Customer Reviews

The Men [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fred Zinnemann finally came up with a script that Marlon Brando liked enough to leave the stage and head for Hollywood. And the rest is history. That script turned out to be The Men. Brando is Bud, a parapoliegic shot in WWII and recovering in a veterans hospital. Unfortunatly there is no hope for Bud ever walking again, a fact he refuses to except. This movie is an interesting character study. Brando shows here why he would become the most influential actor of the last half century. He briliantly depicts a man at tremendous odds with himself. The supporting cast of characters, Teresa Wright(Bud's love interest), the doctors, and the men in the hospital, are well cast. Fans of character driven dramas and Brando fans should get a kick out of this film.

This film was Marlon Brando's first staring role in a film, and he provides a masterful performance as a veteran with a spinal cord injury who is coming to grips with his changed life. His faithful wife who displays great courage in sticking with her man through a very difficult time is also well acted. A little melodramatic, as many early 1950's films were, but very realistic. Based on the true story of the first US SCI veterans who were discharged out of the hospital to return home after WW II, it was filmed at a veterans hospital and some of the extras are actual patients at the center. The physician is based on Ernst Bors, MD who is considered the father of SCI care in the USA, and who worked in this field in the VA healthcare system for another 35 years.

Marlon Brando's performance alone makes the movie worth watching. His sensitivity to the character's pain is so visible that it's just touching to see. It's a great start to the unforgetable legend's film career. I really enjoyed it simply because of Brando. So if you don't particually care for him, then it's not really worth it.

This is where it all started...Marlon Brando's one-of-a-kind film legacy...

Marlon's performance in "The Men" demonstrates his natural talent - a talent that is now the legacy of the greatest actor of all time. His remarkable performance in "The Men" drew me in immediately. I could not take my eyes off of him. His demeanor, his facial expressions, and the way he spoke reminded me somewhat of his screen test for "Rebel Without A Cause." He is sweet, tender, ambivalent, unassuming, and somewhat emotionally injured - much as I believe he was in his life off of the screen as well. There is nobody I have seen on stage or screen who can achieve such a delicate and perfect balance of emotion or elicit the kinds of emotions he does in others through his performances as Marlon did in the roles he has played on stage and screen.

I have 36 Marlon Brando films in my collection, many of which I have watched several times. But, I have never been able to bring myself to watch "The Men" until very recently. I am a nurse and I have seen first hand that which Marlon's character, "Bud," faced after becoming a paraplegic as the result of an injury. In my work, it has weighed on me at times that, although I possess some medical expertise and although I can contribute to helping a person back to optimal health following a tragedy, I am still not able to wave a magic wand and turn his reality into a dream from which he will awaken.

I knew what "The Men" was about and with having become very familiar with Marlon Brando's realistic and poignant portrayals of people on film such as his portrayal in this film, I expected that my insides would be torn asunder. And, they were. Marlon portrayed it as it truly was and is. In the beginning, "Bud" is afraid to live while also being afraid to die. Later in the film, this sentiment is echoed by Jack Webb's character when he recites a piece of Hamlet's soliloquy from "To Be Or Not To Be"..."To die, to sleep...to sleep, perchance to dream...aye, there's the rub...for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause" - the contemplation of suicide, but, at the same time, the fear of what one may face in death should one choose to take his own life due to his circumstances. Which is the most fearful prospect?

"The Men" is about a man who, following a war injury, finds that he has become a paraplegic and that life will never be the same for him again. Throughout the film, he travels through every stage of grief and grieving and, ultimately, comes to terms with his circumstance. I won't give the details of the film away, but I will say that it is definitely a "must see" movie and that, among the many touching scenes throughout, a very moving scene with Bud and his wife takes place at the end and one is left feeling so many emotions.

This is an excellent film, the first film for Marlon Brando, and one whose heart-rending insight into the personal struggles of a man faced with a life-altering situation is exhibited with absolute perfection by Marlon Brando.

I was impressed with this movie when I fist saw it in the 50's I have been a Brando admirer ever since . Over the past 50 years I have seen all of his movies more than once. The Men has a great message , I recommend it to all my friends .

jack

A Stanley Kramer production directed by Fred Zinnemann starring the newcomer Marlon Brando. What a program! I really liked the way the director tells us that THE MEN's main theme is sexuality. Note that one of the first scenes of the film is the doctor's speech in front of twenty woMEN. Brando is already shining. Highly recommended.

Touching even though it is a little predictable. Supposed to be Marlon Brando's first movie. Watching the soldier evolved really holds your interest.

Everyone raves about Streetcar, but this one has always been my favorite. Marlon has never looked better than in this movie and I think his acting was a sign of how great he would become. My absolute favorite.

Nice story about ex combat veterans and how they have to face their toughest enemy, the wheelchair. An enemy they can't fight against with force of arms. They have to fight it with the realization that they must make an ally of this chair with wheels. And the doctor who treats them, knowing all along, he can never make them whole again.

Marlon Brando (very, very young in this one) in his first major movie role really shines and shows us why cameras always loved him.

Just a glimpse of his eye, and you guess what he's thinking.
What an actor!

The movie is a very short tale of a soldier wounded in battle, who returning home discovers that he has lost a limb.

The real battle ensues from then on. Will he be able to survive the ordeal? Will he be able to still have a normal life among people?

"The Men" is an ageless movie, still valid nowadays as it was back then, in the 50's.

Solid story, solid actors, straight storyline, non-obtrusive score, make this a tiny masterpiece in its own right.

The transfer on DVD is astonishingly excellent, as is its sound. The Black & White image is crisp and clear.

I can only remmond it to all the fans of Marlon Brando, as well as those who never saw him in one of his earliest roles.