War Hunt

In Korea, in May 1953, the rookie G.I. Roy Loomis (Robert Redford) joins the Jaguars in the front. He befriends the soldiers and discovers that the psychotic Private Raymond Endore (John Saxon) sneaks out of the base every night to slice the throats of their enemies with his dagger. Further, the Korean orphan Charlie (Tommy Matsuda) idolizes Endore. When the governments sign the cease-fire, Endore once again leaves the base bringing the boy with him.

The dramatic "War Hunt" is a film with a wonderful cinematography in black and white, excellent acting but the story is only reasonable. The characters are not well-developed specially the psychotic Raymond Endore that is a rich character but the motives for his death wish and his affection for Charlie are poorly explained along the screenplay. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Obsessão de Matar" ("Obsession of Killing")

This character study remains one of the best intimate views of conflict ever filmed, and features Robert Redford's first film appearance. There's also a major appearance by actor Sydney Pollack, before he made is mark as a major director. It's starkly made, grim, and engaging, without any of the jingoism and/or sentimentality applied to most older and recent Hollywood product. The moody score was provided by jazz composer Bud Shank. Nice.

If memory serves, the Sanders brothers came out of the UCLA film program at a time when film schools were still forming and not yet the minor leagues of movie-making. The brothers made their mark with a prize-winning amateur production entitled Time Out of War, about quiet moments during the Civil War. I may be wrong about details, but I believe the thrust is accurate-- I wish IMDb's profile of Terry and Denis were more complete than the meagre data provided.

Anyway, my point is that this was a non-studio production of stark originality at a time when war was still being celebrated by a WWII-besotted studio industry. War Hunt is not exactly an anti-war film on the order of a Paths of Glory or Attack-- after all, Endore's scary psychopath can be shrugged off as a wild exception to the average GI. What the movie does suggest is that a deranged mind like Endore's can prove highly useful in wartime, even get a medal slapped on his chest for the tactical value his obsession with killing provides (on a more strategic scale, consider the intellectual value of the equally deranged Dr.Strangelove).

Because of his battlefield information, Endore is allowed to fight his own war, by his own rules, free from the restrictions placed on normal soldiers, while command looks the other way. In short, Endore's particular form of psychosis finds a home in combat where it not only thrives, but also proves of real instrumental value to the higher-ups. In peacetime, he would get a strait-jacket; in wartime, he gets a commendation. Whether his psychopathic actions also promote a greater good amounts to an unspoken ethical dilemma not taken up by the picture-- and is likely why the script fudges the dilemma by having his obsession threaten the very truce itself. (An unlikely consequence since truces are notoriously slow to take hold, anyway.)

The movie itself is no unmixed triumph. There's no motivation for Loomis' standing up to Endore over the Korean boy, unless we extrapolate some symbolism about youth representing the future and Loomis standing for American idealism. In fact, the film's very last line supports some such surmise. Moreover, John Saxon's Endore is truly frightening-- until he opens his mouth. I don't know whether it's the uninspired lines given him or Saxon's rather pedestrian delivery, but neither measures up to Saxon's coldly menacing presence nor the character's bold concept. Then too, the scene with battalion command fails because no one, including Saxon, has a good grasp of how a unique character like Endore should handle it. (And on a more minor note: How could he possibly get through Basic Training since he doesn't just resist authority, he can't even comprehend it!-- as the battalion command scene shows.)

On the plus side stands Redford's nicely understated Loomis, whose character wisely resists heroic proportions. Charles Aidman too, comes across intelligently as a weary and beleaguered company commander willing to bend the rules for tactical advantage. At the same time, as others point out, the photography is appropriately grainy and gritty, blending well with the occasional stock footage. But most of all, there remains that frighteningly eerie glimpse of Endore's demonic little dance around his latest slashed throat. What mysterious god of madness is he invoking somewhere inside that dark pool that is his psyche. And what strange secrets has he imparted to the boy to carry into the future. I've seen nothing like this peculiar ritual before or since, and it is truly more unsettling than the gallons of fake blood spilled by contemporary horror-fests.

Judging from the Sanders' profile, it looks like their careers petered out on television. What a disappointment after such a promising beginning. There must be some inside story here that I wish I knew. Be that as it may, War Hunt remains truly one-of-a-kind, a really scary glimpse of a mysteriously psychotic figure freed up by the dogs of war.

... starring Robert Redford as a new soldier stationed on the front during the Korean War, circa 1953. He tries to fit in with the seasoned troops he's serving with, but one soldier (John Saxon) is an enigma, an uncommunicative loner who goes out on solo missions at night to assassinate as many enemies as he can. Sure, Saxon brings back some valuable intel, but it is obvious from his dispassionate explanation of his technique to a green Robert Redford that he enjoys killing, especially this up close and personal one-on-one killing he is doing. Saxon is good in this role. He always had "that look" about him.

This low budget effort focuses more on the mental toll wars takes than action scenes. The acting is decent, while the limited budget results in claustrophobic settings. Redford gets an "introducing" credit, although he was in Tall Story in 1960. Sydney Pollack makes his feature acting debut after acting on television for several years. He'd turn to directing after this. Tom Skerritt makes his acting debut. Francis Ford Coppola worked as a truck driver on the film, and appeared briefly on screen driving a truck.

This film is widely available in the public domain.

This ultra low-budgeted and virtually unknown war/drama movie is probably the most interesting from an "acting" point-of-view. "War Hunt" remarkably – but I suppose coincidentally as well – features the big screen debuts of no less than three names that are nowadays considered hugely famous and acclaimed. Director Sydney Pollack (who sadly passed away earlier this year) and charismatic star Tom Skerritt both appear in small yet memorable roles, while Robert Redford (later star of classics such as "The Sting" and "All The President's Men") debuts in the fairly complex leading role of idealistic soldier in the center of a senseless Korean war zone. And yet, in spite of the more appealing great names, it's unquestionably the still underrated veteran actor John Saxon who steals the show. Even more so, Saxon owns the film and he's genuinely petrifying as the introvert soldier who appears to use the Korean War to give rein to his murderous and psychotic tendencies. When the young and inexperienced private Loomis arrives at the front during the last stage of the Korean War, his fellow soldiers immediately warn him to stay out of the way of Private Endore and his protégé Charlie; a local orphan kid. Endore is a brilliant soldier and of immeasurably value to the American army, but that is mainly because he single-handedly decreases the number of Korean soldiers by deliberately sneaking behind enemy lines at night. Private Loomis protests against this, especially because he wants to protect the young Charlie from his dangerous colleague. The rudimentary plot of "War Hunt" is actually pretty genius, since it's the first and only film – at least, as far as I know – that openly suggests signing up for the army is the ideal method for psychopathic killers to get away with their incontrollable urges and even get honored for them! Private Endore is anti-social, impolite and without manners but his superiors never cease to cover from him because he's such a powerful weapon against the enemy. The atmosphere of "War Hunt" is aptly depressing and dark, with some really brilliant musical choices and bleak photography. Presumably due to the absence of financial means, there's a severe shortage of action scenes and hence you'll have to struggle yourself through a handful of seemingly dull and redundant moments. Still, if it's not necessarily boisterous gunfire and violent battles in the trenches you're searching for, I would definitely recommend "War Hunt", if it were only for John Saxon's stupendous performance. His menacingly painted faced, the desolate star in his eyes and his completely unpredictable and impulsive personality make this one of the greatest performances I've ever seen in a low-keyed war epic.