Hell is For Heroes

In a career shortened by his tragic death at the age of 50, Steve McQueen turned in one memorable performance after another. Films like The Sand Pebbles and The Great Escape and Bullitt come to mind as frequent mentions as the King of Cool's most iconic roles (and rightfully so. They're gems). But how about an underrated performance that doesn't get its due? I've always thought 1962's Hell is For Heroes belonged in McQueen's best performance list. What do you think?

It's 1944 in France along the Siegfried Line and rumors are spreading that troops will be heading home soon. As the infantry waits, Private John Reese (McQueen) arrives as a replacement for an already undermanned squad commanded by Sgt. Larkin (Harry Guardino) with the platoon led by Sgt. Pike (Fess Parker). The troops aren't going home though. They're being sent back on the line. Larkin's squad is in for a surprise though. The entire company was moved in during the night, but many of the men were pulled back during the night and relocated up the line to serve as a reserve for an expected German counterattack. What's that mean for Larkin's squad? The sergeant and his five men, including Reese, must hold an extended portion of the line until reinforcements can arrive. Can they? What if the Germans catch on to who they're actually facing off against?

I think this is one of the best, most underrated war films ever made. It is rarely mentioned in conversations of great war films, but it certainly belongs in the conversation. Director Don Siegel -- one of the all-timers at tough guy flicks -- helms a low-budget (but never in a bad way) war story that genuinely tries to show the horrors of war on a more personal level. This isn't armies clashing over territory. This is a half-dozen tired American soldiers simply trying to survive against overwhelming odds and in spite of idiotic orders. There's no picture of the war or fighting on a grand scale. We're in the trenches and foxholes with the soldiers who are interested in getting some sleep, eating some good food and not being shot at for a change.

What's always appealed to me about Siegel's film is the stark, bleak look. 'Heroes' is filmed in black and white, an excellent decision that helps focus the story more on the soldiers and their bleak situation with little in the way of distraction. Much of the story is focused then on a stretch of line marked with trenches, dugouts, bombed-out pillboxes, dragon's teeth, foxholes and all the remnants of previous fighting littering the ground. Across the line a few hundred yards, the German infantry -- mostly unseen -- waits like a presence just waiting to strike. An obvious impact on TV's Combat!, 'Heroes' has a memorable look, Siegel not undone by his relatively small budget. Throw in a wartime score from Leonard Rosenman -- not used often, highly effective when used -- that's moody and dark and scene-setting and you've got all the ingredients! Watch the opening/closing credits HERE for a sample.

The thing holding it all together though is McQueen's performance as Private John Reese, a brutally efficient soldier and fighter who's most effective in combat. Once removed from the fighting, he starts to get in trouble. This is a performance built on such an intimidating presence that McQueen was supposedly incredibly difficult to work with on-set, rarely getting out of character. His physical appearance is gaunt with several day-old stubble on his face. For lack of a better description, Reese is a psychopath, albeit an incredibly capable soldier. One of the earliest method actors, McQueen radiates intensity and rage here like few performances I've ever seen. He barely speaks and when he does, he's short, quick and to the point. But my goodness, it is a highly memorable performance, one tortured individual who is most at home when the bullets are flying through the air and death is ever-present. One of my first thoughts when watching The Hurt Locker was that Jeremy Renner's character could have been Reese's son! What a performance from McQueen.

The entire ensemble is a strong one with McQueen leading the way. Fess Parker is solid as Pike, the tough sergeant trying to hold his men together even considering the hellish fighting they've been through. Larkin too is a capable soldier, Guardino doing a fine job of showing his unease at what he likely should do and what he's been ordered to do. His squad includes James Coburn as Henshaw, a mechanical genius, Bobby Darin as Corby, a scrounger always ready with a joke/quip, Mike Kellin as Kolinsky, the worrier, and Bill Mullikin as Cumberly, the cheery soldier with a positive outlook. The squad gets unlikely reinforcements in the form of Bob Newhart's Pvt. Driscoll, a typist who finds himself at the front line, and Nick Adams as Homer, a young Polish man who tags along with the squad. Also look for Joseph Hoover as Capt. Loomis, the company commander, and L.Q. Jones appearing very briefly as a supply sergeant.

