GUENOT PHILIPPE I won't add many things to the other users have already said. Just here, Steve mc Queen had - SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS - a death very similar to the one he will have several years later in THE SAND PEEBLES, where, at the end, he is shot in the back whilst he runs to get covered under the enemy fire. He is shot, he falls down and his face looks surprised. Except that in this film, he is not quite dead and has still the strength to get up, take the grenade or explosive purse and throw himself into the German blockhaus to get exploded with the enemy.

mrb1980 Lots of WWII films were made during the 1950s and 1960s. There were low-budget films with unknown casts, there were big-budget blockbusters, there were dumb movies with German officers speaking in perfect, clipped English, and there were lots of flag-waving films in which the U.S. Army can do no wrong. Don Siegel's "Hell is for Heroes" isn't like any other WWII movie I've ever seen. It's tough, cynical, realistic, and has a top cast of young Hollywood stars.The plot is about a small U.S. infantry force that must hold out against a much larger, stronger German company in 1944 near the Siegfried Line. Steve McQueen plays Reese, a troubled soldier who nonetheless is a brutally efficient fighting man. Harry Guardino and Fess Parker play his superior officers. Among the fine cast are Mike Kellin, Bob Newhart, Nick Adams, James Coburn, and Bobby Darin.Don Siegel punches the movie across without clichés, and Steve McQueen is chillingly believable as Reese, the killing machine. The only part I didn't like was the subplot about milquetoast clerk Bob Newhart taking a wrong turn and ending up in the middle of the fighting; I thought that little subplot distracted from the film. You should make a point to watch "Hell is for Heroes" to see the late Steve McQueen in a good early-career role, and to see the rest of the powerhouse young cast.

zardoz-13 Actor Steve McQueen plays the least charismatic character of his entire career in the concise, Don Siegel directed, 90-minute World War II movie "Hell Is for Heroes," a first-rate, uncompromising anti-war movie about sacrifice and redemption set on the dangerous Siegfried Line in mid-1944. A woebegone squad of six rugged G.I.s that is overdue for rest and relaxation find themselves stretched perilously thin to defend a front for 48 hours against a numerically superior enemy until reinforcements arrive. Fess Parker, Bobby Darin, James Coburn, Harry Guardino, L.Q. Jones, Nick Adams, and first-time actor Bob Newhart co-star in this grim, realistic, thoroughly convincing but virtually all-male combat thriller. Indeed, there is one woman at the outset who operates a bar. Apart from her, no other females populate this serious, no-nonsense, but heavily ironic yarn. Our heroes must convince the enemy that they are 600 rather than a mere six. The production designers deserve a round of applause for their fabulous job of recreating the Type 10 bunkers of the Limes Programme that cover the enemy front as well as the tank teeth that constituted part of the line.Combat films by 1962 were steadily growing more and more cynical, and "Hell Is for Heroes" contains more examples of raw-edged cynicism than flag-waving, sentimental patriotism.. The wise-cracking G.I.s of World War II era movies were overshadowed here by cantankerous, paranoid soldiers not about looting a church or espousing atheism. Although color films were the standard, Siegel lensed "Hell Is for Heroes" in black and white and the choice is appropriate for the unglamorous subject matter. Like many World War II movies, the focus is on the grubby guys on the battlefront and Steve McQueen's Reese is a perfect example. The unshaven, less-than-fortunate protagonist has wrecked a jeep, basically cracked up, been demoted, but he remains a brave, willing soldier who has a difficult time recognizing, much less accommodating authority whether the authority figure is an enlisted man or an officer. McQueen clashed with BATTLEGROUND scenarist Robert Pirosh, a World War II veteran and later creator of the ABC-TV classic COMBAT!, who had been initially hired to direct. Don Siegel replaced him, but Siegel and McQueen had their share of spats. Reportedly, McQueen sought to enhance the lonely character of his anti-social hero by refusing to fraternize with the cast. Neither McQueen nor Darin were on friendly terms during the production.

Bill Slocum Of all the actioners Steve McQueen ever did, "Hell Is For Heroes" may be the most unpleasant, a grim, tightly-wound tale of GIs abandoned on the Siegfried Line. The only presence more threatening than the German soldiers in the distance is the guy with the grease gun taking point for your side.McQueen is the guy on point, a private named Reese who was a decorated sergeant until he tried to run down an officer with a jeep. Suffice it to say he has a problem with authority: "You wave that finger in my face once more and I'm gonna take your head off," he tells one non-com, eyes bulging.With McQueen delivering the line, you have no problem believing he'll do just that. "Hell Is For Heroes" catches him just as he was taking off as the "King Of Cool," his more sympathetic persona still to come. For the moment, he's all tough guy, someone whose ultimate welfare you might not care too much about but who you come to rely on in the same way his comrades do, however unlikeable they may otherwise find him.Other than McQueen, the film is an eclectic hodgepodge, including no less than three fellow icons, from pop music (Bobby Darin), comedy (Bob Newhart's debut film role), and television (stolid Fess Parker, TV's Davy Crockett and the best-known face in the cast back when the film was released.) James Coburn is also on hand as an agreeable mechanic handy with a flame-thrower; this easily is better than the two more famous films Coburn and McQueen did together. Another major presence is that of director Don Siegel, second to none at delivering "tough-guy cinema". Despite the presence of Newhart, and Darin's comedic turn as a soldier on the make, "Hell Is For Heroes" is every bit as tough as its name implies.It's not really a classic, just a very good war film. Many here liken it to "Saving Private Ryan", and you definitely notice a resemblance. There's even the same use of the term "flake out", which I never heard before "Ryan" and figured was an anachronism until I heard Harry Guardino as a sergeant use it here. Ultimately both are gritty combat flicks in which good guys get killed, sometimes suddenly and senselessly, and the question of whether it was worth it or just plain FUBAR is left hanging in the gunsmoke. I give "Ryan" the edge for its broader scope and characters, but "Hell" is every bit as unflinching for its time in its depiction of combat horror.Unlike "Ryan", the comedy in "Heroes" is rather broad and jarring, occasionally clashing with the rest of the action. Newhart even does one of his telephone routines, though it's integrated cleverly into the plot. Darin's more problematic, wisecracking and eyerolling like a svelte Lou Costello in "Buck Privates". It doesn't weaken "Heroes" exactly, so much as point up the conscious effort at providing entertainment.Okay, so it's a bit of a comic-book yarn beneath it all, and a bit far-fetched, with annoying stock footage and some dicey plot holes. But it stars McQueen showcasing another of his cool weapons (this time a Grease gun with three mags taped together for instant reloading) and his economy with words. Like reviewer HalfCentury noted in his May 2005 review, McQueen's physicality goes a long way to selling his performance, and in turn the film, the way he jumps into foxholes or stabs a German with the ferocity of a caveman in "2001: A Space Odyssey".When I was a boy, this was the kind of film that had me wincing at the screen, then looking for friends to act out the deaths of my favorite characters. War is hell, I guess, and this isn't that, but it's more than enough of a substitute for us couch-combat enthusiasts.