From its rowdy , ribald horse play , to its rousing marching song from its hard-boiled hates and slugging feuds to its tough-but-tender love story , this is a drama of our times , exciting , exalting , young , brave , and alive .The film begins in Korea , May 1951 during the bloody War . Later on , 1953 Fort Bliss , hard-nosed Sgt Thorne Ryan (Richard Widmark) is rewarded for heroics in Korea by a return to Fort Bliss , Texas , where he takes batch after batch of soldiers and recruits who wear the shoulder patch of the 4th Army - a white four-leaf clover on a red diamond . Along the way his fellow instructor, and good friend Sgt Holt helps him to vanquish the past's ghosts . There two previous Korean War combat veterans Sgt. Laverne Holt (Karl Malden) and Sgt. Thorne Ryan work as drill sergeants and both of them meet a lady who begins to turn his life around ; things go wrong when they fall in-love for the same woman (gorgeous Elaine Stewart) . Gripes ! Gags ! Girls ! Guts ! Guys !
This is a mild , acceptable war movie in which there's never any questioning of the righteousness of America's fighting men as a force for good . The training of the group of recruits is particularly hard and the dialogue drill sergeant is presumably ripped from experiences of actual trainer sergeants in all its crude service . Compared to the likes of ¨Full Metal jacket¨by Stanley Kubrick it is all rather simple and light . Nice acting by Richard Widwark who specialised in taking authoritarian types and giving more light and shade than the screenplay sometimes allowed . As we're meant to feel his frustration seeping into his sometimes harash approach to the recruits through training , while utterly appreciating that he is the expert man for the job , as well as he has to face the ghosts of his past experiences in Korea. Support cast is pretty well such as : Russ Tamblyn , Carleton Carpenter , Russ Tamblyn , Jerome Courtland . And brief appearances from : Steve Forrest , Robert Arthur , Acquanetta , Don Haggerty and James MacArthur .
It packs an evocative ad sensitive musical score by classy composer Dimitri Tiomkin. As well as colorful and glimmering Cinematography by John Alton, being shot on location in El Paso, Texas, and Fort Bliss, Texas, USA .Well directed in professional style by Richard Brooks and screen-played by Millard Kaufman , based on his story . Brooks' liberal sympathies extend to making the most literate of the latest intake a Blackman . Richard Brooks was a fine writer/director so consistently mixed the good and average which it became impossible to know that to expect from him next . Firstly he worked regularly as a Hollywood screenwriter . After that , his initial experience of directing was one of his own screenplays called ¨Crisis¨. The Richard Brooks films that have the greatest impact are realized during the 50s and 60s as ¨Cat on a hot tin roof¨, ¨Something of value¨ , ¨Elmer Gantry¨, ¨Sweet bird of youth¨, ¨In cold blood¨ , ¨Lord Jim¨. Brooks was a writer and director of Chekhovian depth , who mastered the use of understatement, anticlimax and implied emotion . His films enjoyed lasting appeal and tended to be more serious than the usual mainstream productions . Richard directed also good Westerns as the titled ¨The professionals ¨ with various tough stars as Burt Lancaster , Lee Marvin , Jack Palance , Robert Ryan and ¨Bite the bullet¨ . ¨Take the high ground¨ is an authentic must see , not to be missed for buffs of the warlike genre . An acceptable movie , hardly noticed for its theatrical release ; however , being nowadays very well considered . Rating : Decent , and passable film , because of its awesome acting , dialog , score are world class.
