Film Review: Castle Keep, 1969

I usually like Burt Lancaster. And I also like Peter Falk. Well, as Columbo, at any rate. But here, together, they don't add up to more than the sum. Lancaster is much better playing it straight, as he does in The Train. Here, there's a dated late-60s/early-70s weirdo vibe. It's almost surreal, possibly even psychedelic.

Lancaster as Maj. Falconer.

Avec his ragtag band of ne'erdowells.

They say war is mad. Certainly it is here. But it doesn't feel at all a realistic kind of madness. Rather it's very affected, and self-conscious. Lancaster's eye-patch wearing commander character seems like some pseudo-mystic, and his troops an ill-assorted rag-tag of ne'erdowells. Not one character in the film seems real, let alone engaging. 

Pvt. Benjamin.

Those good ol' lobby cards.

At first it looks like the core group's arrival at a chateaux full of art treasures, somewhere (one assumes) in post D-Day France, or perhaps Belgium, is a ticket to easy-street. But no, it all goes gung-ho, ending in an orgy of destruction and violence that left me rather nonplussed. In many ways I was just glad the mostly very unappealing characters were getting killed off. I only felt sorry for the faceless 'krauts', the building, the art, and (to a lesser degree) the hapless aristocrat who lived there.

The Hun arrives.

Prepare to repel boarders.

Doubtless this bizarre film could furnish the fuel for many a lengthy PhD thesis, on the value of art, or the madness of war. And those areas of intellectual inquiry are doubtless worth pursuing. But as a film? Sorry, no: it's pretentious rather than clever, showy rather than substantial.

Falk as Sgt. Rossi.

Bruce Dern, in wild-eyed mode, as Lt. Bix.

The appalling modern DVD cover.

Film Review: Hamburger Hill, 1987

May '69, the 101st Airborne, or 'Screaming Eagles', are ordered to take Hill 937, a heavily fortified North Vietnamese strongpoint. Repeated assaults ensue and, due to heavy U.S. losses, the battle acquires the nickname Hamburger Hill.

This portrayal of those events is, like most American 'Nam movies, told pretty much entirely from the U.S. perspective. The disparity of means at the disposal of the engaging forces is depicted accurately, in that the Americans, if they don't always outnumber, certainly outgun their adversaries, calling in artillery and air support their foe simply don't have.

Dylan McDermott as Sgt. Frantz.

In some ways this is just another typical 'Nam movie; just like the Asian cookery of the region, certain key ingredients are esssential: most of the actors are perhaps rather too good looking to be entirely plausible, there's the ubiquitous war-weary male combat banter, and the movie as a whole straddles that paradoxical divide between a homage to 'our brave boys', and a condemnation of the wasteful brutality of war.

The core of the film shares a common theme with many contemporary war films, and real combat (from what I've read), in which soldiers ultimately fight for themselves and the men close to them - stay alive, stay together - rather than for any ideology. The themes of bonding and loss under extreme conditions are certainly major components of this film.

Courtney Vance as 'Doc' Johnson (right). [1]

Other prominent and interesting sub-themes are: ongoing issues of racial tension, a growing awareness of the anti-war movement 'back home', and doubt in the soldiers minds over why the battle/war is being fought at all. Where Hamburger Hill differentiates itself most noticeably from some other similar genre pieces is in its tight focus on a small ensemble of soldiers - 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon - fighting one particular ten day battle.

Ultimately it's the characters and the actors portraying them that make or break a film like this. The film's central character, Sgt. Frantz (Dylan McDermott), is good in this respect, as is Sgt. Worcester (Steve Weber), his war-weary immediate superior. The cast of largely less than familiar faces acquit themselves well; underneath all the macho army banter lurk real human beings. Courtney Vance deserves special mention for his charismatic portrayal of medic 'Doc' Johnson. These guys are believable enough that one really does feel engaged in their story.

The ensemble cast.

A second viewing confirms that it's this ensemble quality, and the above average quality of the dialogue, that lift this film above the purely workmanlike. Yes, a lot of the macho banter sounds clichéd - and in many ways it is - but that's a part of the reality of the tribalism that develops amongst fiercely competing all male groups. But there's also some subtler stuff in there to. The other thing that struck me powerfully on second viewing is the insane sacrifices demanded of the 'grunts'.

An impressive CGI-free production, in which terrain and weather play notable roles, Hamburger Hill sits between the old school epics, in which the violence of war is suggested more than depicted, and the more recent trend towards splat-fests. Whilst there's a lot of mud and blood, it's only occasionally punctuated with a smattering - or should that be a splattering? - of more shockingly visceral moments.

Enjoying behind the lines comforts.

