Attack

Rating:
Summary: You tell Cooney I'm coming for him...........!
Review: I found this to be a great movie with excellent direction by Robert Aldrich and marks probably Jack Palance's best performance in anything else he has done since. Eddie Albert puts in a fine performance as the cowardly Captain Cooney. All Cooney wants is to achieve something in the war so his father can be proud of him. You can really understand the hatred and tension that builds up inside Jack Palance's Lt. Costa as he watches his men get killed in action simply because Captain Cooney is to cowardly to follow into combat and provide support. Lee Marvin puts in a fine performance as Cooney's superior officer and boyhood friend from back home. Who because of his own ambitions allows Cooney to remain in charge in an attempt to make a man out of him, in the hope that Cooney's father can pull some strings back home to further his political ambitions when the war is over. William Smithers plays Lt.Harry Woodruff who has his won battle of will with Lee Marvin over Cooney's leadership abilities and the reason's he is still in charge. This is a great WWII character driven movie and a study in human nature and the hidden politics of war. After the movie is over you are left wondering, if you were Lt. Harry Woodruff would you have made the call or simply walked away?

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest war movies ever made.
Review: I had always heard that this was the first WWII movie with which the US Armed Forces refused to cooperate. This movie doesn't make the job of soldiering look to be glamorous (which other films have done), but it goes one step further and does not make soldiers out to be heroic figures. The cast in this film is one of the most eclectic you could imagine assembling, and the move paid off in superb performances by all involved. Jack Palance was great as a willful killing machine, and Eddie Albert plays the psycho to perfection.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most underrated war movies ever!
Review: I have to concur with the other reviews written here: "Attack" is a great war film. Although most people have never heard of it. One of the reasons for that is the cast: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, and Buddy Ebsen do not exactly bring to mind a group of actors who created one of the grittiest war movies ever made. Instead most people will think of pushups at the Oscars, Arnold the talking pig, and Jed Clampett. Yet anyone who ignores this film because of its cast are doing themselves a disservice.

"Attack" is one of several films that was ignored by critics in their rush to dimiss any WWII movie made before "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" as a patriotic flag waver that was guilty of sanitizing the horrors of war. "Attack" was one of the first war movies to show that not all WWII commanders were worthy of the men they lead. Some commanders were incompentent and got their men unneccessarily killed. Others had no leadership skills and created animosity and divisions within their unit. Others were cowards who would not do what they ordered their men to do. Eddie Albert's company commander in "Attack" is all the above. What does a unit do when its own commander is its worst enemy? That is the story of "Attack."

Rating:
Summary: I BOUGHT IT CHEAP BUT IT WAS VERY GOOD!
Review: I just purchased this DVD at Wal-Mart for $6.99 a few days ago on a whim. However, I was very pleasantly surprised! Given that it is now almost 50 years old, and in B&W, it was a surprisingly good and enjoyable expose on the corrupt side of war.
I recommend it for all WW II film buffs.

Rating:
Summary: A Lost Classic
Review: I saw this movie because I am a fan of Jack Palance and have wanted to see Robert Aldrich's "Attack" for many years. "Attack" is on my personal list as one of the Ten Greatest Movies. This film is badly underrated. I have never seen a better World War II film. I am disappointed that this film is not better known by the moviegoing public.

In wartorn Europe, incompetent Army Captain Eddie Albert endangers his troops and Army Lieutenant Jack Palance stands up to him.

Adding to the credibility of "Attack" is a cast that actually fought in World War II. Unlike many present day war films that feature performers who lack even peacetime military experience, "Attack" features actors with genuine combat experience: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, and Lee Marvin. The film realistically captures the desperation and tension of military combat. Viewers empathize with the trauma and pain felt by the characters.

The film also features great performances from its leading actors. Jack Palance is one of Hollywood's most underrated performers. After more than forty years in the entertainment business, Palance would finally win an Oscar for "City Slickers"(1991) but "Attack" is the movie for which Palance should have received this honor; Palance wasn't even nominated for this picture. Perennial villain Palance proved that he could play a good guy(Or certainly a great antihero) in an unforgettable movie. Eddie Albert, who would become best known for TV's "Green Acres" and "Switch," proves that he could give a serious dramatic performance in a movie. Albert's cowardly and neurotic Captain Cooney is one of the screen's great villains. Buddy Ebsen(Another future TV star) also gives a fine supporting turn.

I plan to see this movie again. Well-recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Lost Classic
Review: I saw this movie because I am a fan of Jack Palance and have wanted to see Robert Aldrich's "Attack" for many years. "Attack" is on my personal list as one of the Ten Greatest Movies. This film is badly underrated. I have never seen a better World War II film. I am disappointed that this film is not better known by the moviegoing public.

In wartorn Europe, incompetent Army Captain Eddie Albert endangers his troops and Army Lieutenant Jack Palance stands up to him.

Adding to the credibility of "Attack" is a cast that actually fought in World War II. Unlike many present day war films that feature performers who lack even peacetime military experience, "Attack" features actors with genuine combat experience: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, and Lee Marvin. The film realistically captures the desperation and tension of military combat. Viewers empathize with the trauma and pain felt by the characters.

