Filmed in stark black&white, Siegel's film succinctly captures the fatal brutality of war, in terms perhaps not as graphic, but every bit as effectively as Steve Spielberg would do some thirty-six years later with his monumental film "Saving Private Ryan." Siegel may not have had the special effects in 1961 that Spielberg had at his disposal in 1998, but he did have an excellent screenplay (by Robert Pirosh and Richard Carr) from which to work. He tells his story in a direct, unromanticized way that maintains the focus and conveys the sense of urgency of the moment, through which he builds the tension and suspense that makes the peril of the situation immediate and real. Siegel had two predominant elements going for him that helped him achieve success with this venture: One was an instinctive knowledge of what works and how to deliver it; but most of all, he had Steve McQueen to sell it.

McQueen plays Pvt. John Reese, a veteran soldier who transfers into this particular outfit on the very day they are ordered to the front line. And that's just the way Reese wants it. When he reports for duty (three days late), he runs into Sergeant Pike (Fess Parker), who had served with him in another campaign. It's late evening, and the troops are assembling at an old church outside of town that now serves as a makeshift barracks; Pike sees Reese and asks him how he is. "Thirsty," Reese replies. "Town's off limits," Pike tells him. The very next scene shows Reese walking into town and finding what appears to be the only bar on a lonely street. Stepping up to the counter, Reese asks the bartender (a woman) for a bottle. "One pack or two?" he asks. "We aren't allow to serve soldiers--" she says. "Two," he replies, and setting the cigarettes on the counter, he walks around and takes a bottle. And now, without a doubt, we know exactly who and what Reese is; the personification of the iconoclastic loner, embodied to perfection in the form of Steve McQueen.

By all accounts, McQueen was not only a tough guy on screen, but in real life as well; tough meaning that he was always up for a challenge of any kind, and determined to live by his own set of rules, no matter what the cost. But he was a complex individual, and that was but one side of his true persona. To play Reese, McQueen went to that dark, stoic side of himself, exaggerated it, and the result was one of the most intense characters he ever created. Reese is a force of one, adamant and relentless, single-minded and fatalistic. At the moment he's on the Siegfried Line, but for him it's just another battle in a war he's been waging with life since the day he was born. And he knows deep down that it's a war he's never going to win; it's just a matter of time before his hand plays out, and being on the line is just as good a place as any. For him, it's not a matter of options, but of inevitability. It's an exemplary performance, and one for which McQueen never received the acclaim he was due, which unfortunately was not an isolated instance in his career. There was Vin in "The Magnificent Seven," Frank Bullitt in "Bullitt" and Tom Horn in "Tom Horn," as well. And that's but a sample of the work he did for which he never received enough recognition. His only real acknowledgement came with his creation of Jake Holman in "The Sand Pebbles," a role for which he was nominated and should have received the Oscar for Best Actor. But Reese was one of his first, and one of his best.

The supporting cast includes Bobby Darin (Corby), James Coburn (Henshaw), Mike Kellin (Kolinsky), Joseph Hoover (Captain Loomis), Bill Mullikin (Cumberly), Nick Adams (Homer) and Bob Newhart in his film debut as Pvt. Driscoll. Hard-hitting and with unforgiving realism, "Hell Is For Heroes," though on a smaller scale, perhaps, than Spielberg's "Ryan," is one of the most effective and memorable war films ever made; Siegel gave it direction and focus, McQueen brought it to life. And it's quite simply one of the best of it's kind you'll ever see.

The replacement troops usually were so green that they didn't last a month, and many died after a day or two without knowning even what outfit they belonged to. Thus, this movie captures the realism of what that combat was like. I especially liked the attention to detail, e.g., the night patrols, the minefield, the concertina wire, etc. Both sides sent out nightly patrols. These were the days before spy satellites and infrared or night vision devices. The only way to get good intelligence was to send out some men to capture prisoners for interrogation. That explains why Reese was so concerned about the Germans finding out how thin his sector was held, and why the squad tried to take measures to fool the enemy into thinking they were a larger force. Another good realism was having the mortar squads fire for effect on the approaches to the pillbox. However, in the real war the troops tried to outflank it. The veterans I have talked to say the best way to knock the pillbox out was to get in the rear of it and drop some grenades down the ventilation pipe. The Germans usually came out running after one of the grenades exploded. However, due to the need to provide a heroic end for Reese, the movie has him going directly in front of the firing aperture and making a fatal but explosive end to the machine gun.

The U.S. Army lost about 50,000 troops during this 3 month campaign. The lines of supply were outstretched, and the equipment, e.g., tanks, trucks, artillery, were in need of resupply and repair due to the long trek across France. Hitler had the West Wall(the actual name for the Siegfried Line) defended to give his forces time to reorganize in preparation for the Ardennes Campaign in December, 44. My uncle's unit was restricted in its' battle against the West Wall to the point where the Division Artillery could only fire ten (10) rounds per gun per day!

This movie has to be seen in order to understand how this happened, and to appreciate what our ancestors had to endure. This, in my estimate, is the best WW II movie before Saving Private Ryan since it captures the gritty and violent world in a realistic way, before all the advances in special effects.