All the Young Men
All the Young Men
NR | 26 August 1960 (USA)
All the Young Men Trailers

During the Korean War, the lieutenant in charge of a Marine rifle platoon is killed in battle. Before he dies, he places the platoon's sergeant, who's black, in charge. The sergeant figures on having trouble with two men in his platoon: a private who has much more combat experience than he does, and a racist Southerner who doesn't like blacks in the first place and has no intention of taking orders from one.

Reviews
Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Bob_Zerunkel From the comments and reviews, it seems that people think that this was a clumsily handled movie about racism. It isn't.Poitier plays a man with little practical experience, but the stripes that put him in charge. Ladd plays a man who has all the practical experience, but he lost his stripes due to unexplained incidents in his past.Poitier has to deal with one racist guy. That's all. The rest of the outfit, including Ladd, don't care if Poitier is black.Ladd comes close to rebelling against Poitier, but it has nothing to do with race. It has to do with Poitier's lack of experience. Even with their infighting, Ladd backs up Poitier every time there is action. Poitier was the first to run to save Alcalde. Ladd was the second.Another point that the reviewers don't like is Ladd's age. Go ask grampa. Lots of old timers fought in WWII and Korea. It isn't a stretch at all.And finally, there were many remarks about bad casting because they didn't use actual Koreans or Chinese. They filmed in the mountains of Montana. There wasn't a lot to choose from. The extras that they used not only were the wrong race, but were often holding the wrong weapons. That's life in a low budget flick. Nonetheless, the people that think this is a movie that champions racial equality are also the same people that accuse this movie of racism as far as the extras. Go figger. I suppose some people can have it both ways.I've always loved Poitier. He has done many movies where race dominates. This isn't one of them. He's just a guy who is in over his head and he tries to do his best.
tavm In reviewing movies featuring African-Americans in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1960 with All the Young Men. Sidney Poitier plays a marine sergeant during the Korean War who suddenly becomes the leader of his troop after the lieutenant dies and makes him so. Only two men seem to really object to him, an experienced private (Alan Ladd), and a Southern racist soldier (Paul Richards). Poitier's presence is felt throughout with his best scenes being with the racist after catching him trying to rape a Korean woman whose house they're temporarily staying at. Despite his production company-Jaguar-being in charge, Alan Ladd leaves most of the picture to Poitier though occasionally he has some good scenes like when he talks to a fellow soldier about his wife and kid. Most of the picture was pretty good but the way they ended it with the record of "When the Saints Go Marching In" playing as the score as they gun down the enemy struck me as blatantly jingoistic especially as they were making many of the mixed nationalities in the troop human with many of their back-stories revealed as they talk to each other in between battles. Among the other men: comic Mort Sahl using some his amusing monologue here and James Darren singing the okay title song. All in all, All the Young Men was an okay war picture that I'd recommend to Poitier fans.
lorenellroy This movie benefits from some striking monochrome photography which is particularly well in evidence during its opening scenes ;these show a US patrol proceeding through snow encrusted mountains when it comes under attack from a Communist force .In the resulting battle the platoon leader is killed and hands over authority to the unit's sole black soldier (effectively played by Sidney Poitier)rather than to its most experienced member ,Kincaid (Alan Ladd),to whom the men have always looked up . Thus racial tension and bitterness are added to the already fraught situation as the troop must find a place to make a stand against superior numbers while awaiting reinforcements .There is a difference of opinion over strategy between Ladd and Poitier and other tensions between patrol members who include a Native American ,a wisecracking New Yorker ( Mort Sahl) and a callow youth played by James Darren who also contributes a forgettable song This is no better or worse than many another "patrol"movie with its assemblage of stock figures and seems to have been assembled with an eye to the widest demographic-Old Hollywood in Ladd , a rising newcomer in Poitier and a pop star(Darren ) for the youth market.Even the race angle was not new having featured in Home of The Brave over a decade previouslyGood matinée fare but nothing special either way
yenlo It seems that most war films about the Korean War during the time this one was made struggled to get their message across. They wanted to show action like all war pictures but also wanted to convey an anti-war message without being openly blatant about it. This picture while often times sluggish has some good moments in it. Comedian Mort Sahl gets a scene where he's allowed to do what he does best, semi-sarcastic comedy. All in all it's not an overly bad war film but it's not one of the better ones either. Former heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson who hailed from Sweden has a role in this movie.