Just watched this movie for the first time,
and thought it excellent.
I have never been a great Gregory Peck Man,
but have just watched him twice in succession,
along with 12 O'Clock High.
Pork Chop Hill, made how futile aspects of the war were,
and how terribly difficult it was to motivate men to risk their lives
for apparently meaningless targets.
Peck carried it of well, and it makes one even more
proud of the real men, particularly
Joe Clemens
Just watched this movie for the first time,
and thought it excellent.
I have never been a great Gregory Peck Man,
but have just watched him twice in succession,
along with 12 O'Clock High.
Pork Chop Hill, made how futile aspects of the war were,
and how terribly difficult was to motivate men to risk their lives
for apparently meaningless targets.
Peck carried it of well, and it makes one even more
proud of the real men, particularly Joe Clemens
I agree, great pics Bill, thanks
Great stuff Bill, thanks for posting these
Ill neeed my thread to be kept seperate from this one--at least for the time being. Ill tell all later--Carl.
No problem Carl,
as any thread relating to a real person, or action,
would always be kept separate from the movie thread,
as was the case sometime ago with
The Real Men Sands of Iwo Jima,
and the Documentary
the Battle of Midway
Here is our dedicated thread
Screen Legends- Gregory Peck
Hi Alamo--I did look but didnt find it--Keith mentioned below he just created one ;-)) For some reason--some here jsut dont show up on my computer.
There was for
Hamburgers
but not one for
Pork Chops!!!!
Now a new thread
I think if you look in the "off topic" folder, you'll find most of the films you're looking for. There's a number of folders there, including war movies:
JWMB - The Original John Wayne Message Board! > General Information > Off Topic Discussions > Classic War Movies
alamo221,
Currently there is not one for this movie,
I will do so soon
Pork Chop Hill (1959), directed by Lewis Milestone,
is a Korean War war film based upon the eponymous book
by military historian Brig. Gen. S. L. A. Marshall, an eyewitness,
depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill between
the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division,
and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the end of the Korean War in April 1953.
The film features Gregory Peck, Woody Strode, and actors
who became movie stars in the 1960s and the 1970s;
e.g., George Peppard, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn, Robert Blake,
Norman Fell, Martin Landau, and Gavin MacLeod,
with Harry Dean Stanton in an uncredited minor role.
This was Milestone's final war film, and it received good reviews.
Peck, although not credited, directed a few segments,
despite protests by Milestone at the time.
The picture was filmed partially on location in California's San Fernando Valley.
Pork Chop Hill marked Landau's feature film debut.
Features Dukes 'Pals'
Woody Strode, Bob Steele, Chuck Hayward
User Review
QuoteGregory Peck, glorious black and white, and intense action--what more do you want?
12 December 2001 | by Jay V. (Champaign, IL)
I think when movies like Saving Private Ryan or Platoon came out people thought that these represented "new" insights on the war movie. Unfortunately, I guess they'd never seen a number of classic old films, such as Hell Is For Heroes (Steve McQueen), Sahara (Humphrey Bogart), or, indeed, Pork Chop Hill, starring Gregory Peck.
I've seen Pork Chop Hill three or four times. It is, from what I understand, a historically accurate account of one of the last fifty years' most famous battles, based on the book by famous military historian Gen. S. L. A. "Slam" Marshall. The scene is at the end of the Korean War. Negotiations between the combatants have stalemated. LT1 Joe Clemons (played by Gregory Peck) is ordered to take Pork Chop Hill, a basically worthless piece of territory to demonstrate to the Chinese and North Koreans that resolve had not flagged. So a night attack is ordered. Fog of war messes the whole thing up repeatedly and Clemons is left holding the bag, with his company of men stuck in the assault without the backup they expected to happen. The story is very human, particularly the interaction between Clemons and his second in command, Ohashi. You see men determined to win even though they know they might die (and for what?), men on the verge of breaking only to be rallied or not, the utter confusion of battle. The movie's got a lot of then-unknowns, but later stars, e.g., George Peppard, Rip Torn, etc.
PORK CHOP HILL
DIRECTED BY LEWIS MILESTONE
PRODUCED BY SY BARTLETT
MELVILLE PRODUCTIONS
MGM-PATHE COMMUNICATIONS CO.
