Customer Reviews

Attack [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This film is almost 50 years old, yet it still packs a wallop for viewers. I called the title "unfortunate", because it implies that this is an action movie--of course, it is much more. There are certainly battle scenes, and they are grim and realistic--no John Wayne heroics here. At the same time, the opening credits indicate that "Attack" is based on a play--so much of the film is dedicated to character development by some excellent actors.

The Nazis are the enemy, but these American GIs have another enemy within their midst--a cowardly, villainous commanding officer who has a well-deserved reputation for letting his men down. Some good soldiers lose their lives because of this officer's incompetence and indecision. In this role, Eddie Albert gives a wonderful, unforgettable performance. Later in his career, "Green Acres" may have given him more financial security, but it was obviously a waste of a huge talent.

As the brave GI who must report to a drunken coward, Jack Palance is rivetting in one of his best performances--his confrontation scenes with Eddie Albert really sizzle with animosity. Messrs. Palance and Albert are well supported by great character actors like Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel and the recently-departed Buddy Ebsen. Eddie Albert's commanding officer is played by Lee Marvin--and with Lee Marvin, "commanding" is the word ! Unfortunately, the Marvin character is just as corrupt, and self-serving in his own way as the man he supervises.

As I said earlier, this is a war movie that makes you think--it is not intended to merely entertain. I would not call it anti-war--there is no question that the Nazis here, mostly SS, are evil. To emphasize the point, we learn that Robert Strauss' character is Jewish, and how he would be treated if captured by the SS. Most of the American soldiers are depicted as brave, honest, dedicated men, laying their lives on the line every day. Nevertheless--as "Attack" shows us-- sometimes people are put in positions of authority for reasons that have nothing to do with merit--whether it is the military, in business, government or other fields of endeavour. In this case, of course, it is a problem that costs lives. It is a powerful message.

The DVD is nice--clear B & W picture--the sound is mono--the price reasonable.

Bottom line--a fine, thinking person's World War II drama, that deserves a higher profile.

A sad footnote dated 10 November 2006. Mr. Jack Palance just passed away--an Oscar-winner and one of the most formidable presences to ever grace the silver screen.

Long on several "lost film" lists, "Attack" is at last available on video. There are several reasons to see this film. It is a forerunner of so many grim, realistic movies that treat the subject with intelligence ("Men In War", "Pork Chop Hill", "Platoon", "The Thin Red Line"). It is brilliantly directed (many scenes are almost unbearable in their naked dramatic truth). And it contains several performances that demand attention.

The conviction of Eddie Albert's playing of the cowardly Lieutenant may come as a surprise to those unaware of his talents. Lee Marvin also delivers a solid characterization, as do most of the other supporting players. But the main feature of this film is the astonishing portrayal of Lt. Costa by Jack Palance. The kind of immersion in a role that Palance exhibits here is rare. It is the kind of performance that seems more like "being" than acting. A number of close-ups of Palance's face deliver a frisson of emotional intensity and truth that are rare and wonderful in the cinema of any period. In fact, Palance helps to demonstrate, in this picture, why "war films" should exist as a genre. The condition of war, of combat in particular, serves to foreground, polarize and intensify emotions and moral convictions. It can call into question the very nature of humanity. Just what is the price of a human life? What do we as humans mean to one another? When do concepts like 'bravery' and 'cowardice' cease to have meaning?

"Attack" is a small film, great in its impact.

Director Robert Aldrich's contribution to American cinema has seemed to diminish over the years since his untimely death. ATTACK was one of his better films. I remember seeing it many years ago and it was quite realistic and graphic for its time. The chiseled face of Jack Palance as the dutiful Lt. Costa is still vivid in my mind, as is Eddie Albert's performance as the cowardly Capt. Cooney. This is a grim and hard boiled film with an engaging plot that really questions the reason why man must die in war and who ultimately bears the responsibility for sending combatants to their deaths. This film contains outstanding performances by all including Lee Marvin, Richard Jaeckel, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Strauss, William Smithers, Strother Martin and Peter Van Eyck. Cinematographer Joseph Biroc's photography is stark bringing a feeling of hopelessness and despair to this film about men in war. A very good DVD.

As other reviewers point out this is one heck of a neglected movie, one that achieves an intensity rare in a film of any type. Perhaps some background would be helpful to the film's growing popularity. Produced in 1956 at the height of the Cold War, Attack! was reviled by conservatives and liberals alike (many walked out during the showing) for its unflattering portrayal of the army's hallowed field command. It took a lot of guts for Bob Aldrich to oversee production during an era of political repression, monitored by a hostile corps of film reviewers ready to pounce on anything that looked unAmerican. But Aldrich was determined not to be intimidated and to show a side of combat few Americans knew. One of only a few Hollywood movie-makers to challenge the conventions, he is reponsible for such other ground-breaking classics as The Big Knife and of course the highly innovative Kiss Me Deadly.

