Eight Iron Men

Can't recall when I've seen a better war picture. I've seen lots of them with more action, as this is mainly a talking picture, but this one features extraordinarily good acting performances from the entire cast. Especially good was Bonar Colleano, who is the central figure in the story. He is the Wise-Guy-From-The-Bronx, a character movie directors and writers liked to insert into their work, and Colleano makes the most of his star turn.

As with all movies reviewed on the website, the plot has been restated by all contributors, but just let me say it seems mainly like a filmed stage play. But the film is not static and the action moves at a brisk pace, if you can imagine this in a movie with basically one set. We get to learn about each platoon member as characters are fleshed out to a remarkable degree, so that we understand what motivates each one.

Noteworthy, apart from Colleano is Lee Marvin, here honing his tough guy credentials, and Nick Dennis with much more of a part than he normally was used to. I thought Barney Phillips, a good actor himself, was miscast as the Captain. He was just too old for the part - if you have been in the service you would spot it right away. Ol' reliable TCM aired this one the other day, and it is very worth watching.

Great acting. A real psychological portrayal of soldiers in WWII. Very honest and unglamorous considering the number of BS WWII mythology films in the '50s. Marvin and Kiley are great along with a bunch of guys (Colucci) that I'd never heard of. The fantasy sequences break up the tense yet tedious, claustrophobic atmosphere. Great B&W cinematography with excellent dramatic CUs. I'm not surprised given the human quality of this war movie that it was part of the Stanley Kramer production company. Save Smalls or eat his piece of cake!!!!!! Lee Marvin was one of the great American actors. What an ensemble in this film. All acting is top notch. the characters are all ones that we know–the ladies man, the stoic, the emotional and passionate one...great!

This is a tense little war drama from Columbia. The production values aren't much, but they really don't have to be. Released in 1952 and directed by Edward Dmytryck, it deals more with the personal than the patriotic. It is a WW2 drama that tried to find an audience during the Korean War. That couldn't have been easy.

It deals with the inter-personal relations between eight war weary GI's stuck up on the line in war torn European town. The lead is an ex-pat New Yorker named Bonar Colleano. He isn't well known in the states, but he was a big star in England during the war. Always playing the wise cracking Yank. His co-lead is Lee Marvin. He plays the squad leader and the glue that keeps these dogfaces together. The cast is rounded out by Arthur Franz, Dick(ie) Moore, and Richar Kiley. None of them big names in 1952, but all of them up to the job.

We find this beat up group jammed in a cellar while one of them is pinned down in a foxhole by a German machine gun. The squad is told they will be pulled off the line and they have to decide if or how they are going to rescue their buddy. Each squad member faces his own moment of truth. Some show bravery, some cowardice, some indecision, and one is just trigger happy and about ready to go over the edge.

I like this movie, but it does have a couple of problems. I mentioned the production values. It's a little set bound - almost like a stage play. Most of the action takes place in the cellar, and the exteriors are stock WW2 war torn European street. The dialogue does get a little corny in spots. But the main problem I have with this movie is the basic premise. I can understand an isolated group of guys, faced with the prospect of being pulled out of combat having mixed emotions about putting themselves back in harm's way to rescue a comrade, but that's the dilemma. How could they, in good conscience, leave him behind? Besides, this is an experienced infantry squad loaded with weapons. How could they not figure out a way to successfully assault a single machine gun nest. Despite these criticisms, the movie holds up well. The characters are human - not cartoons.

It's hard to find, but if you're a war movie buff, keep looking.

At first may seem like a poorly written and acted movie but you must REMEMBER that this movie was made in 1952 and one must use his/her imagination to fill in the missing special effects that we've been forced to endure.

Many movies of the era used the same format but the movie was about individual soldiers and not the war. I'm sure combat veterans would be better suited to comment on the goodness/badness of the film but suspect they would like it.

Maybe Lee Marvin's first starring role? But the character of Sergeant Joe Mooney was carried out thru his career and it is always a pleasure to watch.

A good movie for its time and remains so in my humble opinion.

Plainly based on a play, and like the film version a few years later of 'The Long and the Short and the Tall' an obvious studio set reminiscent of the dug-out in 'Journey's End' provides the confined backdrop to the squabblings of the cast; which director Dmytryk's exaggerated compositions simply emphasise the theatricality of. You can understand the change of title from 'A Sound of Hunting' to the more rugged 'Eight Iron Men'; but anybody lured in by the posters flaunting Mary Castle from the ghastly dream sequences really was in for a big disappointment...!

The rain-soaked exteriors in a bombed-out town anticipate the later scenes in 'Saving Private Ryan' (which after the famous opening sequence also became very talky), and the cast, while then short on star power (Kiley & Marvin made it big later, the former on Broadway) is an interesting one to connoisseurs of old movies.