THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES: #74. Pork Chop Hill (195

 

“Pork Chop Hill” is arguably the most famous and best movie about the Korean War. It was directed by Lewis Milestone of “All Quiet…” fame.  PCH was his last war movie. It was released in 1959. The screenplay is based on the nonfiction book by the famous war author S.L.A. Marshall (SLAM). Marshall sold the rights to the book for a very low amount, which he regretted.  Joe Clemons (Gregory Peck’s character) acted as technical adviser on the film. Clemons was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for the battle. The movie is populated by many familiar actors from the 1960s and includes a small role by Barry McGuire of future “Eve of Destruction” one hit wonder fame.  George Shibata (Lt. Ohashi) was the first Asian-American to graduate from West Point.  He was a classmate of Clemons who ran into him in a drug store in California and convinced him to try for the role.  Peck directed several scenes but was uncredited.  Milestone was not thrilled. Peck and Milestone clashed over his character.  The director wanted Clemons to be more insecure.  Peck wanted him to be a traditional Hollywood hero.  The conflict was ironic because Peck chose Milestone based on “All Quiet…”  It is not known what Clemons himself felt about how Milestone wanted him portrayed.  Milestone wanted more intercutting with the peace talks, but those were edited out. Milestone claimed 20 minutes were cut because Peck’s wife felt he was appearing on screen too late.  The shoot was scheduled for 40 days, but took only 15.

SUMMARY:  It is 1953 and peace talks are continuing at Panmunjom.  The fighting continues as both sides jockey for position come the armistice.  Both sides know the armistice will freeze the front line where it is at the time.  In the battalion command bunker, Lt. Clemons (Peck) gets orders to prepare his King Company for an assault on Pork Chop Hill. It has recently been lost to a Communist attack and the powers that be want it retaken. It will be his first command.  Clemons’ men are understandably fixated on the peace talks. They are all anticipating the imminent armistice.  Now they get this lousy assignment. Why is it always them to get the crap details?  The plan is to make a two platoon frontal assault up the hill in the dark with the third platoon held in reserve. Standard tactics. Clemons is assured that the preliminary artillery barrage will destroy all the concertina wire barriers. He’s also told he will be supported on his right flank by Love Company. Piece of cake! It may be easy as pie, but is it worth it? Clemons tells his skeptical executive officer Ohashi (George Shibata) that Pork Chop Hill is “a chip in the game at the peace talks. We have to convince [the Commies] we’re not going to give up any more chips.” That’s a pretty accurate analysis of the politics of it. In another piece of refreshing truth, Clemons comments that the Chicoms are good soldiers, especially at night. (That line would not have been used in “The Steel Helmet” which was made during the war.) The enemy is not demonized in this movie.

          The assault is classic American bullheadedness. In line with bayonets fixed. The deaths are random. The terrain is like no man’s land. The soldier chatter is terse. The Chinese Tokyo Rose taunts King Company by name, welcomes them to “the meat grinder", and plays taps. The men begin to wonder how tasty that piece of cake is going to be.    

ACTING:                      A

ACTION:                      A   9/10 (quantity)

ACCURACY:               A

PLOT:                           B

REALISM:                   B

CINEMATOGRAPHY:      B

SCORE:                        C

 

BEST SCENE:  the final battle

BEST QUOTE:    When someone asks if the new Lieutenant knows anything, one of the men says:  “Probably just enough to bury you according to regualtions.”  

HISTORICAL ACCURACY: The movie could have used more background, complete with maps. The action portrayed in the movie took place after the fall of a more strategic hill called Old Baldy. That loss left Pork Chop Hill sticking out like a sore thumb in front of the main line of resistance and dominated by higher hills. This information would have been cogent to the plot because attempting to hold PCH was strategically and tactically unsound. The defense was purely to make up for the loss of Old Baldy and avoid another propaganda debacle. This makes the final post script ridiculous.  “Millions live in freedom today because of what they did.”

