ada the leading man is my tpye

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

jthompson16 Typical and inaccurate Hollywood portrayal of men in a difficult situation during war. Showing the American fighting man the way Hollywood wishes he were. Completely false portrayal of a situation that an NCO with 19 years service, including WW II and Korea could have handled easily. The prisoner would have been kept in the ship's brig or some locked space not in the same room as the soldiers. They would not have obeyed the orders of an ROK officer to kill the prisoner. There would have been no hesitation about ignoring the order. No soldier would kill a prisoner he had under complete control behind the front lines. Another thing, using a B-25 as a North Korean bomber was a laugh. In 1953 the US had complete control of the air over all of Korea South of the range of Chinese MIG-15s.

MartinHafer The intro to this film indicates that this story is universal and could apply to any war...or any country...and this is quite true. And, this universality of the story make this an exceptional war film.When the story begins, some American soldiers are loading trucks with airplane fuel which will soon be transported to the front. However, during this process, a North Korean plane attacks...killing one of the men. The plane soon crashes and a lone man bails out of the craft. Now when the surviving three American soldiers enter the ship, they have a prisoner.Once aboard the ship, the men contact headquarters and are told that they were NOT to bring the prisoner in with them. In other words, they were to kill him! This is clearly a war crime...and is against the articles of war. The sergeant (Kirk Douglas) clearly seems to LIKE this order...one of the men, one of the privates (Robert Walker Jr.) thinks the order is monstrous and refuses to do it. The sergeant takes delight in goading this private but despite this, he will NOT kill the man. So, the sadistic sergeant then tries to get the other private to do it...The story is a great look at human nature...the good as well as the bad. And, it reminds us that the German soldiers of WWII were not the only ones who murdered and chalked it all up to 'just following orders'. A very strong film whose only shortcoming is its pacing (it could have been shortened a bit and that would have made a stronger picture).

jacobs-greenwood Directed by George Seaton, with a screenplay by Henry Denker that was based on a novel by Vahé Katcha, this intense Korean War drama appropriately features Kirk Douglas as Sergeant P.J. Briscoe, who's tasked with executing a North Korean pilot prisoner he refers to as 'the gook' (Enrique Magalona, in one of only three films in which he appeared). The prisoner, who had just killed Lieutenant Troy (Mark Miller) in a bombing raid before crash landing himself, is humanly rescued by Private O.A. Dennison (Robert Walker Jr., son of his same named actor father and actress Jennifer Jones, in his film debut), who's more intelligent than your 'average joe'. Nick Adams plays Pvt. V.R. Hackett, the only other member of this group, who's beholden to Briscoe for reasons to be revealed. The military personnel were collecting a stash of fuel which has to be transported to where it's needed by a civilian charter vessel, run by Finnish Captain Van Ryn (Nehemiah Persoff). When Briscoe calls into HQ, he learns that a school and a hospital were just bombed by the enemy and is ordered, by the South Korean officer now in charge, to dispose of his prisoner of war, who Van Ryn had made bunkmate of the others. So, the film is an emotional and psychological thriller as the three discuss the required act and the fate of their prisoner.Briscoe has but a short time left to serve before he can retire at 40 with a full pension, even though he has no one to go home to, as Dennison discovers. He's a hard man whose father and military experience has convinced him that weakness means death. Briscoe has taken Dennison under his wing, but rides him while trying to instill these same values. At the same time, Briscoe has 'control' of Hackett, who used to be a Corporal but was bucked down to Private by the Sergeant who was 'protecting' him after a drunken brawl with another officer; this, however, turns out to have been a self serving act. At different times, each of the men tries to kill the prisoner, but each finds killing another man face-to-face more difficult than expected. Dennison is the humanist whose words 'work' on the other two and the two Privates actually try to free their prisoner. The ship's captain and crew doesn't get involvement per their neutrality in the conflict. Later, when Briscoe is about to report their combined insubordination to their superiors, they learn that a cease-fire had been called, effectively letting them off 'the hook' for not following orders. But they'd left their prisoner alone; knowing his fate, he escapes and then tries to sabotage the ship full of oil barrels. The language barrier not only prevents the Americans from telling the North Korean about the armistice, but it leads to his own tragic ending.

bkoganbing It's 1953 in the wee small hours of the Korean War winding down. While the peace talks proceed slowly at Panmunjom, the UN forces are evacuating their positions as the truce lines come into being. But the fighting still goes on. Another Korean War film, Pork Chop Hill, also dealt with this time of the war which President Truman called a police action.A Korean pilot in a MIG Jet attacks some US soldiers who are loading supplies on a freighter and only three of them survive, Kirk Douglas, Robert Walker, Jr., and Nick Adams. Later on the pilot of the MIG is shot down and he's picked up by the freighter that the three soldiers are on with the supplies which includes a lot of barrels of oil. Radioing for instructions, Kirk Douglas is told by a South Korean major to kill the North Korean pilot. He's certainly up for it, he's a veteran from this war and World War II. Walker doesn't want to and Adams is kind of on the fence because he's personally loyal to Douglas who got him out of a jam once.The majority of The Hook is spent on the conflict between the three GIs. It's a rather unreal story because these three would be up for war crimes charges, Walker realizes this best. But two wars against oriental people have given Douglas some pronounced views on the subject. The holes in the script are covered up by the performances of the cast.Nehemiah Persoff turns in a fine performance as the ship's captain who on his ship is the one in charge. But the best acting is done by Filipino player Enrique Magalona as the confused and frightened North Korean prisoner.Pork Chop Hill is a better film, but The Hook is not a bad one. The ending is ironic to say the least.