Less self-consciously aestheticised or (pseudo?) philosophical than The Thin Red Line, and completely eschewing the over-hyped psychedelic rock-opera stylings of Apocalypse Now, Hamburger Hill is correspondingly that much more realistic. Not an instant classic, but a powerful grower, and more than just good solid fare for the war movie junkie.

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NOTES:

[1] I sometimes wondered if the racial elements might have contributed to some of the ideas in Tropic Thunder.

Film Review: Battle of Neretva, 1969

It's great that nowadays we can now get hold of films from Eastern Europe and what was once 'behind the iron curtain' pretty easily. I recently enjoyed the five film Russian epic, Liberation, and I also have the legendary Come & See in my pending pile.

Battle of Neretva is a multinational effort, released in 1969, about Yugoslav partisans under Tito, and follows the fate of these Communist guerrillas as they fight the Germans and their various allies, who include Italians and Chetniks.

There's a great scene near the beginning of the film showing numerous italian troop types disembarking from a train.

In some ways this film suffers from propagandistic oversimplification, markedly more so than the Soviet Liberation series. And yet it also shows both sides, sometimes even with a degree of equanimity. It certainly doesn't baulk at depicting the horrors of war, and inhumane acts are committed by both sides.

Orson Welles as the Chetnik Senator.

And in showing the Chetniks - lead by Orson Welles! - it reflects the ethnic and political divisions within a country that was made up of many nationalities, and was being fought over by even more nationalities, some indigenous, some not. The Chetnik army is mainly tribal cavalry, which is interesting to see.

Despite the poor transfer quality (from video!) [1], some pretty wooden acting, a soundtrack that - despite the film thankfully being subtitled [2] - has the feel of being dubbed, being rather long (and feeling it), and not being particularly smoothly constructed, in narrative terms, Battle of Neretva still has much to recommend it.

Yul Brynner, as engineer Ivan Vlado, and Lozje Rozman (also an Ivan!) [3].

For starters there are a number of decent actors, some familiar to us (from the world famous Orson Welles and Yul Brinner, to what might be called the WWII famous, such as Curd Jurgens and Hardy Kruger), some not. Then there's the epic scale of it. And finally there's the story it tells, of a very multinational conflict in a theatre of war generally ignored in the Western movie tradition.

It's out of this latter aspect that the best aspects of the film derive: some of the mountainous landscapes, with patches of forest and ancient towns and villages, are really amazing, and much of the fighting occurs in daunting terrain, or appalling weather. There's lots of snow and mud!

Milena Dravic, as partisan comrade Nada.

The real McCoy... scary!

Women are active participants, which is interesting, as is the theme of the partisans looking after their wounded, including the 'typhus people'. Typhus sufferers are portrayed almost as one imagines medieval plague sufferers were viewed, as 'holy madmen', particularly in the character of Bosko. Aspects of the folkloric parts of the indigenous cultures - folksongs, costumes and dances - are also included, which is also interesting. 

The uniforms and equipment are as diverse as the mixed ethnicities. Some will be annoyed by the use of Russian (and even American!) tanks as German - there a few tanks disguised (fairly poorly) as Tiger I's. But on the other hand, in terms of small-arms and artillery, it's quite impressive. The frequent use of Axis MG34/42 type guns in a mobile hand-held Rambo-like manner is quite something!

A German Sherman!

A German T-34!

Not sure if the car is genuine Axis/German materiél. But at least they tried to disguise some of the T-34s as Tiger Is. 'Tis only a pity they didn't do more in that line.

The combat scenes are spectacular. No expense was flared, and large amounts of Russian armour and other vehicles were used. Many of the battles are odd in one way or another, for example with individuals duelling over long distances. But they are, for the most part, large in scale, pretty (sometimes very) exciting, and generally quite impressive, if not always entirely credible. There are also several non-combat set-pieces that are pretty stunning.

So, all things considered, a very mixed bag. Hopefully one day we'll see a better version, in terms of image and soundtrack quality. But it's an interesting film about an interesting and less well-known (to us) part of WWII. 

Definitely worth checking out.

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NOTES:

[1] When the DVD arrived I initially thought it might be a pirated copy, as the images of the stars - even those used in the cover montage image, but especially those that comprise the trio of 'portraits' atop the cover - looked grainy, as if they'd been photocopied! 

[2] As with most Eastern Bloc/Eastern European subtitled films I've seen thus far, the subtitles aren't brilliantly done. They are, however, at least a lot crisper (and thus easier to read) than the film image itself!

[3] Slovenian actor Lojze appears on the right of the three cover portraits; under his picture German actor Hardy Krüger's name is given!