The Young Lions (1958)

WW2 drama that follows the lives of three young men, one German and two Americans, during wartime.

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Edward Anhalt (screenplay), Irwin Shaw (novel)

Stars:

Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Marlon Brando	...	Lt. Christian Diestl
Montgomery Clift	...	Noah Ackerman
Dean Martin	...	Michael Whiteacre
Hope Lange	...	Hope Plowman
Barbara Rush	...	Margaret Freemantle
May Britt	...	Gretchen Hardenberg
Maximilian Schell	...	Capt. Hardenberg
Dora Doll	...	Simone
Lee Van Cleef	...	1st Sgt. Rickett
Liliane Montevecchi	...	Françoise
Parley Baer	...	Sgt. Brandt
Arthur Franz	...	Lt. Green
Hal Baylor	...	Pvt. Burnecker
Richard Gardner	...	Pvt. Crowley
Herbert Rudley	...	Capt. Colclough

Storyline

The destiny of three soldiers during World War II. The German officer Christian Diestl approves less and less of the war. Jewish-American Noah Ackerman deals with antisemitism at home and in the army while entertainer Michael Whiteacre transforms from playboy to hero.

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner of war | british army | u.s. army | german army | nazi soldier | 

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Taglines:

20th CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS ALL THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF the Young Lions (original print ad - mostly caps)

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actress Liliane Montevecchi (Francoise in the film) starred alongside former comedy team partners Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin in back-to-back movies immediately after the duo had parted. She starred in The Young Lions (1958) with Martin and The Sad Sack (1957) with Lewis the previous year.

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Goofs

Near the end, when Ackerman and Whiteacre confront a guilt-ridden and despairing Christian and shoot him, Ackerman uncharacteristically (for a soldier in combat) drops his guard holding his rifle down and is looking off camera to his right for a cue as if to ask what to do next...apparently gets his cue and begins walking forward again toward Christian's now lifeless body.

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Quotes

Capt. Hardenberg: [two Nazi officers, escaping on a motorcycle in the middle of the endless desert] Don't fall asleep, damn you. Talk! Talk to me!
Lt. Christian Diestl: [confused] Uh, I wish I was back in Austria! I wish I was back in the snow... in the winter... in the mountains...
Capt. Hardenberg: [impatient] Not like that! Talk about something else!
Lt. Christian Diestl: [amused] Can I talk about what I did with your wife the last time I was in Berlin?

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Connections

Featured in V.I.P.-Schaukel: Episode #8.2 (1978)

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Soundtracks

Bless 'Em All
(uncredited)
Written by Fred Godfrey, Jimmy Hughes and Frank Lake
Heard at the restaurant where Margaret and Whiteacre are dining

User Reviews

One of Brando's best performances in an excellent parallel-narratives picture which shows us the human side of war.

The Young Lions sticks to its aim of showing us the human experience of war... Though it more often than not does this in a way which also filled the studio's quota of love scenes.

For a war picture, in fact, there are more love scenes than war scenes! In the first hour, you'd think you were in the wrong movie!

BRANDO FANS ALERT: This is one of his better performances, even one of his best i'd say.

Be warned: the picture is sort of episodic, and bounces between the germans and the americans every twenty minutes, developing parallel narratives. It can seem fairly uneven, for that reason.

How did Monty and Dean manage to be friends before the war and be drafted into the exact same platoon? Magic.

8/10.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German

Release Date:

2 April 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Young Lions

Filming Locations:

Yuma, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,550,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

167 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) 4-Track Stereo

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1