The Young Lions 1958

     This film is based on a novel written by Irwin Shaw.  Three soldiers are fighting WWII.  A German officer Christian Diestl approves less and less of the war.  Jewish-American Noah Ackerman deals with antisemitism at home and in the army.  Entertainer Michael Whiteacre transforms from playboy to hero.
     Diestl wants to do the right, correct and humane thing in this war but officers above him don’t have the same code of ethics.  Ackerman is given a very raw deal in the Army company he’s assigned to with nothing being fair in his treatment.  Whiteacre didn’t want to enlist but he had no choice and he decides to make the best of his enlistment.  The one complaint I have about this movie is the ending for Christian Diestl?  It seems just so cut off and I would've liked a better or more favorable resolution!!  4* (I really liked this movie)

167 min, Action directed by Edward Dmytryk, written by Edward Anhalt with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell, Dora Doll, Lee Van Cleef, Liliane Montevecchi, Parley Baer, Arthur Franz, Hal Baylor, Richard Gardner.

Note:  Goodreads gives the novel 4.18 out of 5*, Imdb 7.2 with 6,883 views, Rotten Tomatoes 83% with 6 critics 77% audience with 2,882 ratings, EmpireOnline 3* out of 5* William Thomas, threemoviebuffs.com average 3 1/2* out of 4*, Letterboxd 3.4* out of 5*, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 123 reviews.  

Special Note:  Filmed in Bas-Rhin, Oise and Paris, France; Yuma and Mojave Desert, Arizona; Borrego Springs and Mount Wilson, California; Berlin, Germany.  It was felt that Montgomery Clift looked too old and too unhealthy to be an A1 soldier?  He is very thin!!  Writer Irwin Shaw was not happy about Marlon Brando’s sympathetic portrayal of the Nazi soldier.  Director Edward Dmytryk and screenwriter Edward Anhalt felt that a more lenient depictions would be more representative of the German people as a whole?  Dean Martin was a close friend of Montgomery Clift.  He was always grateful for the help Clift had given him while filming.  This was Martin’s first major dramatic role and Clift would accompany him to parties.  The rest of Hollywood had disowned him due to his addictions to drugs and alcohol.  This was a comeback movie for Martin after his split with Jerry Lewis.  Clift called Brando a slob because he felt his performance was using only about one third of his natural talents.  Maximilian Schell has blond hair and I thought he usually has black hair and that is true.  It seemed strange for him to have light hair??  He was born in Austria in 1930 and he died in 2014 at the age of 83 after a sudden serious illness, it was reported that he was treated for pneumonia.