Hell Is for Heroes (1962)

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I won't add many things to the other users have already said. Just here, Steve mc Queen had - SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS - a death very similar to the one he will have several years later in THE SAND PEEBLES, where, at the end, he is shot in the back whilst he runs to get covered under the enemy fire. He is shot, he falls down and his face looks surprised. Except that in this film, he is not quite dead and has still the strength to get up, take the grenade or explosive purse and throw himself into the German blockhaus to get exploded with the enemy.

Autumn, 1944: A small, yet determined group of American soldiers are forced to hold back a bunch of Nazis all by themselves on the German Siegfried line. Adroitly directed in customary mean'n'lean economical fashion by Don Siegel, with a gritty, realistic, and bitterly cynical tone, a taut and hard-hitting script by Richard Carr and Robert Pirosh, exciting (and harrowing) combat action, crisp black and white cinematography by Harold Lipstein, a refreshing dearth of both pretense and sentiment, and startling moments of brutal violence, this powerful little gut punch of a picture even comes complete with a strong central statement on the intrinsic futility and wastefulness of war (the ferocious climactic battle set piece in particular leaves the soul-crushing overall impression that it was all for nothing). The uniformly fine acting from the tip-top cast keeps this movie on track: Steve McQueen excels as austere and rebellious loner Reese, Fess Parker delivers a sound performance as the sturdy and resolute Sergeant Pike, and Bob Newhart in his film debut provides some amusing comic relief as the bumbling Private Driscoll, plus there are spot-on contributions from Harry Guardino as the no-nonsense Sergeant Larkin, James Coburn as the easygoing and resourceful Henshaw, Bobby Darin as amiable and irreverent hustler Corby, Nick Adams as endearingly goofy Polish refugee Homer Janeczek, and Mike Kellin as the tough Kolinsky. Well worth seeing.

OK. Everyone is different. We all like stuff that others may cringe at, like, agree on etc. So this is what I liked, didn't thought of etc. For me this film was not the best. The film was gritty in appearance, black & white, which really, I thought, was a great creative decision to make to shoot it that way. It added a lot to the feel/atmosphere to the film.The characters were good, and I felt worked well developing the story but a kinda formula that's repeated a lot in early films of this genre. A usual mixture of characters, ranging from funny, then a fall guy, the only me guy, the serious guy the troubled guy (McQueen)The environment, budget film? $2,500,000 (estimated) shot in the states so the terrain the film was played out in just wasn't war torn European enough for me, although the tank traps on the German side look convincing! McQueen. Held the whole thing together. Great performance with the underlying possibility that he could explode any second. Love him in this film.Action sequences were pretty good actually. Well done. Worth watching? Yes. Maybe a 2nd look. BUT See the film make up your own mind. ;^)

This keen little B movie must have packed quite a punch back in the early 60s, but in the wake of the likes of Saving Private Ryan it looks a lot tamer than it must have done back then. An intense and moody Steve McQueen (both on and off screen, apparently) is Reese, a maverick soldier assigned to a small group of soldiers landed with the unenviable task of defending a hill against a platoon (or troop or squad or battalion – more than the 6 men the Yanks had, anyway) of Germans during WWII. The soldiers employ a number of 'Home Alone' style tactics in order to fool Jerry into believing they number in the hundreds before finally mounting an attack on a seemingly impenetrable pill box, the residents of which are systematically gunning our heroes down.Hell is for Heroes follows many of the genre stereotypes, a fact which weakens its overall impact simply because it's all a bit too familiar. You have the surly loner (McQueen), the wily gopher (Bobby Darin), the stoic leader (Fess Parker), the ever-so-slightly remote but highly intelligent soldier (James Coburn), the enthusiastic partisan (Nick Adams) etc. These all interact in pretty much the way you'd expect, and because the story has to find room for two comic characters (Darin and stand-up comic Bob Newhart as a nervous typist who strays into the battle arena) the film has a fairly uneven tone. This ensemble approach means the character of Reese - ostensibly the lead - is too often sidelined so that others get their moment on screen, and we learn little about him other than the fact that he's a moody bugger.Having said that, the film contains some undeniably powerful moments. Not only the climactic scene, an accident of financial shortcomings which has subsequently earned the film an apparent cult status, but also the death scene of Private Kolinsky (Mike Kellin), filmed from above and screaming with a terrifying intensity while claustrophobically surrounded by his comrades as he's stretchered to safety. It's concise, anti-war scenes like these – and not the misguided comic moments – that give the film its impact and give it the right to lay some claim to the status it has received.