The Hook (1963)

MGM
Directed by George Seaton
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Three soldiers in Korea take a POW aboard a merchant ship they are using to transport fuel. Kirk Douglas is commanded by his superiors to kill the man. Douglas puts the task off until after having dinner with his two subordinates and the prisoner. Robert Walker is Private Dennison, who refuses to obey Douglas' order to kill the man in cold blood, especially after getting to know him a little better. Nick Adams is Private Hackett, who owes Douglas for a prior incident involving a fight with a superior. He can't do it either, even after Douglas gets him drunk. Pushed to the wall, Douglas must decide to do it himself or give in to the arguments he has so vehemently denied to that point. Meanwhile, the prisoner has his own plans. An excellent companion piece to Douglas' earlier anti-war film Paths of Glory, here he plays the obedient and hateful soldier, almost in direct contrast to his character in the other film. The symbolism of the title, which is simply the hook used to unload cargo from the ship, perhaps refers to the treatment of human life during war as cargo to be jettisoned overboard.