Pretty Good

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

THE YOUNG LIONS is a war drama about three soldiers in the World War Two, whose stories are overlapping in certain periods of time. The film was based on the 1948 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw. On the eve of the World War Two,an Austrian ski instructor in the Alps meets an American tourist. Flirting is not escalating into something more serious. The tourist is confronted with German nationalism. A famous singer is trying to take the best possible position at the time of recruitment in the US Army. An American Jew, who has started an affair with a young girl, has to face the anti-semitism which, it seems, is not behind the German. The ski instructor joins, as a patriot, German forces in a battle for the occupation of Paris ...Three completely different stories are accidentally connected in the war circumstances. The protagonists who exposed to emotional and physical shocks. The three protagonists, which are faced with bloodshed and inhumane circumstances, exhibit strange moral values and personal rebellion.Marlon Brando as Christian Diestl is the ski instructor and a German lieutenant. He is an idealist, who was disappointed with the war, casualties and a regime at the end. Nazism has destroyed his character. He looks at war with sadness that goes into depression. One human spirit is completely defeated and disappointed. This character evokes sympathy.Montgomery Clift as Noah Ackerman is the young Jew. His character is unusual, sensitive and unclear. Characterization could be better in this case. It is difficult to determine the nature of his character, because he is usually helpless or dazed. However, he shows vague defiance in some scenes. Syndrome of a rebel without a cause is inappropriate in this case.Dean Martin as Michael Whiteacre is a showman, who is in the military against his will. However, he has participated in a great battle in the end. The struggle between conscience and compassion is evident in him.Maximilian Schell as Captain Hardenberg, a vicious Nazi commander, is probably the most compelling character in the film. Female characters in the film are presented as a kind of voice of reason in different circumstances. Hope Lange as Hope Plowman is a very honest character, who is involved in a touching romance at the beginning of the film. Unfortunately, that love dreaming, later, lost its purpose.Although Mr. Dmytryk has elaborated extremely important war themes, through episodic war stories, the overall effect is too lenient for a movie that lasts almost three hours.

The best movies are ones that have a message that cannot be conveyed easily in a few words. Such is The Young Lions. And the core of the message is found in the ending, which I do not want to disclose. But it is a relatively quiet scene that is actually a kick to the solar plexus, intellectually.Yes, Brando delivers the more interesting and even sympathetic performance, once he warms up. But Clift's performance is perhaps finer acting, displaying great emotional vulnerability.The message of this movie was daring for 1958. It treats the enemy - the Germans - with objectivity, compassion and even some sympathy, while being critical of American faults and anti-Semitism. I think it is saying that we are all human, regardless of side, and we are all capable of committing evil acts if put in the wrong situation, up to a point. If your inner character is good and strong, you will not participate, though, as we see with Brando's character, Diestl. This is a message that is as important today as it was half a century ago, if not more so, as we see with atrocities such as those committed by American servicemen in Abu Ghraib prison, acts that we might have seen from Nazis. A key difference is that in America such acts are illegal and punished in courts. Yes, the anti-Semitic root of the harassment of Ackerman in the barracks is implied, rather than spelled out, unlike in the book. Why? Hollywood, which was largely controlled by Jewish moguls at the time, was reluctant to make anti-Semitism an issue, fearing a backlash. (The only movie to tackle anti-Semitism was a Gentleman's Agreement, made in 1947, just before Congressional HUAC hearings on Hollywood, and the blacklisting of writers, actors and directors.) I, for one, being Jewish, don't miss the anti-Semitic expletives. And the movie turns Ackerman into a representative of any American minority in the Army who is harassed but eventually accepted. But what has been largely forgotten is that there once was virulent anti-Semitism in America, and active, organized support for the Nazis in areas such as the Midwest during the 1930s run-up to Pearl Harbor. We're talking pro-Nazi meetings in middle class homes. This is the real subtext of Irwin Shaw's story. However, America was not Nazi Germany, in ideals or actions. And one of the key differences is America's objectivity and ultimate honesty. That is what makes The Young Lions great. I am proud that it treats the Germans objectively. Another movie along these lines is "The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel," made, remarkably, in 1951. What many viewers do not understand is that it was illegal for members of the German military to enlist in the Nazi Party or engage in politics, even during the war. So officers such as Diestl were not Nazis, at least technically. They did swear an oath to support Hitler early on. It was the SS, the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organization, that was the arm of the Nazis. Nevertheless, plenty of regular German soldiers engaged in war crimes. But The Young Lions is saying do not judge each soldier or citizen by the acts of the group or nation. It is as wrong to engage in such prejudice toward Germans as it is against Jews or any group or nationality. The German people, to their credit, have largely faced up to the wrongs of WWII objectively. I think the tradition of intellectual honesty at the heart of Germany and Europe helped. The result is the modern world of reconciliation of former European enemies, something that is at least partially absent in Asia.The movie Stalingrad - 1993 is a stunning, raw German mea culpa that provides additional background for understanding movies such as this and Rommel. Watching The Young Lions lacks the drama and intensity found in many war movies. But it is a story that makes you think, and that lingers in your memory long after the movie is through. That is what gives it greatness. It is a movie more people should watch.

