WAR HUNT (director: Denis Sanders; screenwriter: Stanford Whitmore; cinematographer: Ted D. McCord; editors: Edward Dutko/John Hoffman; cast: John Saxon (Private Raymond Endore), Robert Redford (Private Roy Loomis), Charles Aidman (Capt. Wallace Pratt), Gavin MacLeod (Private Crotty), Tommy Matsuda (Charlie), Tony Ray (Private Fresno), Sydney Pollack (Sgt. Van Horn); Runtime: 81; 1962)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A crisp telling of the last days of the Korean conflict, as a company of infantrymen engage the enemy. It marks the debut film for Robert Redford, who plays the do-gooder, Private Loomis, a new replacement in a company of war weary veterans. The film was shot in 15 days on a budget of $250,000. It featured a young cast, hungry to make its mark in films. Not listed in the credits, is a very young Francis Ford Coppola, who plays an ambulance driver. This surprisingly realistic war drama, caught a dark side to the war in a very personal way that very few films have captured. The film had the same gritty feel to it that Sam Fuller's "The Steel Helmet" had, but the emphasis here is more on a psychological nature than Fuller's cultural one.
Pvt. Raymond Endore (John Saxon) is the psychotic protagonist, who voluntarily goes out at night on solitary patrols behind the enemy lines. He is never explained, we just see him act with a thirst for blood, as he stays out all night, never participating with the other men in the regular patrols, but he brings back valuable information, which he reports to Captain Pratt (Aidman), while never talking about the soldiers he slays. But, we see him sneak up on an enemy soldier as if he were invisible-- and then he knifes him in a ritualistic manner while standing over his body, as if he were presenting the body to the gods.
He is a loner, as the other men are wary of him, even though they consider him to be valuable to the company, but he is still someone they feel is very dangerous and who shouldn't be disturbed. The young Korean orphan, Charlie, is the company mascot. He has a special relationship with Endore, who promises to take him along one day when he goes behind the enemy lines. He also promises to stay with him in Korea when the war is over, vowing to never let him go back to the orphanage, where they have ridiculous rules for everything. Endore is one of those people who can't live by the rules, considering them to be mostly unnecessary.
The much older captain has a paternalistic relationship with his prodigy, who went on his own behind the lines, bringing back so much valuable information to help the war effort, that the captain let this unusual practice go on without official approval, though he put in a recommendation for Endore to receive a medal for valor. But Endore was in it for the kill, his mind was way past the reasonable one of a soldier doing his duty, or acting out of patriotism, or for the glory.
The conflict shown on the battlefield, comes in only one devastating battle, where there are enough casualities for us to realize that this unexplainable U.N. action, has exacted a large toll on those fighting a war that the politicians couldn't find a peaceful solution for. This film is largely about those caught in the middle ground, between the idealistic Loomis and the psychopathic Endore; those who cheer when a cease-fire is declared, not caring who won.
On a personal level, the psychological effects of the war are seen through the conflict between Loomis and Endore. The prize is the Korean orphan, whom Endore befriends and expects him to be attached only to him. When Loomis expresses friendship to the kid and concern that the child should be back in the orphanage, going to school and being with friends his own age, Endore tells him to mind his own business, threatening him with a knife to his throat.
The sheer black-and-white photography caught the expansive mood of the troops in the battlefield, and its grainy quality helped the viewer see the war in a personalized way, as in the scene where the idealist Loomis is fighting for his survival in a hand-to-hand fight with a Chinese soldier. The difference between him and Endore, is that the later had to kill, while Loomis killed despite his convictions not to kill.
The film concludes in a dramatic way, as a sniper kills Private Fresno just when the cease- fire is announced, and the soldiers react by firing back, until the captain tells them let's not doing anything to prevent the war from ending and us going back home. But for Endore, his mind is set for a permanent war, and he disobeys orders and goes out on a night patrol after the cease-fire was declared, but this time taking Charlie with him, preparing to never come back.
This is a wonderfully maddening film. John Saxon turns in a brilliant performance as the killer who is valuable only during wartime, but loses his value when the war is over, while Robert Redford was marvelous in contrast, as the rational one, who still must kill in order to survive, but he is prepared to live in peace once the war is over. There couldn't be a more pronounced statement about the insanity of war than this gritty film offers, as seen mainly through the dead-pan eyes of a psychopath.
REVIEWED ON 8/28/2000 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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