The Victors (1963)

As Good As It Gets

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Made with the co-operation of the Swedish Army Ordnance Corps. Photographed in black-and-white Panavision. Producer: Carl Foreman. A Carl Foreman Production. Copyright 31 December 1963 by Highroad Productions/Open Road Films. Released through Columbia Pictures. New York opening simultaneously at the Criterion and the Sutton: 19 December 1963. U.S. release: 19 December 1963. U.K. release: 12 October 1964. Australian release: 17 July 1964. 15,750 feet. 175 minutes. Cut by the censor to 155 minutes in Australia. SYNOPSIS: Following training in England, a U.S. infantry squad is sent into combat in Italy. After taking possession of a small town, one of the G.I.s, Baker, finds a few hours of happiness with a young mother, Maria, who has not heard from her soldier husband for several months. A few days later the group moves on and arrives in France after the D- Day landings. During the occupation of a small town, a rugged non-com named Craig (who later has his face shot away) spends an evening with a Frenchwoman terrified by the constant bombings. Another, Chase, becomes involved with a wealthy woman, Magda, who wants him to desert and join her in the enormously profitable black market. But he rejects her and rejoins his outfit and is wounded in action. Once the group has moved into Belgium, Sergeant Trower falls in love with Regine, a nightclub violinist, but loses her when she turns into a promiscuous opportunist. Later, in Berlin, he takes up with a young blonde who lives in the Russian zone and whose sister boasts of the greater luxuries provided for her by her Russian captain. Following a disillusioning evening with her, Trower becomes involved in a pointless squabble with a drunken Russian soldier.NOTES: Only film directed by screenwriter (Champion, High Noon, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone) and sometimes producer, Carl Foreman.COMMENT: A count-the-pretentious themes picture. On the credit side, we can count Saul Bass's titles, Senta Berger's performance, Challis' stark, newsreel-looking photography, and especially the execution of Private Slovik sequence with Frank Sinatra singing "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas". Action fans and Albert Finney fans are likely to be very disappointed by the minute amount of time given to them. It's very obvious that far, far too much footage was shot, but even so, many people just disappear from this film without any explanation.Needless to say, the movie does accommodate at least one actor whom we all wish would disappear, but who doesn't do anything of the kind. I refer to George Hamilton who gives am absolutely dreadful performance.And also, sad to reveal, but Carl Foreman's direction is dull, using poorly-composed long takes to monotony, whilst his sentiments, though doubtless sincere, are expressed in rubbishy terms. One of the worst examples is the Anglo-American friendship episode underscored by "There'll Always Be an England"! No wonder Carl, a splendid writer, didn't direct any more films, although he does have further credits as a producer and an executive producer. (Also, of course, as a director, he obviously couldn't contain himself and thus shot far, far, far too much footage, most of which ended up on the cutting-room floor).

This has to be in the top 10 of war films. I've seen tonnes of war movies over the years and this is always the one that touches me the deepest. There are some scenes of such pathos that they break your heart. I've always been passionate about history and 20th century world history has always been my main focus. Its a change for individuals to be the focus with the ugliness of war as a backdrop. It deals with the ordinary folk swept along by the brutality of war. The tragedy and the moments of pure humanity. Do you survive or not?. Yes, it jumps around a lot but it further emphasises the chaos of war. There are no straight lines or order. It comes to the inevitable conclusion that there are no victors.

Directed by Carl Foreman, "The Victors" (1963) watches as various American soldiers journey across Europe during World War 2. They're led by Sergeant Craig, played by the inimitable Eli Wallach.Beautifully shot, lit and framed, "The Victors" is at its best when simply observing as tired, grime-smeared soldiers trek across open fields and through bombed out buildings. The scale of the War's theatre, and the drudgery of soldiering, is conveyed well during such sequences.But Foreman has loftier intentions. Whilst early World War 2 films glorified combat and bolstered Good War mythology, Foreman hopes to do the opposite. And so we watch as black soldiers are assaulted by racist Americans, as troops are executed for desertion, as American soldiers get drunk, as surrendering Germans are mercilessly gunned down and as cute puppies are perforated by bullets. Though well meaning, few of these scenes feel anything but hokey. Throw in a heavy-handed soundtrack, and you have a film which attempts to be subversive but which is as maudlin as the overtly pro-war films it hopes to undermine.Most early World War 2 films ignored the complex socio-historical, economic and class based causes of the conflict. Kowtowing to Good War mythology, they instead reduced the war to a game of Goodies versus Baddies, in which mass murdering Imperialists are pitted against virtuous, "freedom loving" democracies who die, Christlike, for those in need. That all sides were colonialist, racist, classist, mass-murdering jerks typically goes ignored. There were some films, however, that offered more sobering perspectives on the war ("The Story of GI Joe", "The Best Years of Our Lives", "From Here to Eternity", "Home of the Brave", "The Men" etc), though none of these contested the value of the struggle itself. It was only from the mid 1950s onwards that stauncher anti-war perspectives began to be put forward. Such films included "The Young Lions", "The War Lover", ambiguous dramas like "The Americanzation of Emily" and, arguably, "Some Came Running". Of all these films, though, Foreman's "The Victors" is the most pessimistic. It ends, after-all, with American and Russian "allies" stabbing one another and then collapsing in a parody of a "victory" symbol. For Foreman, war is without winners. George Peppard co-stars.6/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Bridge at Remagen", "Decision before Dawn" and "Walker" (1987).

I was tuning in my television to another programme and the film caught my attention. The scene must have been something like half way through the film and it was where a soldier was being shot for desertion.What a dreadful waste of life all war is? I spent the rest of the film glued to the screen.It has some faults - it has not the seamless quality of a truly great film, but it is so very, very good on the merciless pain suffered by the military and civilian population.When will we learn to negotiate our differences and that it is only the war mongers and megalomaniacs of the politically driven that cause wars. The newsreel of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta conference (the outcome of which was written on the back of a postcard by Churchill and handed to Stalin) was particularly poignant viewed today and confirming that most of our current conflict has its roots in the outcome of those decisions.Why isn't this film available to all to view? it should be shown against the current obscene recruitment advertisement for COMMANDOS being shown in cinemas.