Hell's Horizon

I am not the most politically correct person out there, but sometimes you certainly can understand folks being upset at a film. Take "Hell's Horizon", a movie set in the Korean War. The female lead (Marla English) is supposed to be Korean....but she seems about as Korean as a Taco Bell! She's obviously a Caucasian and they made no attempt to get her to look or sound Asian. The same can be said about some of the other 'Koreans'...folks who, in some cases, have painted kin and black wigs! The result of which is just stupid....as well as offensive...but mostly stupid.

So is the movie worth seeing despite all this foolishness? Not especially. The first portion of the film is particularly hard to get past....as the 'soldiers' seemed about as professional as the Three Stooges and it was hard to believe these were America's finest! Terrible writing is the problem with all this. And, sadly, the stupid dialog simply continues until this dopey film reaches the end. The folks who fought in this war deserved better than this drivel.

The Korean War had only one good film in its entirety: The Manchurian Candidate, and 95% of that film has no combat action. The editing in this film borders on the horrendous, as only the characterizations, and the mighty effort of the very talented lead actor save the film.

Another major drawback is using an obviously Caucasian woman and child as Okinawans, when there were plenty of competent Asian actresses and kids who could have easily played those roles.

Other than the editing and casting errors, the film holds up pretty well for the combat sequences, even though they are footage pieces. The romance and Dear John sequences are believable to a lesser degree. The problem with Korean War films is that they are all destined to lose, just like the Vietnam films, but the Vietnam films like Apocalypse Now, and Platoon, as well as Go Tell the Spartans, were all much better produced, as losing can be much more dramatic than winning at times.

This time it is the poster that is a bit misleading - it suggests a sultriness that is completely lacking from this documentary style tale of an American bombing crew during the Korean War. John Ireland leads the cast as the rather obnoxious "Capt. Merrill" tasked with a mission to destroy a crucial bridge over a river. The film depicts their efforts and their more perilous and suspenseful return journey with fuel gushing from an hole in the wing. Marla English ("Sami") provides what little glamour this dryly produced wartime drama allows, and though it does feature some interesting actuality footage, this film is all a bit on the flat side with little to distinguish it.

The B-29 Superfortress bomber was essentially obsolete by the time frame (1953) of this film. It was a propeller-driven strategic bomber designed for World War II, however the jet age of the late 1940s and the jet fighters developed after the war made the plane vulnerable. The losses the USAF suffered in 1950 of B-29s on day bombing missions over North Korea to the Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter flown by the North Korean Air Force (using Soviet pilots) forced the USAF to switch to night bombing missions. After the 1953 Korean armistice, the USAF switched rapidly to jet bombers such as the B-47 and B-52. The older World War II propeller-driven bombers were phased out.

This film is one of a few films that shows a daylight bombing mission over North Korea and the plane is attacked by jet fighters. The ensuing drama of the plane getting back to Kadena Air Base (where the B-29s were stationed, unmentioned in the film) is what makes this a good war film that is worth watching. The other secondary elements of the film are watchable, but not notable.

This is not just a B-feature with second rate actors making the best of a dreary story about bombing in bad weather and meeting with disaster, but actually a very interesting drama with many significant ingredients. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is the music, as this film introduced Chet Baker, and he plays the trumpet quite a lot in the beginning. John Ireland makes a good job as the "true grit" captain, and all the other actors are excellent as well. This group of fliers are stationed on Okinawa in 1952 and having a dull time, when they get the assignment of bombing a strategic bridge in North Korea, because this is the Korea war. The mission is carried out with looming complications and some unnecessary risk-taking, and there are casualties. So there is a significant tragic element as well. But it's a first class drama, although generally brushed aside and neglected as second rate, but it will hold a position on par with the two John Wayne aircraft disaster films some years earler, but it's Chet Baker and that trumpeter that you will remember.