The destiny of three soldiers during World War II. The German officer Christian Diestl approves less and less of the war. Jewish-American Noah Ackerman deals with antisemitism at home and in the army while entertainer Michael Whitacre transforms from playboy to hero.There is not much to say about this film other than the following three things: One, it is a great war epic. War films can be told in shorter forms and longer forms, but I feel like this length (just under three hours) is a fair amount of time to develop characters and show how they have adapted to their changing surroundings (particularly Diestl and Whitacre).Two, it is forgotten. At least, largely forgotten. I am sure film historians and critics know it well, but I have a strong knowledge of film history and criticism, and it is not one I had come across until now (2013). With all the other better-known war films out there i have to wonder how this got lost in the mix...And three, although it was criticized for having a sympathetic Nazi, that should be where the film gets its most praise. Whether we like it or not, not everyone in Germany or who served in the German army was evil to the core. Most were regular citizens who were caught up in the situation. Had America tried to take over Canada or Mexico, they would have had just as many soldiers willingly going along for the ride -- the leaders and policies are to blame, and to show that these were questioned is this film's strongest statement.

This film would be outstanding if only because it brought together three actors whose talent was unimpeachable -- Marlon Brando as the idealistic but ultimately disillusioned German lieutenant, Montgomery Clift as the wimpy but spunky Jewish GI, and Maximilian Schell as the ruthless, professional but not entirely unsympathetic German officer. Brando and Clift were both a bit past their prime, displaying mannerisms that would become habitual, and both were a bit old for their parts. Brando spends most of his time towards the end glowering. And Clift has the Make Up Department pin his ears outward, giving him and his already ruined face an outlandish prospect. But, man, can these boys act! Schell came into his own with superb performances in later, sometimes regrettable films like "Judgment at Nurenberg." But even in small roles, as in "The Freshman," he was a constant delight on the screen.The rest of the cast is up to professional standards. May Britt looks like some kind of Aryan predatory animal. (Yum.) Dean Martin established his acting career with this movie, after his split with Jerry Lewis. He could always be relied upon to play Dean Martin, though never memorably, his talents best suited to light comedy rather than dramatic parts. Here, he's a coward who, after a multitude of tergiversations, finally makes an existential decision prompted by Barbara Rush.There are, almost of necessity, romances involving the three principals -- Brando meets a French girl who despises Germans but comes to sympathize with his increasing despondency. I didn't find Francoise particularly appealing. She seemed to enjoy her exuberant attacks on Brando's character a little too much. And she's groomed a la gamin, petite, girlishly cruel voice, big black eyes with furry lashes, and short, curly black hair. Needs a good spanking if you ask me. Dean Martin does everything possible to avoid the Army and, after that fails, to avoid combat. Barbara Rush is his conscience as well as his main squeeze among what we take to be many.The love story involving Clift and Hope Lange is actually touching and even moving at times. It probably wouldn't be, except that Clift is SO homely, helpless, and needy, and Lange is SO bluntly candid and conventionally beautiful with her long blond hair and ski-slope nose. I felt deeply sympathetic for Clift's character when he accompanies Lange home to Brooklyn by means of a combination of bus, subway, and walking -- and then finds himself lost in the middle of the night. I had an almost identical experience, took her back to the hushed streets of Brooklyn after midnight. It was four hours before I reached my own home, less than 20 miles away in a Newark suburb. And if anyone had told me I'd be acting in two movies with Hope Lange years later, I'd have found it amusing.I wish there had been more combat scenes because the director, Dmytryk, handles them pretty well. I honestly don't think we need the dreary scenes at the concentration camp. They've become an unpleasant cliché. Even worse is when the German mayor of the nearby town objects to the Rabbi holding services for the now-liberated Jewish inmates and is thrown out by the Americans. It's insulting when writers treat the viewers like idiots.At that, though, I have to say the writers have made the characters a little more nuanced that they were in the novel, in which the Brando character was an unrepentant and cold-blooded stereotypical Nazi from beginning to end, as if Irwin Shaw were getting his revenge against the Aryans, right down to the character's name -- Christian.Finally, I don't know how anyone can watch Montgomery Clift in this film without noticing the similarities between his treatment by anti-Semites in basic training and the treatment of Clift's character in "From Here to Eternity."