The film also features great performances from its leading actors. Jack Palance is one of Hollywood's most underrated performers. After more than forty years in the entertainment business, Palance would finally win an Oscar for "City Slickers"(1991) but "Attack" is the movie for which Palance should have received this honor; Palance wasn't even nominated for this picture. Perennial villain Palance proved that he could play a good guy(Or certainly a great antihero) in an unforgettable movie. Eddie Albert, who would become best known for TV's "Green Acres" and "Switch," proves that he could give a serious dramatic performance in a movie. Albert's cowardly and neurotic Captain Cooney is one of the screen's great villains. Buddy Ebsen(Another future TV star) also gives a fine supporting turn.

I plan to see this movie again. Well-recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Ensemble Piece takes Venice Festival's 1956 Critic's Prize
Review: In the arena of public awareness, Attack!'s all-star cast does not seem to have been enough to overcome its B-movie title, one which is neither appropriate nor sufficiently ironic. The film's original name was more in line with the Norman Brooks play on which it is based, "Fragile Fox." Indeed, key scenes are staged and designed like a "filmed play," but that only heightens the drama here. Riveting from the get-go, the 107-minute cut seems to fly by in an hour.
To find the real drama in Robert Aldrich's film, viewers should discard the extreme characterizations of the brave Lt. Joe Costa (Jack Palance) and the cowardly Capt. Cooney (Eddie Albert) like the high and low data that is thrown out before analysis. (Many of the best scenes are absent Palance, whose over-the-top performance could certainly bug some viewers.) The real questions are raised by the seemingly level-headed men in the middle who recognize the potentially volatile situation for what it is and choose to deal with it in ways befitting their divergent perspectives. Bartlett (Lee Marvin) is an ambitious and crafty colonel who tolerates Cooney's incompetence because of the latter's political connections back home. He is at odds with Lt. Henry Woodruff (William Smithers), one of the men who could potentially end up as fodder for Cooney's foolery.
Anyone who has ever been skipped over for promotion or lost the lead in a grade school play owing to a lack of either political connections or a willingness to screw over their comrades will recognize all the characters in "Attack!" Illustrating that human frailties are easily mapped onto a combat situation (and suggesting there's no reason they wouldn't be), this is the scariest of war films. Despite its meditation on moral relativism, "Attack"--universally hailed as an "anti-war film"--never once argues that this particular conflict is not worth the fighting. As the glue that holds the ensemble piece together, Smithers' Woodruff argues, "If we can get rid of Cooney, all we have to do is fight the war."

Rating:
Summary: Best war move ever! Absolutely outstanding.
Review: Jack Palance and Eddie Albert, two of the finest and most underrated cinematic performers to ever grace a set. Believe me folks, this is a great one.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Jack Palance
Review: Long on several "lost film" lists, "Attack" is at last available on video. There are several reasons to see this film. It is a forerunner of so many grim, realistic movies that treat the subject with intelligence ("Men In War", "Pork Chop Hill", "Platoon", "The Thin Red Line"). It is brilliantly directed (many scenes are almost unbearable in their naked dramatic truth). And it contains several performances that demand attention.

The conviction of Eddie Albert's playing of the cowardly Lieutenant may come as a surprise to those unaware of his talents. Lee Marvin also delivers a solid characterization, as do most of the other supporting players. But the main feature of this film is the astonishing portrayal of Lt. Costa by Jack Palance. The kind of immersion in a role that Palance exhibits here is rare. It is the kind of performance that seems more like "being" than acting. A number of close-ups of Palance's face deliver a frisson of emotional intensity and truth that are rare and wonderful in the cinema of any period. In fact, Palance helps to demonstrate, in this picture, why "war films" should exist as a genre. The condition of war, of combat in particular, serves to foreground, polarize and intensify emotions and moral convictions. It can call into question the very nature of humanity. Just what is the price of a human life? What do we as humans mean to one another? When do concepts like 'bravery' and 'cowardice' cease to have meaning?

"Attack" is a small film, great in its impact.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Jack Palance
Review: Long on several "lost film" lists, "Attack" is at last available on video. There are several reasons to see this film. It is a forerunner of so many grim, realistic movies that treat the subject with intelligence ("Men In War", "Pork Chop Hill", "Platoon", "The Thin Red Line"). It is brilliantly directed (many scenes are almost unbearable in their naked dramatic truth). And it contains several performances that demand attention.

The conviction of Eddie Albert's playing of the cowardly Lieutenant may come as a surprise to those unaware of his talents. Lee Marvin also delivers a solid characterization, as do most of the other supporting players. But the main feature of this film is the astonishing portrayal of Lt. Costa by Jack Palance. The kind of immersion in a role that Palance exhibits here is rare. It is the kind of performance that seems more like "being" than acting. A number of close-ups of Palance's face deliver a frisson of emotional intensity and truth that are rare and wonderful in the cinema of any period. In fact, Palance helps to demonstrate, in this picture, why "war films" should exist as a genre. The condition of war, of combat in particular, serves to foreground, polarize and intensify emotions and moral convictions. It can call into question the very nature of humanity. Just what is the price of a human life? What do we as humans mean to one another? When do concepts like 'bravery' and 'cowardice' cease to have meaning?

"Attack" is a small film, great in its impact.