This is one of the earliest examples of a real look at war I can think of. Sure, Darin has some jokes and Newhart briefly gets to do a telephone bit, but the message of the story is the absolute horror of war. There's nothing glamorous or glorifying about it. It's men killing men in horrific fashion. 'Heroes' is interested in small unit pictures, squad vs. squad, as we see some of the ruses Larkin's men use to trick the Germans into thinking there's far more of them than there really is. When the violence and gunfire erupts, it's quick, unsettling and vicious. Characters die in truly uncomfortable ways that isn't just "Bang...You're Dead." One characters screams "My guts! My guts! Don't tell my wife it was like this!" as he bleeds out before a medic arrives. Generally forgotten, 'Heroes' was one of the first to show war as it really was, laying the groundwork for many future war films.

Take this next part with a grain of salt (I'm not sure how true it is), but I've read Siegel simply ran out of money late in filming and the studio didn't give him anymore. What's next? An improvised ending that is actually one of the most memorable, startling endings I've ever seen. It stays in tune with the movie's general downbeat tone with no happy endings in sight. What I've always wondered then is this...what was the original ending if there was more of a budget? I'm still searching for that answer! In the meantime, it's an excellent movie, one that deserves far more of a reputation among war movie fans. It's a gem.

Hell is For Heroes (1962): ****/****
Rewrite of December 2010 review

Elf

Everyone has their favorite Christmas movies, the movies you have to watch ever holiday season. It seems most of them aren't that recent -- Holiday Inn to White Christmas, Christmas Story to It's a Wonderful Life and many more -- but there are some recent entries that will no doubt be on that must-see list for years to come. Maybe the best new Christmas movie of the last 15 years or so, 2003's Elf.

While delivering toys around the world one Christmas Eve, Santa Clause (Ed Asner) accidentally picks up a return gift to the North Pole....a baby from an adoption center. No one knows what to do, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) choosing to care for the human baby as if it was his own. Years pass and the boy grows into a man, Buddy (Will Ferrell), who simply doesn't fit in with the rest of Santa's elves working at the North Pole. He doesn't quite realize it though that he's human, not an elf, and that's when Santa Clause and Papa Elf tell Buddy the truth about how he came to be one of Santa's Elves. Without a solution if he sticks around the North Pole, Buddy decides to travel to New York City where he can meet his real birth father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan) but there's a twist there too. Walter, a book publisher, is on the Naughty List!!! Can Buddy figure it all out though in the big, bad real world? He's going to have some fun either way.

I saw this Christmas flick soon after its release in 2003, only recently catching up with director Jon Favreau's flick recently as part of the holiday season. It is incredibly easy to see the appeal in this very sweet, very funny X-Mas comedy. 'Elf' treads that fine line between just plain dumb and dumb....but still really funny. Don't be confused, most if not all of the humor is pretty dumb, but everyone and everything commits to the goofiness, credit going to screenwriter David Berenbaum in that department. Smart or dumb, the message is the most important thing. This is a Christmas flick about just that, Christmas and the holiday spirit. Mixed in with Buddy's effort to find his family is Buddy's effort to help save Santa and Christmas during a New York City detour. It's the time of the season meant for family, fun, being together and believing. How can you go wrong with that sort of message no matter the package?

Now while I'm a big fan, I can appreciate that Will Ferrell's humor usually isn't for everyone. With movies like Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers to his name, I'll always be a fan. Not everyone likes his typically odd, off the wall and most importantly, random sense of humor. For those few folks who haven't seen Elf, it's without a doubt his most family friendly movie. His performance as Buddy takes the movie from really good and funny to really good, funny and near classic. It works because Ferrell absolutely and completely commits to the goofiness. Growing up in the North Pole, working with the Elves every year, Buddy doesn't have a mean bone in him. He's polite, ridiculously nice and naive to....well, everything. He looks at and experiences life in the most pleasant way possible, with pure, unadulterated GLEE. It's impossible not to like Ferrell's Buddy, a great lead character for this sweet story.

There's too many memorable, truly funny scenes to mention, but some definitely stand out from the rest. Buddy's arrival in New York City is priceless, the genuinely naive man-child no idea what he's stepped into. He hops across a Manhattan sidewalk like he's playing hopscotch. He eats gum hidden under rails like the used gum is hidden treasure. He spins in a door like it's a roller coaster, waving at a businessman hailing a cab because he thinks he's just waving, takes paper ads and handouts because it'd be rude not to, the list goes on. As I mentioned, Ferrell absolutely commits to the part. It never feels forced, just an actor going for the best laugh possible. There's plenty of other moments to mention -- Buddy unknowingly getting drunk and dancing in a mail room, realizing a department store Santa (Artie Lange) is an imposter -- and one funnier than the next. Up to you to pick your favorite.