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
Grim story of one of the major battles of the Korean War.
While negotiators are at work in Panmunjom trying to bring the conflict to a negotiated end,
Lt. Joe Clemons is ordered to launch an attack and retake Pork Cop Hill.
It's tough on the soldiers who know that the negotiations are under way
and no one wants to die when they think it will all soon be over.
The hill is of no particular strategic military value but all part of showing resolve
during the negotiations.
Under the impression that the battle has been won,
battalion headquarters orders some of the men withdrawn when in fact
they are in dire need of reinforcements and supplies.
As the Chinese prepare to counterattack and broadcast propaganda over loudspeakers, the men prepare for what may be their last battle. Written by garykmcd
Full Cast
Gregory Peck ... Lt. Joe Clemons
Harry Guardino ... Pvt. Forstman
Rip Torn ... Lt. Walter Russel
George Peppard ... Cpl. Chuck Fedderson
Carl Benton Reid ... American Admiral at Peace Conference
James Edwards ... Cpl. Jurgens
Bob Steele ... Col. Kern
Woody Strode ... Pvt. Franklin
George Shibata ... Lt. Suki Ohasha
Norman Fell ... Sgt. Coleman
Lew Gallo ... Lieutenant, Division Public Relations
Robert Blake ... Pvt. Velie
Cliff Ketchum ... Cpl. Payne (radio operator)
Biff Elliot ... Pvt. Boven
Charles Aidman ... Lt. Harrold
Barry Atwater ... Lt. Col. Davis (battalion commander)
Viraj Amonsin ... Chinese Broadcaster
Michael Garth ... S-2 Officer
Leonard Graves ... Lt. Cook
Martin Landau ... Lt. Marshall
Ken Lynch ... Maj. Gen. Trudeau
Paul Comi ... Sgt. Kreucheberg
Syl Lamont ... Sgt. Kuzmick
Abel Fernandez ... Kindley
Kevin Hagen ... Cpl. Kissell
Chuck Hayward ... Chalmers
John Alderman ... Lt. Waldorf
Gavin MacLeod ... Pvt. Saxon
John McKee ... Cpl. Olds
Bert Remsen ... Lt. Cummings
Robert Williams ... Soldier Runner
Buzz Martin ... 'George' Company Radioman
William Wellman Jr. ... Iron Man (as Bill Wellman Jr.)
Henry Amargo ... U.S. Soldier with Bazooka (uncredited)
DeForest Covan ... U.S. Soldier (uncredited)
Titus Moede ... U.S. Soldier (uncredited)
Harry Dean Stanton ... U.S. Soldier with BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) (uncredited)
Clarence Williams III ... Message Runner (uncredited)
Writing Credits
S.L.A. Marshall (book) (as Brig. Gen. S.L.A. Marshall USAR)
James R. Webb (screenplay)
Original Music
Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography
Sam Leavitt
Trivia
Film debut of Martin Landau.
The French premiere was received with criticism on grounds of racism, as the character played by Woody Strode was shown to be a coward during the initial attack on the Chinese position.
Gregory Peck personally chose Lewis Milestone to direct because Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front had made a deep impression on him.
Film debut of Clarence Williams III.
According to director Lewis Milestone, Pork Chop Hill was cut by nearly 20 minutes because the wife of Gregory Peck felt that her husband made his first entrance too late into the picture. True or not, the film does show signs of post-production tampering, with flashes of several excised scenes showing up under the main title credits.
Goofs
Continuity
Just before the American attack on the hill, the commanding officer is pointing out positions on a 3D clay model of the hill with his M4 bayonet. He lays his bayonet on the table and covers it with a paper map, then steps over to the radio man in conversation. He then steps back to the map table and the paper map has disappeared.
Factual errors
Real American hand grenades had a narrow yellow band painted around the tapered upper section to quickly identify them as live fragmentation grenades. However, the grenades in the movie have no such bands, indicating that they are either inert training grenades or movie props.
All of the American officers are wearing their bright rank insignia and Infantry branch insignia. In reality, officers rarely wore these items in the front lines because they identified those men as leaders, who then became prime targets for the enemy.
Revealing mistakes
Most of the weapons used by both sides do not eject any empty cartridge cases when they are fired.
Filming Location
Westlake Village, California, USA