Because of its subject matter, Attack! was quickly consigned to audience oblivion where it largely remains, awaiting rediscovery as the brutally honest and superb film that it is. Even knowledgeable movie-goers believe that Kubrick's 1957, Paths of Glory, is the first 50's anti-war film. Anyone having seen Attack! knows this is definitely not so. In fact, the latter surpasses Kubrick's celebrated film in at least two categories - Its willingness to take on the WWII American establishment instead of the more remote WWI French military, and Jack Palance's absolutely unforgettable performance as Lt. Costa, perhaps the finest and most affecting to be found in any war movie. The reassuring ending may strike some as a cop-out and probably does represent the outermost limits of the time. Nevertheless, in a telling absence, we are never shown how army brass responds to the Lieutenant's urgency, suggesting that the corruption may even extend to higher-ups - Aldrich may have compromised but he wasn't dishonest!

The internet may be the perfect medium for rescuing Hollywood's many overlooked gems. Movies that were made with care, intelligence, and most of all - conviction, but which for whatever reason, passed into film oblivion. Attack! is definitely one of these. But just as importantly, the movie serves as an enduring tribute to the guiding hand and perseverence of its gutsy and talented director, Robert Aldrich. Don't miss it.

I saw this movie because I am a fan of Jack Palance and have wanted to see Robert Aldrich's "Attack" for many years. "Attack" is on my personal list as one of the Ten Greatest Movies. This film is badly underrated. I have never seen a better World War II film. I am disappointed that this film is not better known by the moviegoing public.

In wartorn Europe, incompetent Army Captain Eddie Albert endangers his troops and Army Lieutenant Jack Palance stands up to him.

Adding to the credibility of "Attack" is a cast that actually fought in World War II. Unlike many present day war films that feature performers who lack even peacetime military experience, "Attack" features actors with genuine combat experience: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, and Lee Marvin. The film realistically captures the desperation and tension of military combat. Viewers empathize with the trauma and pain felt by the characters.

The film also features great performances from its leading actors. Jack Palance is one of Hollywood's most underrated performers. After more than forty years in the entertainment business, Palance would finally win an Oscar for "City Slickers"(1991) but "Attack" is the movie for which Palance should have received this honor; Palance wasn't even nominated for this picture. Perennial villain Palance proved that he could play a good guy(Or certainly a great antihero) in an unforgettable movie. Eddie Albert, who would become best known for TV's "Green Acres" and "Switch," proves that he could give a serious dramatic performance in a movie. Albert's cowardly and neurotic Captain Cooney is one of the screen's great villains. Buddy Ebsen(Another future TV star) also gives a fine supporting turn.

I plan to see this movie again. Well-recommended.

This old warhorse from the 1950s is worthy of better reknown. Some good actors are in it who would become standards later on. The movie does not provide a flattering portrait of the US Army toward the end of the war, and perhaps this is why it has not enjoyed the popularity of other war films of this period. Lee Marvin plays an excellent, corrupt good old time boy in charge of a crumbling US infantry battalion. Eddie Albert is great as the cowardly company commander, while Jack Polance is almost demonic, yet compelling. The scene where Polance gets run over by the German tank is perhaps excessive, but its horror shows that this is a movie not affraid to show the true nature of war. It certainly marks a departure from most post war movies of this period. At the same time the movie is not excessively violent or bloody. The equipment lacks authencity in that US stuff is pressed into German service, but at least some attempts are made to modify its appearence. The movie almost seems like a play at times, and I wonder if aspects of it were not in this format beforehand. The music is also very good and provides for a great atmosphere. A good offbeat GI movie that deserves better recognition and a DVD release.

