A Masterpiece!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Gregory Peck was a great actor no question. He was a pacifist and believed in gun control. He had that liberty as a result of the military man and woman who gave the ultimate sacrifice

***SPOILERS*** Non stop action war movie that never lets up for a moment as the US Army and Chinese Communists square off on hill 255 also known as Pork Chop Hill in the spring of 1953. With peace or cease fire negotiations going nowhere at Panmujeom the Red Chinese open up a full scale attack, using ear splitting bugles and human wave assaults, on Pork Chop Hill trying to dislodge the US Army company, Company K, that's holding it. With the battered and pot marked, from artillery shelling, hill being of no real strategic significance to either sides it turns out to be a battle of wills between the two side with the Chinese Communists more then willing to sacrifice their men in order to win!With Lt. Joe Celmons', Gregory Peck, company trying to hold off the fanatical and suicidal Red Chinese attacks it's decided by his superiors safely behind the lines not to reinforce him and thus let him and his men, now down from 135 to just 25 men, to twist in the wind with the Red Chinese planning to launch a final do or die attack on his positions at dusk April 17, 1953. Digging in and waiting for the final curtain to fall Let. Clemons feels that he and his men have been deserted or sacrificed for political expediency in the name of "peace" in order to get the stalled cease fire talks re-started! Where at least with the Communist Chinese their losses will be rewarded with taking the hill, Pork Chop Hill, and using it as a bargaining chip in the Panmunjeom cease fire negations!One of he best movies about the Korean War ever made "Pork Chop Hill" shows the frustration that the GI's suffered in fighting in it. Like in the film there was no hope of winning on the part of the US with the war being fought mostly along the 38th Parallel with the front lines moving no more then ten miles on either direction for more then, From May 1951 to July 1953, two years! Gregory Peck who made only two war movies up until then as a Russian guerrilla fighter in "Days of Glory" in 1943 and a US Army Air Force General in "12 O'Clock high" in 1949 fits right in the part as a grunt down in the mud GI in the film who's sense of loyalty to is country made him forget that it was deserting him and his men at their most argent time of need. Happily the ending of the movie like the battle of "Pork Chop Hill" in real life restored Lt. Clemons' faith in his country even though most of the men under his command didn't live long enough to see or realize it! P.S One of the oddest as well as poignant scenes in the film was just before the final assault on the hill by the Red Chinese. That's when their radio propagandist commentator started playing the song "Autumn in New York", this in the spring in Korea, just in order to fry the GI's brains in order to get them to surrender.

For a film made in the 1950s, Pork Chop Hill is incredibly grim in its approach to war. Focusing on a battle late in the Korean War, the movie emphasizes the futility of the fighting, which served no other purpose than to assert American resolve during peace talks.The film's realism is complemented by a good performance from Gregory Peck as an officer in charge of the attack on the insignificant hill. Peck balances just the right amounts of determination and recognition of the futility of what he is doing. It stands alongside Tom Hanks's performance in Saving Private Ryan as one of the greatest performances in a war movie.The film does suffer at the conclusion from the studio's insertion of a patriotic coda, as was typical for the era. Nevertheless, Pork Chop Hill stands as an accomplishment in war movie realism.

This is a very well-written, well-directed, and well-acted movie. The faults are few, but real soldiers can find them. This was a horrific battle, but it would have been deadlier if the real soldiers faced open fire with the poor tactics used in the film.This isn't a pro-war film or an anti-war film, although I can see why the fanatics on both sides would like to claim it. It is an honest depiction of what happened in Korea. Both sides wanted this hill, and both sides were willing to lose great amounts of men to take this hill.Although most people miss it, there was a real reason for this battle, even though it happened right before the ceasefire. Both sides wanted to end the war, but they had not agreed on the terms. Both sides wanted to show that they were willing to continue to fight in order to secure the best peace agreement. Both sides wanted to show that if peace was not accepted on their terms, then the future terms would be worse.Some people say that the Americans won because the North Koreans did sign the peace treaty shortly afterwards. Others say that the North Koreans won because they got better terms than they should have. Either way, the true battle was not over Pork Chop Hill. That was merely where the battle took place. The true battle was to see which side could suffer such huge losses and not back down.Neither side quit. Nothing was gained. Damn fine movie.