The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

the audience applauded

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

ALL OF THIS recent attention about the Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl exchange for five (5) top Al Queda mastermind murderer/terrorists has brought this story from World War II about Private Eddie Slovik. He is the only member of U.S. Armed Forces to have been executed for desertion since the Civil War.THE STORY WAS brought to the screen by Universal Television and the NBC TV Network in 1974, March 13th, to be exact. We well remember that this TV movie was heavily promoted and being treated as a very special event. This is one time that the ballyhoo boys were correct., absolutely.THE STORY DOES a great job in explaining the situation. Private Eddie Slovik was an experienced and battle tested combat veteran. He became separated from his outfit; which afforded him a sort of respite from the life of battle.WHEN HE FINALLY is to be reunited with his Company, he refuses to do so; opting instead for incarceration in the Guardhouse. Lengthy efforts were made to the young soldier in order to get him to change his mind. His obstinacy leads him to finally being executed by firing squad.METICULOUS STORYTELLING IS employed in order to get the story behind all of this incredible, but true, story. We get a glimpse of the man as a boy, who had a difficult childhood. He married young and soon after his former Draft Classification of 4-F was changed to 1-A and he was inducted into the Army.BEAUTIFULLY AND MOST realistically mounted, the production has a great and most authentic appearance. It literally transports us to 1944 Europe, France to be exact, with a World War yet to be won or lost. The cast, headed up by Martin Sheen, is outstanding. In support, we have Mariclaire Costello, Gary Busey, Matt Clark, Ben Hammer, Warren J. Kemmerling, Charles Haid and many others. Ned Beatty stands out as Chaplin, Father Stafford.THE INHERENT DRAMATIC intensity of the story hits a tearful crescendo as Private Slovik (Mr. Sheen) continually repeats the Hail Mary; while he prepares to meet the Firing Squad. it is as emotionally charged as any scene in any film, even a theatrical production. (This could have done well as a Feature Film to be shown in the Movie Houses.) IT WAS WELL received and heavily honored at the Emmy Awards. The sympathy was clearly with the hapless Private Slovik from the very start, or even before the start; as the promotional material poses the question, "Was it Cowardice or Conscience?"IN PLAYING THE role of 'Devil's Advocate', we must ask the following question. It concerns the man who is implicitly rendered as being the bad guy in this affair. That is Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. One must consider the circumstances of War. With thousands of men being killed and seriously wounded all the time, the execution of one deserter wouldn't rate very highly.

I think the movie goes back into history during the Piast Dynasty with the Polish King Boleslaw II the Bold. King Coleslaw suspected Stanislaus Bishop of Kracków of pretending with his younger brother Wladyslaw to over throw him in the invasion of Red Ruthenia. Staniclaus was executed for the plot. Later, the Polish deposed King Boleslaw II and he was exiled to Hungary and Wladyclaus was the new King. Most of the people in WWII were Slovic Origin and someone is always pretending in movies. Martin Sheen is a good actor for the part and his son Charlie Sheen plays a boy in the movie. This is the first movie Charlie Sheen has been in. I think a good Kantian way of looking at his execution is Moral Justice. If he were a Police Officer I would wonder what his gun is for. If he were a security guard he would have License for a gun. If I get a job as a security guard Im going to decide if I will carry a gun or not. If have a gun and a citizen gets hurt because I don't use my gun I would be sued and fired and convicted and probably be shot to death by the assailant. So maybe its frivolous but important to the Law.

This has been one of my favorite films since it was first broadcast back in '74. I read William Bradford Huie's book, from which the film is based, and I also recommend it highly.This should be required viewing for anyone who claims to be a WWII buff, like myself. It helps you see some of the truth of military life that isn't in the purvue of such excellent works as Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, and that other "other side of the WWII Army" movie, Catch-22.Who do we have to harass to get this released on DVD??

This is a film that will leave you crying, angry and filled with righteous indignation, as it should.Of the thousands of GI's who deserted during WW2, only one, Eddie Slovik, paid the ultimate price. His story is one of sheer bad luck on an appalling scale. Having done time for a minor offence (it was Grand Theft Auto), Slovik is determined to put the past behind him and start afresh. He gets a job, finds a wife and settles down, happy in the knowledge that his prison record means he's a 4F when it comes to military service. But when the army changes the rules and he registers as 1A, he finds himself in a situation he's emotionally unable to cope with.Eddie Slovik should never have been on the front line. He was terrified of guns and at boot camp they had to cheat to get him through the rifle range. Right from the start it was clear this was not the sort of man any soldier would want defending his rear, since he was incapable of doing it. Despite this, he was sent into Europe after the D-Day landings. Separated from his platoon he found a niche for himself as a forager for a Canadian unit and there, frankly, he should have stayed. When ordered back to his own unit, which was on the front line, he deserted, having made his situation plain. It's a downhill run from there.The film uses actual letters written by Slovik and comments from people who knew him to fill out the background of this tragic story. Sheer bad timing, combined with a belief that no one would see the sentence through (since it had never been down before) contributes to the film's heartbreaking conclusion.Martin Sheen's performance is stunning. He manages to capture the pathos, fear, confusion and final terrified resignation of the man in the face of the inevitable. Slovik is the victim of fate and circumstance; the little guy, totally unprepared for the world in which he finds himself, more than willing to apply those skills he does possess to the war effort, but incapable of fulfilling what the army demands of him. While you can appreciate the army's need to make a point, you are left with the unalterable conclusion that here they picked the wrong man.This film left me feeling extremely angry, and it's a rare one that does that. It also made me want to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the events and I was pleasantly surprised to find the film, by and large, stuck to historical fact.Highly recommended.