Kudos to the entire cast for committing, especially James Caan as the curmudgeonly, greedy book publisher who doesn't quite believe Buddy could possible be his son. It's fun seeing Caan do a lighter role, and he plays an excellent straight man to Ferrell's Buddy and his antics. The same for Ed Asner and Bob Newhart as Santa and Papa Elf, Newhart especially standing out with his typically deadpan delivery with seemingly no emotion at all. Also look for Zooey Deschanel as Jovie, a woman Buddy meets at Gimbel's working as an elf and instantly likes, Mary Steenburgen as Walter's wife who wants her husband to not be such a Grinch, Daniel Tay as Michael, Walter's younger son and Buddy's half-brother, and Faizon Love as the Gimbel's manager who has to deal with Buddy and all his antics.

There's a certain style here that plays well in addition to the story. The North Pole looks animated, and when it is real, it's pretty clearly an indoor set with "snow" and everything. When Buddy leaves, he talks to cartoon whales, penguins, bears and an arctic puffin as well as a wise snowman who tells Buddy it will be okay. The visual look reminded me of the old Christmas TV specials like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It all adds up to a gem of a Christmas flick, one that's definitely worth watching every December.

Elf (2003): *** 1/2 /****

Horrible Bosses

For the lucky ones among us, work ain't so bad. It's tolerable and even enjoyable at times. But who at some point in their adult life hasn't had one of those God awful, truly horrific bosses that make you want to rip your own ears off? If you don't qualify there, congratulations to you. Turning that fantasy of killing your boss into a feature length comedy -- this past summer's Horrible Bosses -- has never been so funny.

Friends since high school, Dale (Charlie Day), Nick (Jason Bateman) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) are all in some rather difficult situations at work in one way or another. With the economy in the tank though, they can't up and quit their jobs, much less tell their bosses off like they'd rather do. Drinking together one night, the three joke about killing their bosses, solving each others' problem with three nice, little murders. Okay, maybe it isn't a joke as all three decide this is their best alternative. With some help from a streetwise ex-con, Motherf**ker Jones (Jamie Foxx), who provides some "murder advice," the three friends go about planning some murders.

There's no way a comedic Strangers on a Train should work, but wouldn't you know it? It does. Murdering your boss(es) doesn't exactly sound like a bucket of laughs, but director Seth Gordon handles it in the right fashion. It isn't a drama with some comedic moments or even a dark comedy with some sinister laughs. This is down and out stupid funny movie with no pretensions of being anything else. Three long-time friends with no criminal background/experience in any way murdering their bosses? Bumbling their way through some 'recon' and 'intel'? The results are surprisingly hilarious with a very funny script from three different screenwriters (I'm too lazy to type and link all three names. Besides, do you care?)

Now onto the bosses, three roles that the actors are clearly having some fun with. The biggest part goes to Kevin Spacey as Harken, Bateman's manipulative tool of a boss with an ego the size of a blimp. Nobody does pretentious and smarmy like Spacey, having a ball playing a ridiculous over the cop comedic part. Jennifer Aniston gets to sex it up as Dale's boss, Dr. Julia, a dentist who takes every opportunity to sexually harass a recently engaged Dale. It doesn't seem so bad as his friends say. Aniston plays against type in a raunchier role than usual, and yeah, she looks phenomenal. Just saying.... And last there's an unrecognizable Colin Farrell as Pellitt, Kurt's cocaine-snorting freak of a boss. He's underused, but what's there is very funny. 

As a long-time fan of FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I love Charlie Day's work as Charlie Kelly, the illiterate, generally clueless and all-around goof who can't mange to do anything right. Playing Dale here, he's by far the funniest of the three friends. Goofy at times to the point of crazy, Day shows that same talent he has in Sunny, if a little lighter and not as sinister. The same for Sudeikis who seems destined for bigger and better things than Saturday Night Live. The only misfire is Bateman who seems to be sleepwalking at times. He has some funny lines -- his exchange about street racing with a Prius is classic -- but he doesn't look too interested.

Along with Foxx in a scene-stealing part as MotherF'er Jones, the cast features a couple other small but worthwhile parts. Look for Donald Sutherland, Bob Newhart, Julie Bowen, comedian Ron White, and Ioan Gruffudd in small but extremely effective bit parts.

Something is missing from all the zaniness that I can't quite put my finger on. The movie is funny with some great one-liners coming out of a ridiculously preposterous predicament, but is it too goofy at times? They never seem to really take serious what's going on. Eh, maybe they don't need to. It's funny.

Horrible Bosses <---trailer (2011): ***/****