Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Edward Dmytryk,I have watched noirs like Crossfire and Murder, My Sweet which were directed by you. The Young Lions is unlike both those films. It is a rather long and slightly boring anti-war drama. The film has a huge star cast. Brando is great as a sympathetic and humane Nazi. He is all body language as usual. His German accent was a bit funny. Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin play reluctant American soldiers. Clift looked very old and doomed as a Jewish soldier. Martin's was a towering presence and his acting was effortless. The film explores the three characters love lives in detail. The film is as much about their love lives as their war experiences. I liked the fact that neither side is portrayed in very good light. American war movies tend to be overtly partisan and portray Germans as goofy idiots.May Britt as the frustrated wife of Brando's senior officer made quite an impression on me. The scene where she tries to seduce Brando's character with her sullen face and bovine presence was an interesting erotic interlude in what was otherwise a pretty sleep inducing film.The many discussions on the nature of man and war were rather trite. The film did have some great boxing scenes when Clift's Jewish soldier is bullied by fellow American soldiers. Hugo Friedhofer's score is pretty good. I liked the rambunctious title score and the romantic tunes as well.Best Regards, Pimpin.(6/10)

edwagreen Highest rating to this 1958 film with an all-star cast once again proving their mettle.Didn't Montgomery Clift remind you of his brilliant Pruitt five years before in "From Here to Eternity?" Dean Martin had a fabulous 1958 year proving his worth in dramatic acting with this film along with "Some Came Running."This is definitely a film of moral conviction with Marlon Brando outstanding as a German, caught by the Hitler lies and promises to the German people only to see the hell of war. In America, Dean Martin is an entertainer, a pacifist, who will use any means possible to evade military service. Montgomery Clift as Ackerman views for himself religious prejudice in the military.

dimplet The best movies are ones that have a message that cannot be conveyed easily in a few words. Such is The Young Lions. And the core of the message is found in the ending, which I do not want to disclose. But it is a relatively quiet scene that is actually a kick to the solar plexus, intellectually.Yes, Brando delivers the more interesting and even sympathetic performance, once he warms up. But Clift's performance is perhaps finer acting, displaying great emotional vulnerability.The message of this movie was daring for 1958. It treats the enemy - the Germans - with objectivity, compassion and even some sympathy, while being critical of American faults and anti-Semitism. I think it is saying that we are all human, regardless of side, and we are all capable of committing evil acts if put in the wrong situation, up to a point. If your inner character is good and strong, you will not participate, though, as we see with Brando's character, Diestl. This is a message that is as important today as it was half a century ago, if not more so, as we see with atrocities such as those committed by American servicemen in Abu Ghraib prison, acts that we might have seen from Nazis. A key difference is that in America such acts are illegal and punished in courts. Yes, the anti-Semitic root of the harassment of Ackerman in the barracks is implied, rather than spelled out, unlike in the book. Why? Hollywood, which was largely controlled by Jewish moguls at the time, was reluctant to make anti-Semitism an issue, fearing a backlash. (The only movie to tackle anti-Semitism was a Gentleman's Agreement, made in 1947, just before Congressional HUAC hearings on Hollywood, and the blacklisting of writers, actors and directors.) I, for one, being Jewish, don't miss the anti-Semitic expletives. And the movie turns Ackerman into a representative of any American minority in the Army who is harassed but eventually accepted. But what has been largely forgotten is that there once was virulent anti-Semitism in America, and active, organized support for the Nazis in areas such as the Midwest during the 1930s run-up to Pearl Harbor. We're talking pro-Nazi meetings in middle class homes. This is the real subtext of Irwin Shaw's story. However, America was not Nazi Germany, in ideals or actions. And one of the key differences is America's objectivity and ultimate honesty. That is what makes The Young Lions great. I am proud that it treats the Germans objectively. Another movie along these lines is "The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel," made, remarkably, in 1951. What many viewers do not understand is that it was illegal for members of the German military to enlist in the Nazi Party or engage in politics, even during the war. So officers such as Diestl were not Nazis, at least technically. They did swear an oath to support Hitler early on. It was the SS, the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organization, that was the arm of the Nazis. Nevertheless, plenty of regular German soldiers engaged in war crimes. But The Young Lions is saying do not judge each soldier or citizen by the acts of the group or nation. It is as wrong to engage in such prejudice toward Germans as it is against Jews or any group or nationality. The German people, to their credit, have largely faced up to the wrongs of WWII objectively. I think the tradition of intellectual honesty at the heart of Germany and Europe helped. The result is the modern world of reconciliation of former European enemies, something that is at least partially absent in Asia.The movie Stalingrad - 1993 is a stunning, raw German mea culpa that provides additional background for understanding movies such as this and Rommel. Watching The Young Lions lacks the drama and intensity found in many war movies. But it is a story that makes you think, and that lingers in your memory long after the movie is through. That is what gives it greatness. It is a movie more people should watch.

eyesour Marlon Brando's patrilineal ancestor, Johann Wilhelm Brandau, was a German immigrant to New York in the early 1700s. Marlon must have had the genes for his part in this rather soggy drama, as "Christian" --- would you believe! Actually, in real life, Brando was raised as a Christian Scientist. See Wikipedia. He did not play a Nazi in this film, in spite of what some reviewers say. They could not have been listening to the dialogue. Nor was he a member of the SS. He is supposed to have been a Bavarian cobbler, living in a mountainous ski-resort, who should have stuck to his last. Why does he then say: "Uh, I vish I vas back in Austria! I vish I was beck in ze snow... in ze vinter... in ze mountains..." ???? The truth is, in spite of what is misquoted on this site, he doesn't say "Austria". There is something faintly ludicrous in the motorcycle scene, with two Germans, Brando (Brando is NOT a Nazi --- another misdescription) and Schell, talking to each other in English with German accents. The language problem remains unsolved in many movies.There's something dissatisfying about this movie, but difficult to say exactly what. It's certainly overlong. It also seems just a wee bit too goody-good for its own good, and therefore lacks the bite that it might and ought to have had. Dean Martin is an unattractive character; Clift is just too shy, sweet, and weedy for words; Brando is very good, very charming, and makes one keep wishing the Germans had won. Some very silly reviewers wonder if his German accent would be considered plausible by Germans. How the devil would they be able to tell? I thought it was excellent --- better than his English accent, when he played the Fop on the Bounty.Worth a watch, but very dated. Will appeal more to Americans. Half-marks.