Director Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly, Ulzana's Raid, Apache) has never been one to make the typical war movie and Attack! is no exception. The story, set in "Europe: 1944", concerns Fox Company which is "led" by the incompetent Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert). Lt. Costa (Jack Palance) has lost men and has been sent carelessly into deadly situations by Cooney. Cooney is an alcoholic coward who later totally flips out. Anyone who only knows Albert from "Green Acres" has to see this performance, especially his nervous breakdown scene to really see what he was capable of. Lee Marvin plays Col. Bartlett, who doesent want to admit to Cooney's incapabilities as an Officer because he receives legal favors from Cooney's prominent Judge father in return for securing his son's position as Captain. Costa vows to Cooney that if one more of his men die, he will come back and kill him. I won't reveal the conclusion, but it keeps you guessing until the last shot. A Robert Aldrich war film has a way of focusing more on the personal weaknesses and morals of the characters rather than being a historical document of the conflict. In other words, this film is about the internal/external conflicts between the individual American soldiers. It is not really about why we were at war with the Nazis, although it is set in the context of that conflict.
Very unique film, especially in the war film genre and I hope it makes its way to a nice representation on DVD someday. Definitely worth seeking out in any capacity, whether its to rent or own.

*By the way, thats Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies) as Sgt. Toliver of Fox Company.

More Aldrich films with:
Jack Palance - The Big Knife (1955), Ten Seconds to Hell (1959)
Lee Marvin - The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Eddie Albert - The Longest Yard (1974), Hustle (1975)

More Aldrich war films:
The Angry Hills (1959)
Too Late the Hero (1970)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)

Robert Aldrich (1918-1983)

In the arena of public awareness, Attack!'s all-star cast does not seem to have been enough to overcome its B-movie title, one which is neither appropriate nor sufficiently ironic. The film's original name was more in line with the Norman Brooks play on which it is based, "Fragile Fox." Indeed, key scenes are staged and designed like a "filmed play," but that only heightens the drama here. Riveting from the get-go, the 107-minute cut seems to fly by in an hour.
To find the real drama in Robert Aldrich's film, viewers should discard the extreme characterizations of the brave Lt. Joe Costa (Jack Palance) and the cowardly Capt. Cooney (Eddie Albert) like the high and low data that is thrown out before analysis. (Many of the best scenes are absent Palance, whose over-the-top performance could certainly bug some viewers.) The real questions are raised by the seemingly level-headed men in the middle who recognize the potentially volatile situation for what it is and choose to deal with it in ways befitting their divergent perspectives. Bartlett (Lee Marvin) is an ambitious and crafty colonel who tolerates Cooney's incompetence because of the latter's political connections back home. He is at odds with Lt. Henry Woodruff (William Smithers), one of the men who could potentially end up as fodder for Cooney's foolery.
Anyone who has ever been skipped over for promotion or lost the lead in a grade school play owing to a lack of either political connections or a willingness to screw over their comrades will recognize all the characters in "Attack!" Illustrating that human frailties are easily mapped onto a combat situation (and suggesting there's no reason they wouldn't be), this is the scariest of war films. Despite its meditation on moral relativism, "Attack"--universally hailed as an "anti-war film"--never once argues that this particular conflict is not worth the fighting. As the glue that holds the ensemble piece together, Smithers' Woodruff argues, "If we can get rid of Cooney, all we have to do is fight the war."

I have to concur with the other reviews written here: "Attack" is a great war film. Although most people have never heard of it. One of the reasons for that is the cast: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, and Buddy Ebsen do not exactly bring to mind a group of actors who created one of the grittiest war movies ever made. Instead most people will think of pushups at the Oscars, Arnold the talking pig, and Jed Clampett. Yet anyone who ignores this film because of its cast are doing themselves a disservice.

"Attack" is one of several films that was ignored by critics in their rush to dimiss any WWII movie made before "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" as a patriotic flag waver that was guilty of sanitizing the horrors of war. "Attack" was one of the first war movies to show that not all WWII commanders were worthy of the men they lead. Some commanders were incompentent and got their men unneccessarily killed. Others had no leadership skills and created animosity and divisions within their unit. Others were cowards who would not do what they ordered their men to do. Eddie Albert's company commander in "Attack" is all the above. What does a unit do when its own commander is its worst enemy? That is the story of "Attack."

'Attack' was a violent exposé of a lack of courage and perversion among American officers fighting the Germans in Belgium; a completely anti-romantic expression of disgust with war, and, more specially, the war machine, with its breakdown and its own ridiculous brand of bureaucracy...

Jack Palance and Eddie Albert played, at different types of psychic disturbance, two officers who struggle on the battlefield -- the one an efficacious, trustworthy, but disillusioned hero-typed, the other a cowardly sadist...

Lee Marvin was the cynical high-ranking officer who treats war as a political farce, mindless of the pain and distress of the ordinary soldiers...

Despite an inevitable over-fondness for the dramatic values of combat and the ferocious of men at arms, this was a convincing, truthful try to demythologize war -- which, had it been set up in a lower key with fewer psychiatric reverberations, would have come nearer to being what Aldrich was struggling to achieve, 'a sincere plea for peace'.