Attack (1956)

During the closing days of WWII, a National Guard Infantry Company is assigned the task of setting up artillery observation posts in a strategic area. Lieutenant Costa knows that Cooney is ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Norman Brooks (play), James Poe (screenplay)

Stars:

Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Palance	...	Lt. Joe Costa, Fox Co.
Eddie Albert	...	Capt. Erskine Cooney
Lee Marvin	...	Lt. Col. Clyde Bartlett, CO, White Battalion
Robert Strauss	...	Pfc. Bernstein
Richard Jaeckel	...	Pvt. Snowden
Buddy Ebsen	...	Sfc. Tolliver, Fox Co.
Jon Shepodd	...	Cpl. John Jackson, Fox Co. (communications)
Peter van Eyck	...	SS Captain (as Peter Van Eyck)
James Goodwin	...	Pfc. Ricks (as Jimmy Goodwin)
Steven Geray	...	Otto, German NCO
Jud Taylor	...	Pvt. Jacob R. Abramowitz (radioman) (as Judson Taylor)
Louis Mercier	...	Brouise (French blacksmith)
Henry Rowland	...	German with Binoculars
Holly Bane	...	Soldier with binoculars (as Mike Ragan)
Ron McNeil	...	Pfc. Jones

Storyline

During the closing days of WWII, a National Guard Infantry Company is assigned the task of setting up artillery observation posts in a strategic area. Lieutenant Costa knows that Cooney is in command only because of 'connections' he had made state-side. Costa has serious doubts concerning Cooneys' ability to lead the group. When Cooney sends Costa and his men out, and refuses to re-enforce them, Costa swears revenge.

---

Plot Keywords:

national guard | u.s. army | firearm | u.s. military | officer | 

---

Taglines:

TRAPPED BEHIND ENEMY LINES...THEY PASSED THE WORD ALONG TO -- ATTACK (original print ad - all caps)

---

Genres:

Drama | War | Action

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

17 October 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Command Attack

Filming Locations:

Albertson Ranch, Triunfo, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Associates & Aldrich Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actor Richard Jaeckel said of this film in Edwin T. Arnold's biography of Robert Aldrich, 'The Films and Career of Robert Aldrich': "There were scenes of incredible tension - Palance [Jack Palance] coming down the stairs to get Albert [Eddie Albert] - we were all impressed, even in rehearsals. It was a heavy project."

---

Goofs

When the wooden beam falls on Bernstein, breaking his leg, he twitches and the beam moves up, making it obvious that it's a prop weighing hardly anything.

---

Quotes

Costa: Listen to me, Cooney! If you put me and my men in a wringer - -if you send us out there and let us hang - -I swear, I swear by all that's holy, I'll come back. I'll come back and take this grenade and shove it down your throat and pull the pin!

User Reviews

A violent exposé of a lack of courage and perversion…

'Attack' was a violent exposé of a lack of courage and perversion among American officers fighting the Germans in Belgium; a completely anti-romantic expression of disgust with war, and, more specially, the war machine, with its breakdown and its own ridiculous brand of bureaucracy…

Jack Palance and Eddie Albert played, at different types of psychic disturbance, two officers who struggle on the battlefield — the one an efficacious, trustworthy, but disillusioned hero-typed, the other a cowardly sadist…

Lee Marvin was the cynical high-ranking officer who treats war as a political farce, mindless of the pain and distress of the ordinary soldiers…

Despite an inevitable over-fondness for the dramatic values of combat and the ferocious of men at arms, this was a convincing, truthful try to demythologize war — which, had it been set up in a lower key with fewer psychiatric reverberations, would have come nearer to being what Aldrich was struggling to achieve, 'a sincere plea for peace'.