Review of Hell Is for Heroes (1962) by Tristan M — 28 Feb 2015
A war film is a war film is a war film... except that Siegel, brought into the project at the last moment when Steve McQueen refused to work with the scheduled director, toughened the standard war-is-hell screenplay into an extraordinary study of psychopathology.
He centres everything squarely on the McQueen character (one of his best performances, a human war machine), and emphasises the tensions within the American platoon rather than the conflict with the offscreen Germans.
The ending, which stresses the enormous human cost of a small tactical gain, is remarkably powerful, precisely because it's the first time that Siegel allows his audience any perspective on what they've been seeing.
This review of Hell Is for Heroes (1962) was written by Tristan M on 28 Feb 2015.
Hell Is for Heroes has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
