Pretty Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

"Iron Angel" features a decent cast saddled with a poverty row budget and a low energy script. Seriously, typical episodes of the TV shows "Combat!" and "Rat Patrol" had more oomph, and better props, scenery and photography, and I wished I was watching either of those two shows rather than this movie before it was over.Any chance the movie has to immerse the audience in the characters and their quest in the early scenes start is sandbagged by three completely jarring flashbacks to "party scenes" (featuring strippers and coochie girls) that look like they were subcontracted to Coleman "Beast of Yucca Flats" Francis. They completely blow the mood and just seem to be there to let L.Q. Jones do his "Red Skelton" impression.The movie improves a bit when the soldiers come across an unconscious nurse and her ambulance, but not much, and the rest of movie is just your basic by-the-numbers.I'm sure the audience of the day didn't pay too much attention to "Iron Angel" even while the members were watching in a matinées or in a drive in. It was there, some actors got to pay their rent because of it, and that's about all you can say for it.

First, a note about the rankings. So far, this movie is at about 3/10 from IMDb viewers, even though this is clearly a perfect representation of an average film, an obvious 5/10, which we'll get into later.In fact a plurality of voters rate it 5, but the next highest numbers are those who rated it 1 and 10, and maybe 2, which is clearly voting to change the statistics. I don't blame the 10 voters. They may really like it. It is an okay film, and they probably felt a need to counter what were votes for subversive purposes only. We know that many people on IMDb are in the movie business, or related to current directors, actors, etc, and have interests that aren't fair representations. Maybe someday, this will change. I can prove this, because older films, like this one, get lower rankings from these 1 and 2 voters, and newer movies get too many 9 and 10 rankings. When this is brought up, those voters will come up with obvious lies for the reasons why. Explanations that don't make a bit of sense when one is familiar with the films.So lets be fair to this movie.It's more of a gung ho war film than many people like, but not overly so. It's set in the Korean War, and the Koreans are the enemy. Those people brainwashed by MASH may not like it, but believe it or not, during the Korean War we actually had some Americans who were on our side, even nurses like the one in the film. That may hit some modern day people below the belt. Don't get me wrong. I had fun with the MASH TV series, too, I'm liberal, and anti war, and I won't be a gung ho camp follower. Still, there's a definite line between liberal and outright Treason and Treachory.Jim Davis gets to be the main main here in a five man unit without an officer. They have an objective, and come across the nurse.There aren't any over-dramatizations here. The people act very normal. It probably would have been a better movie if it wasn't for the goofy video of nurses as described by the group's malcontent. I understand why the director did it, but it was a bad call. It looked as silly in the twentieth century as it does today.Other than that, the characters are very believable, except for the final gung ho self sacrifices that result in only two casualties.So the good and bad balance each other out, with nothing spectacular, but nothing horrendous. Aside from the goofy "soft porn nurse" scene, it flows pretty well. 5/10 solid.

In a similar vein as Beach Red, there are flashbacks to time spent partying with women, a not unrealistic activity for the troops to be engaged in. But it doesn't make for a good war movie. Beach Red is somewhat better and it has Rip Torn. There is a much too long flashback scene of a stripper which is quite disturbing. The director's wife/girlfriend maybe. Why those scenes were in there is anybody's guess. One showed that Reb liked his parties and that might explain why he got busted down to a private but that's the closest the flashbacks come to adding to the story.This movie is about a patrol behind enemy lines, looking to knock out an enemy mortar which is cutting a supply road. The story is pretty good, the action is fair, the combat stuff is not so great. I guess none of them ever heard the term 'flank'. It does the job though. There's some humor but nothing you can't live without. Overall the whole movie is quite tepid. It is a rare movie about the Korean War but it's no Pork Chop Hill or Men in War. Well, maybe they aren't that rare. I have seven or so Korean War movies.Anyway, worth a watch. 5/10

This is a low low low budget mid 60's flick that "guest stars" L Q Jones who in my opinion is way overrated to be garnering anything called guest star (the only thing good I've seen him in was the Wild Bunch, he plays a stupid redneck in all the roles I've seen him in intentionally or not). Here are some quotes to this movie to give you an idea of it: "OK night fighter" (Red talking a black soldier), "Those guys are so small how did they get that gun up here?" (LQ Jones looking at the taken machine gun position), "I Wish Somebody Would Tell Those Gooks This Is A Police Action, they think it's war!" Red while getting shot at by the North Korean soldiers. The bright spot to watching low low budget 50's to 70's stuff is the odd stuff you wont see in a traditional studio film. In this case it's Red's flashbacks which are erotic involving soldiers and loose horny women. One flashback has a bunch of stripper's getting wild with a bunch of soldiers and another has a nurse getting intimate inside a public ward with a wounded soldier, in either case I don't think I've ever seen that done on film so Iron Angel is worth catching at least once for the cult movie watchers out there. There is another flashback from LQ that has a Go Go dancer in her 50's with what looks to be a cesarean scare from her navel, the camera stays way too long and close on her! LOL. If I didn't mention much about combat it's because there isn't much! Its available at amazon as part of the Millcreek 50 Movie Pack Combat Classics. I give it a 5 of 10 for not being a total waste of time, probably made in its time as a drive in theater make out flick.UPDATE: I see my review is getting some thumbs down and I am going to guess it's because I said bad things about LQ Jones. I'm sure the stuff he did after the early 70's was decent so my comment about him refers to his 1960's to early 70's work which comprised mostly low budget drive in material.