Take the High Ground! (1953)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Millard Kaufman (story)
Millard Kaufman (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 October 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War | Drama

Plot:

Sgt. Thorne Ryan, who once fought bravely in Korea, now serves as an instructor to privates in a southern state of the USA...

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | Korean War | Drill Instructor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	Sgt. Thorne Ryan
Karl Malden	...	Sgt. Laverne Holt
Elaine Stewart	...	Julie Mollison
Carleton Carpenter	...	Merton 'Tex' Tolliver
Russ Tamblyn	...	Paul Jamison
Jerome Courtland	...	Elvin C. Carey
Steve Forrest	...	Lobo Naglaski
Robert Arthur	...	Donald Quentin Dover IV
Chris Warfield	...	Soldier
William Hairston	...	Daniel Hazard
Maurice Jara	...	Franklin D. No Bear
Bert Freed	...	Sgt. Vince Opperman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Iris Adrian	...	Mrs. Butterfly (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

The Making of a Marine (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16412) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

El Paso, Texas, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Plot holes: Throughout the movie it's constantly stated that they are being trained for the Infantry. However, the graduation scene at the end the individual guideons (company flags) are red and have crossed cannons, both signifying Field Artillery. Infantry guideons are blue and have crossed Kentucky rifles.

Quotes:

Sgt. Thorne Ryan: This is your rifle, and not your gun; it's made for shooting, and not for fun!

Soundtrack:

Take The High Ground!

Good, of its kind

The story could hardly be more familiar. A barracks worth of raw recruits from varying backgrounds arrive at Fort Bliss to go through basic training in the infantry. Widmark is the sterner of the two drill sergeants, Malden the more human, but both are friends, until . . . . Two plotlines are developed simultaneously. The first involves the mostly comic tribulations of the new grunts. They are by turns humiliated, worked to exhaustion, given to pillow fights and practical jokes on one another, as the sergeants attempt to "help you rid yourself of your winsome civilian ways". We are thankfully spared any involvement on their part with young women outside the camp. (The sort of thing, among other things, that positively ruined "Battle Cry.") Of course there has to be a romance, but it is left to Widmark and Malden, the two combat veterans who come to blows over Elaine Stewart, the pride of Montclair, New Jersey, as Julie. She's clearly more attracted to Widmark who is, after all, the male lead, but he professes to despise her because she hangs around in seedy juke joints, drinks, and makes out with soldiers like him. Malden is attracted to her too and, at least for one night, enjoys her favors, which Widmark notices. It annoys him. Widmark and Malden grow somewhat apart. Their irritation with one another increases as Widmark bears down harder on the recruits. His morality is lofty, of the "Nothing you experience in basic training will be as tough as combat," which may be true but which also provides a drill instructor with a license for outright sadism. Not to worry. The boys shape up and do some close order drill at the train platform before shipping out, leaving a new incoming group of recruits staring in awe. Julie leaves town, tearfully, by a train as well, no doubt to recapture her dignity. Widmark and Malden encounter each other on a dark street while returning from the train station, and Malden wordlessly offers Widmark a conciliatory cigarette. The processing machine grinds along and all is well. Widmark's character is oddly written. He quotes Elizabeth Barrett Browning while sneering that he's never read her. The only Browning my drill instructor ever heard of was made of metal.