum and United Nations worker Ann Blyth soon blossoms into romance, but can Blyth let herself get involved with a soldier during wartime, knowing he's always in harm's way? Meanwhile, Mitchum and company have tough decisions to make trying to hold back the guerrilla fighters, who hide among the swarms of refugees.Made while our boys were over there fighting the commies, the film has an understandable propagandistic slant, but it's interesting to see a movie of the era set during the Korean War, rather than WWII. And the drama does touch upon some interesting moral gray areas.Robert Mitchum is always good, but Charles McGraw nearly steals the show in a solid supporting performance as Mitchum's gruff sidekick in the field. Also look for Alfred, the husky young janitor from MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947), as one of the soldiers.The film's romantic theme seems to be the song "When I Fall in Love", as popularized by Nat King Cole.

audiemurph Once upon a time Hollywood could really pump out these classic war films; here, in the midst of the Korean War, RKO Studios tells how the North Koreans and their allies invaded the South, pushing them and their American allies to the very southern end of the peninsula; the story is told by focusing on a Colonel played by Robert Mitchum, whose job it is to delay as much as the possible the push south by the Commies, giving time to the UN and the free West to get its act together and come to Korea's aid."One Minute To Zero" benefits greatly from some excellent war effects: fighter jets setting mountainsides on fire, mortar shells blowing up tanks, and the like. Particularly unusual and gruesome is a quick shot about 30 minutes into the film of a charred corpse lieing on a hull of a burned-out tank.Robert Mitchum cruises through this movie quite handily; he basically plays himself. He is a very likable actor, and I admire him greatly, but he plays this role with what appears to be very little effort - and I mean that as a compliment - I think he was just born to play characters like this. A great actor with commanding screen presence.Mitchum's blossoming romance with Ann Blythe is managed quite interestingly: both characters are "a little older", so there is no heavy panting; rather, their early love scenes are surprisingly gentle, slightly but pleasantly awkward, and quite tender; Mitchum's first kiss for Ann is on her cheek. A nice change of pace indeed (though I think she is kind of tiny for him).The director made sure to include a handful of clichéd Yankee soldiers: the innocent and comic chef turned warrior, the two buddies, one of whom kind of bullies the other, only to have the other save the life of the first, like a faithful dog, and so on. But they are not too overdone.And I never tire of seeing American soldiers of different rank be able to joke with each other, recognizing each other's innate goodness and patriotism, while still respecting rank. And cheesy as it is, Mitchum's compliments and mentoring of the embattled captain played by Richard Egan are just plain heart-warming and pleasing.A very interesting little film of the "forgotten war", Korea. Don't expect too much, just sit back and enjoy the kind of film they don't make anymore.

dougdoepke Rather dreary Korean War drama where everybody appears to be performing "by the numbers". There's none of the intensity expected of those life-and-death situations that distinguish the era's better war films (Bridges of Toko-Ri; Pork Chop Hill; Retreat, Hell!). The action never really gels, which I suppose is the fault of director Garnett who appears disengaged from what's on screen. It doesn't help that the screenplay also appears stitched together from a host of war movie clichés, few of which stick around long enough to establish themselves—the wives, the ethnic grunts, the lonely orphan. It's like a runner in baseball thinking he has to touch all 100 bases before he can score.Of course, the film does contain one dramatic highlight that caused considerable controversy at the time, but has since proved revealing—the intentional shelling of civilian refugees by American forces. The screenplay tries to soften the impact with North Korean infiltrators holding refugees at gunpoint, but the destruction occurs anyway. Now, that was really a pretty gutsy move on somebody's part since the war was still going on when the movie was released in 1952.Though not publicized at the time, we now know from proved incidents such as No Gun-Ri (There was more than one eye-witness, and the only dispute is over the number killed) that such atrocities did occur on our side as well as the enemy's. And though not included in highschool history texts, there was considerable sympathy for the North from the peasantry of the South because of the landlord-dominated government of the South, many of which had collaborated with hated Japanese occupiers during WWII. As a result, considerable guerilla activity occurred in the South both before and during the war itself. Details such as these cast light on the basic accuracy of the movie's depiction. Ironically, the problem for GI's was the same here as in Vietnam—how to distinguish friendly civilians from the enemy, while too often the solution was to kill them all. But when your own life is on the line, what do you do? That's why Mitchum's Col. Janowski is so torn.Apparently studio honcho Howard Hughes had high hopes for the production since his name appears above the title. And even though the seams from stock footage are pretty obvious, the film is well produced with locations at Fort Carson, Colorado, where the terrain was said to resemble that of Korea. But background and special effects can hardly compensate for the general listlessness of the results or the ill-conceived Ann Blyth role. Nonetheless, the movie does remain memorable for its one revealing episode.

bkoganbing 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.