Sniper's Ridge

An unrelentingly grim and emotional Korean War drama, Sniper's Ridge is a tidy piece of work, well-directed by John Bushelman, it gives a nice sense of how confining war can be; accustomed as moviegoers are to vast beaches and endless jungles, this film paints a more accurate portrait of war, as small, remote and cramped, with men scurrying in and out of ditches and bunkers like rats.

The film is as much as character study as anything else, as it follows the unraveling of an heroic, reluctant and homesick soldier on the last day of the war. There are also parallel stories concerning, among others, a vindictive officer, a compassionate career dog-face, and a sergeant who has lost his nerve. The sergeant is the most interesting and tragic of the bunch, as he was once a genuine hero, for reasons he didn't understand, and is now afraid of being killed, and again doesn't comprehend what's going on. For all this, he remains highly likeable and sympathetic throughout the course of the film.

Jack Ging, as the reluctant hero, is excellent, breathing life into what in lesser hands might have been a thoroughly obnoxious if at times admirable character. Stanley Clements is superb and wholly believable as a two-fisted tough guy. As the sergeant, Douglas Henderson is magnificent, as he plays, with great dignity, a man haunted by ambivalance and fear, yet in whom we sense a fine if wounded individual.

I liked Jack Ging on TV, and it was a thrill to see him doing such a fine job starring in this excellent but forgotten war movie. Set during the Korean War just two days before a scheduled ceasefire to end the conflict, it's an uncompromising story of disillusionment and near-fatalism, unlike the false heroics of the genre.

Ging does heroic things but doesn't approve of same -he's just anxious to go home and be done with the war. But a seemingly evil, but just self-centered captain John Goddard has it out for him, and won't let Ging get the much-deserved trip home, giving him tough assignments instead right up to the end. The movie's tense climax sort of evens things out, but the movie doesn't let up, even then.

An all-male cast emphasizes the movie's unrelenting approach, no time out for romance or comic relief. The ensemble supporting cast, headed up by ex-Bowery Boy Stanley Clements, is quite good and always in character.

It was one of many low-budget co-features released by 20th Century-Fox back in the day but given an unusual black & white CinemaScopr format, but unfortunately it is now preserved in a TV ratio rather than widescreen by YouTube.

Saying that Sniper's Ridge is just a poor man's version of Pork Chop Hill is not to denigrate this film, but merely to point out it's a B film. Sniper's Ridge is the kind of B film that used to fill out the bottom part of a double feature back in the day when they had double features. The sixties was the last decade that happened in.

The two most prominent names in this film are Jack Ging and Stanley Clements a pair of soldiers who are sweating out the final hours before the cease fire is to take effect in Korea. Both give good believable performances as do the rest of the cast. No mock Hollywood heroics here, these are men just trying to stay alive and get home.

If this is ever shown again on television try to catch it.

This is not an Aldrich nor Bill Wellman feature, but a not a crap either. A small scale topic, with few budget but, to compensate, with good characterization, with much psychological tension, far better than classic battle scenes with plenty of explosions and body count. The mine field scene is impressive as usual in this kind of sequence in any war film. Yes this is a pretty interesting little war film though not a masterpiece. There were many of them in the early sixties, indie movies for most of them, not from big studios, fast shot and released in double feature theaters. I think they are all more or less available now.

As the Korean War is down to its last days before the armistice, a captain orders his men on a meaningless and dangerous night time mission. Since the men and the captain all know that the war is going to be over, the mission assignment causes a lot of friction which is displayed in several dramatic confrontations between the members of the platoon and the captain. Shot outdoors in what looks very much like a Southern California canyon, with quite a bit of shouting, and a no-name cast with and a low-budget production, AND an at times questionable script, this film could easily be turned off by a viewer with short patience. This person will, however, miss the final half hour or so, a very solid ending which features a tense situation with a land mine. In the panoply of tough and relentless Korean War movies, this one ranks up there with the other tough and low budget but better known ones.