         The pre-battle situation and plan are accurately depicted. The attack itself is pretty close to the real deal which is to be expected given Clemons’ involvement as the technical advisor. They did cross the barbed wire on soldiers’ bodies. However, they were not under fire until they reached the trenches unlike in the movie. The discovery of survivors in a bunker and the subsequent short round did happen. The arrival of Love with only a dozen men and the later arrival of George led by Clemons’ brother-in-law are authentic. The withdrawal of George is correctly represented as brainless, but the movie does not make it clear that part of the fault was Clemons not mentioning the shortage of men when he begged for resupply.

        There were many more grenades thrown by both sides than shown in the movie and the artillery was also short-changed. This battle involved more artillery fire by our side than almost any American battle in history. It was almost continuous through the two days. Speaking of weapons, the movie is outstanding in that respect. Even the Chinese are using appropriate weapons. The movie does a poor job of portraying the incredible exhaustion of the men. In fact, this plus the lack of water meant that before the final enemy assault the Americans did not talk due to parched throats. Hollywood could not abide with that!

         The final scene is problematical. There was no dramatic rescue of King. The surviving seven were withdrawn before it happened. It was mainly Fox Company members that were laid siege to in the bunker. I found no evidence that a flame thrower was trying to cook them. You can’t fault Hollywood too much for this one. Simplification for dramatic effect.

         Overall, you are not going to get a more accurate view of the trench type warfare that dominated the last year of the Korean War.  Specifically, it is as accurate a depiction of one of the most famous battles of the Korean War as you could ask for.

 
CRITIQUE: “Pork Chop Hill” has been described as the best Korean War B-Movie. That’s not as impressive as it sounds considering the quality of those other Korean War B-Movies. (BTW why are almost all the Korean War movies low budget?) With that said, it is very good for what it is. The acting is solid. Not surprising considering the cast. Peck is Peck. Did he ever make a bad movie? Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, George Peppard, Robert Blake, the great Woody Strode. ‘Nuf said. The cinematography is a crisp black and white. The scenes are shot close. You seldom see more than a few men in the shot. The sound effects are realistic. The sound track is sparse and is not used to set moods. In spots, it reminded me of music from the series “Combat!” The sets are well done for a low budget effort. The dialogue is refreshingly cynical in its commentary on war.

        The movie is clearly anti-war, but dilutes its message with the optimistic coda. It is gritty and authentic in its depiction of the randomness of death in combat. Forstman and Fedderson (George Peppard) are doing a fine impression of Rivera and Friedman (also machine gunners) from Milestone’s "A Walk in the Sun" before Friedman is blown up. The deaths are bloodless, but not old school. Noone signals touchdown as they twirl around and fall. It is not propagandistic or overly patriotic. In fact, the Chinese propaganda broadcaster is not a hissable villain nor is he comical.

         PCH is one of the best company level movies ever made. It is not a small unit dynamics movie ala "Platoon". There is little dysfunctionality other than with Franklin (who is a fictional character). One fault of the movie is because it concentrates on such a small picture that some of the actions defy reality. Why do the Chinese who vastly outnumber the Americans give up so easily at times? It is hard to justify the American success given what we see on the screen.

           The biggest strength of the film is its historical accuracy. It is one of the best movies covering a battle. Considering the war is known as the “Forgotten War”, it is nice that a typical battle gets the featured treatment. It reminds one of “Hamburger Hill” in its battles-can-be-futile theme. It also has a similar take on how command decisions based on political factors can result in unnecessary squandering of lives.

CONCLUSION: “Pork Chop Hill” is one of the most realistic battle films and one of the best small unit movies. Considering when it was made and the budget, it is clearly a classic. It holds up very well and if it had been made with the modern sensibilities that allowed for the realistic violence and language in "Hamburger Hill", it would be superior to that movie. It also deserves credit for representing the “Forgotten War” well.