As the battle unfolded, I began to mentally compare the production with recent, outstanding, "last stand" epics, specifically WE WERE SOLDIERS and BLACK HAWK DOWN - both also based on true events. PORK CHOP HILL comes up short, but not by much. The obvious difference is that PCH - released in 1959 - is filmed in black and white. This mutes the gore, which, in any case, is positively negligible compared to the grisly and graphic realism of today's simulated combat footage. However, the resulting tension felt by the viewer as Joe's unit is surrounded and faced with impending annihilation is only a click less than that felt during the height of the WWS and BHD on-screen fighting. At one point, Clemons orders a bayonet charge, which, as he says, may be the last one ever carried out by the U.S. Army. Well, the last perhaps until Mel Gibson's character, Lt. Col. Harold Moore, orders his Air Cav troopers to do the same to get out of a tight spot in WE WERE SOLDIERS.

PORK CHOP HILL is anti-war to the extent that it condemns the rear echelon desk jockeys tempted to sacrifice American boys on the altar of political expediency, or just from pure incompetence. It also isn't afraid to show the demoralization within Joe's command, and that not every grunt was itching to go over the top and charge the enemy trenches. In a film made well before the Vietnam debacle, such candidness must have been some sort of cinematic milestone for U.S. audiences used to the gung-ho dramas based on the nation's relatively recent World War II victories.

My sole motivation in watching this film was to see Peck. I can't think of any actor today whose on-screen presence exudes such dignified strength and integrity. I'm so convinced of this fact that I've gone ahead and ordered a biography of the man. We are missing the likes of him (and icons Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Cary Grant).