The Bold and the Brave

Set in a unit of the U.S. infantry during the Italian campaign of 1944, this focuses on three soldiers. Fairchild (Wendell Corey) whom in civilian life had got by doing very little after marrying a rich woman, further doubts himself after failing to kill an enemy sniper. He is saved by his sergeant, known as Preacher (Don Taylor) a puritanical bigot whose upbringing has left him with all sorts of hang-ups with the notable exception of "Thou shalt not kill". Extrovert Willie Dooley (Mickey Rooney) is a compulsive and successful gambler, obsessed with winning as much as he can to set himself and his family up in the restaurant business after the war.

This is a mostly gripping film which succeeds in portraying the heroism, courage and spirit of self-sacrifice demanded of soldiers in battle without glorifying war. The leading actors are all good with Rooney's fast-talking ebullient character particularly memorable; his marathon crap game provides the film's funniest moments. Nicole Maurey gives a sensitive performance as a beautiful Italian girl with whom Preacher falls in love, prior to callously dumping her on learning she's previously been with other men for money to survive. Perhaps best of all is Wendell Corey, one of those actors who could create believable characters with hidden depths, while apparently doing very little, who brings a quiet integrity to the part of Fairchild. It's all introduced with a rousing march, to which Mickey Rooney supplied the lyrics.

This low-budget, old-fashioned film, set in Italy during World War II, is probably best remembered for Mickey Rooney's Oscar-nominated performance in a supporting role. And he does steal the show as Dooley, the fast-talking soldier with a dream. But the primary plot revolves around Wendell Corey and Don Taylor's roles as soldiers with very different approaches to war, and life. Corey and Taylor also do fine work, if less flamboyant than Mickey's. The film is extremely well-plotted, in a way that's very rare in today's movies, and the screenplay also was Oscar-nominated. It's a thoughtful piece with something to say about human character. The film has basically disappeared from view. It never appears on TV, and is very hard to find anywhere. But if you come across it, it's well worth viewing.

Mickey Rooney received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in this movie which presents a small group of American soldiers in Italy in 1944.

Three types of soldiers are presented here, based on their reactions to their first encounter with the German enemy while in Italy.

Rooney is the energetic and a happy go-with-the-punches soldier.

Wendell Corey is a fairly well balanced soldier but is unable to kill the enemy when he is faced with the possibility.

Don Taylor is a superman in battle situations but has trouble when faced with normal human spiritual matters, no doubt stunted by his upbringing.

Nicole Maurey is a local Italian prostitute, forced to sell herself for survival.

I hadn't seen this since childhood; the moving climax stuck in my mind long after the ballad sung over the credits faded from memory. The crap game is somewhat replicated a few years later in the memorable Mickey Rooney-starring episode of COMBAT!: "Silver Service". Mickey brings the same self-effacing, self-sacrificing ebullience to the role of Harry White as he does to Dooley in The BOLD AND THE BRAVE... Louis Morgan says, on his blog: ''Mickey Rooney is an actor who is commonly derided by modern viewers for his Rooney mannerisms, and tendency to overact his parts. I must personally I have no animosity toward Rooney. Firstly he showed in The Human Comedy he is capable of giving a moving performance, secondly I personally never had a problem with his Rooneyisms. This is not to say that I do not understand people who do hold this animosity, Rooney certainly is an actor that if he rubs you the wrong way he probably really rubs you the wrong way. He simply does not annoy me in that way, although it most certainly is true that his performances tend to be better when they are further away from a typical Rooney performance than closer.''

Highest recommendation!

This is a pure drama for me, not a war feature. War is only used as a kind of setting, nothing more. It is a character study, behavior analysis, psycholigical surgery, very interesting to watch. Lewis Foster gives here is only "war" film, him who is rather specialized in adventure movies. It is rare and emerged only ten years ago on the market; before that it slept in some vault.... Good performances though Wendell Corey seems to be too old for the role. But it is not new in war films; see for instance the Duke in war films. It is nearly laughable. This film can be seen as a topic about different things including bravery, the definition of bravery. For me, some one is brave when he is at first scared and finally wins over his scare, his fright. Some one suicidal, or some one who ignores fear, is not brave. No. But that's only my opinion. And it's surprising to see those two parts in the film, the first where Don taylor's character seem to be ankward, the dude whom his pals "help" him finding a gal, to summarize, the poor good guy. And in the second part of the film, the war part, forget this Don Taylor's good guy, focus instead on Wendell Corey's one, who in the first part, was shown as a bit coward yes, but also the not so sympathetic guy who laughed at his commanding officer who fell in love with the prostitute. It's very unusual in a film to see characters places changing so rapidly during the story; one takes the place of the other.