Review of Pork Chop Hill (1959) by Steve W — 12 Mar 2011

A straight forward war story, that mostly takes place in the trenches. Most of the movie is people getting killed, themes of why they are fighting, and a decent cast.

Gregory Peck shines as the hardnosed commander who must take Pork Chop Hill and motivate his troops, regardless of the war ending soon. He must take on the enemy as well as the slack of his own troops.

There are quite a few good scenes, especially with the demoralizing enemy speaker. He tries to discourage and persuade the American to surrender at every turn, but never to excess.

Gregory Peck was the only reason I watched this film. He hands a nice tough leader type role and performs well. The rest of the cast is too sporadic and similar to give any credit.

A grim and bleak war film, but with very little substance or style to make it stand apart from other war films.