Academy Awards, USA 1954
| Nominee Oscar | Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Millard Kaufman |
MGM
Directed by Richard Brooks
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)
Richard Widmark and Karl Malden are drill sergeants at an Army base near the Mexican border. Widmark is resentful of his job and constantly applies to be sent back to the Korean front. He puts the new recruits through hell, often to the dismay of Malden. They spend their down time in Mexican bars, where they meet beauty Elaine Stewart, drunk and flirting with the recruits. Widmark takes her home, but she rejects him and ends up with Malden. This only makes it tougher back at the base for recruits, one of whom starts to fantasize that he will murder Widmark. He straightens him out in a memorable scene at the shooting range. Meanwhile, Widmark and Malden tussle over Stewart. Back in Mexico, Widmark tries to seduce her, in another memorable scene that takes place in almost complete darkness other than the blinking glow of a neon hotel sign. She rejects both him and Malden, sending them back to the base where they soon get back to the job of training recruits. Boot camp drama rises above its predictable story line due to the aforementioned two scenes and the usual quality performances from Widmark and Malden.
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