Steve McQueen - Hell is for Heroes

 

Hell is For Heroes is one of the best movies to ever be released about WWII. With Steve McQueen as John Reese, the quiet, die-hard soldier, how can you go wrong. This is one of the first roles where McQueen played the loner which he made famous in The Sand Pebbles and Bullitt. A great supporting cast with Harry Guardino, Fess Parker, Bobby Darin, Bob Newhart, and Nick Adams. 

The battle sequences are incredibly realistic especially the fight in the minefield. Filmed in black and white the film is very effective in showing that war is not won by huge armies but squads of men bent on survival. 

In the fall of 1944, McQueen is busted from staff sergeant back to private for drunkenness and is sent back to his former outfit, currently stationed near the Siegfried Line in Montigny. Reese's bitterness about his demotion isolates him from the rest of the squad, although they've observed his courage under fire in previous combat missions. When the unit is assigned to defend an area facing a German pillbox, Reese's skills become evident. He advises squad leader Sgt. Larkin (Harry Guardino) on a ruse that creates the illusion that their unit is much larger than it is, temporarily deflecting an attack. The squad has been ordered to simply hold their ground, but believing it's only a matter of time before the Germans discover that they've been deceived, Reese leads an attack on the pillbox. 

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