During WW2 in Italy, Sergeant Joe Mooney is leading his small squad on the front-lines but is ordered to avoid rescuing a soldier trapped in no man's land.During WW2 in Italy, Sergeant Joe Mooney is leading his small squad on the front-lines but is ordered to avoid rescuing a soldier trapped in no man's land.During WW2 in Italy, Sergeant Joe Mooney is leading his small squad on the front-lines but is ordered to avoid rescuing a soldier trapped in no man's land.
Dickie Moore
- Pvt. Muller
- (as Dick Moore)
Sue Casey
- Girl in Daydream
- (uncredited)
Jil Jarmyn
- Girl in Daydream
- (uncredited)
Mona Knox
- Girl in Daydream
- (uncredited)
Evelyn Lovequist
- Girl in Daydream
- (uncredited)
Joan McKellen
- Girl in Daydream
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe German machine gun used to keep the soldier pinned in the shell hole kept malfunctioning. The prop men could not correct the problem. Tired of the delays, Lee Marvin, a WWII vet, stepped in and fixed the gun.
- GoofsWhen Lee Marvin calls Pvt. Collucci to be look out using binoculars. If you listen you will hear Jets fly over during WWII.
- Quotes
Captain Trelawny: I came up here with a company and I'll be lucky to leave with a platoon.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Discovering Film: Lee Marvin (2015)
- SoundtracksThe Anniversary Song
("Waves of the Danube") (uncredited)
Written by Iosif Ivanovici
)Hummed as two soldiers dance
Featured review
A mix of "Stalag 17" and television's "Combat" series (which it inspired), "Eight Iron Men" (1952) is my favorite war movie. Made when Director Edward Dmytryk was still paying attention to his acting for the camera direction, "Eight Iron Men" is Harry Brown's adaptation of his play "A Sound of Hunting". Brown would later write one of the more classic episodes of "Combat".
Dmytryk, noted for his action sequences, was smart enough to concentrate on the play's extremely clever repartee between the members of an infantry squad who are marking time in the ruins of a destroyed town in Europe late in WWII. Squad leader Sgt. Mooney (Lee Marvin) has somehow managed to keep his group intact up to this point of the war. His goal of leaving the town with all seven of his men is threatened when the squad's most inept member Private Small (George Cooper) gets himself pinned down in a shell-hole; a few yards away from a well-protected German machine gun nest.
With orders to pull back the squad is torn between disobeying or abandoning their buddy to the Germans. Their decision is further complicated by not knowing if Small is still alive. Once this situation has been fleshed out, Dmytryk builds up the tension as it becomes closer and closer to the time they must leave.
By the end of the film you feel like you know all the six of Mooney's multi-ethnic squad members. There is a comedian (Nick Dennis), a hot-head (Richard Kiley), a pragmatist (Arthur Franz), a cub scout (Dickie Moore), a war-weary dreamer (James Griffith), and a dame obsessed gold brick (Bonar Colleano).
Much like "Das Boot" and "Cross of Iron", the members of the squad have shared so many intense experiences that they have become closer to each other than they ever were to their own family members. This makes their choice even more difficult.
Like the best anti-war films, "Eight Iron Men" is full of hard-bitten cynicism as a group of humans try to maintain their dignity in an insane environment. The face of war is gritty-not glamorous in "Eight Iron Men" and the film is not for those looking for fast edits and flashy action sequences.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Dmytryk, noted for his action sequences, was smart enough to concentrate on the play's extremely clever repartee between the members of an infantry squad who are marking time in the ruins of a destroyed town in Europe late in WWII. Squad leader Sgt. Mooney (Lee Marvin) has somehow managed to keep his group intact up to this point of the war. His goal of leaving the town with all seven of his men is threatened when the squad's most inept member Private Small (George Cooper) gets himself pinned down in a shell-hole; a few yards away from a well-protected German machine gun nest.
With orders to pull back the squad is torn between disobeying or abandoning their buddy to the Germans. Their decision is further complicated by not knowing if Small is still alive. Once this situation has been fleshed out, Dmytryk builds up the tension as it becomes closer and closer to the time they must leave.
By the end of the film you feel like you know all the six of Mooney's multi-ethnic squad members. There is a comedian (Nick Dennis), a hot-head (Richard Kiley), a pragmatist (Arthur Franz), a cub scout (Dickie Moore), a war-weary dreamer (James Griffith), and a dame obsessed gold brick (Bonar Colleano).
Much like "Das Boot" and "Cross of Iron", the members of the squad have shared so many intense experiences that they have become closer to each other than they ever were to their own family members. This makes their choice even more difficult.
Like the best anti-war films, "Eight Iron Men" is full of hard-bitten cynicism as a group of humans try to maintain their dignity in an insane environment. The face of war is gritty-not glamorous in "Eight Iron Men" and the film is not for those looking for fast edits and flashy action sequences.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
- aimless-46
- Sep 3, 2007
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Dirty Dozen
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 20 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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