Boring

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"All the Young Men" is a Korean war movie that finds an aging Alan Ladd and an up-and-coming Sidney Poitier leading a platoon of soldiers into a snow-bound Korean pass where they have to hold a farm-house against all the odds. It's not a bad film, just a rather formulaic one full of stock characters yet it's even quite exciting at times. The writer/producer/director was Hal Bartlett, a B-Movie stalwart of the period who liked to tackle 'difficult' issues, a kind of poor man's Sam Fuller, (Poitier's presence here ensures racism rears its ugly head). The first-rate black and white photography was by Daniel L Fapp who was to win the Oscar a year later for his work on "West Side Story".

From the comments and reviews, it seems that people think that this was a clumsily handled movie about racism. It isn't.Poitier plays a man with little practical experience, but the stripes that put him in charge. Ladd plays a man who has all the practical experience, but he lost his stripes due to unexplained incidents in his past.Poitier has to deal with one racist guy. That's all. The rest of the outfit, including Ladd, don't care if Poitier is black.Ladd comes close to rebelling against Poitier, but it has nothing to do with race. It has to do with Poitier's lack of experience. Even with their infighting, Ladd backs up Poitier every time there is action. Poitier was the first to run to save Alcalde. Ladd was the second.Another point that the reviewers don't like is Ladd's age. Go ask grampa. Lots of old timers fought in WWII and Korea. It isn't a stretch at all.And finally, there were many remarks about bad casting because they didn't use actual Koreans or Chinese. They filmed in the mountains of Montana. There wasn't a lot to choose from. The extras that they used not only were the wrong race, but were often holding the wrong weapons. That's life in a low budget flick. Nonetheless, the people that think this is a movie that champions racial equality are also the same people that accuse this movie of racism as far as the extras. Go figger. I suppose some people can have it both ways.I've always loved Poitier. He has done many movies where race dominates. This isn't one of them. He's just a guy who is in over his head and he tries to do his best.

During the Korean War, up in the snowy mountains, a marine platoon is attacked and their lieutenant is killed. But just before he dies he places the platoon sergeant, Eddie Towler, in charge. Towler is black and has to get his men to safety amidst racial tension and constant in fighting.All The Young Men is a Saturday afternoon time filler of a movie. Not brilliant, but certainly not bad. Sidney Poitier takes the lead role as Towler and gives it his usual guts and emotional thunder. Alongside Poitier is Alan Ladd, who at 47 was coming to the end of his career. Now if one can cast aside that Ladd was a bit old to be bombing around the snow laden mountains, then his interplay with Poitier is actually very good. It certainly gives the character's edge, and thus keeps the picture being the character driven piece it's meant to be.This is no stock war film with blitzkrieg battles and dirty dozen like shenanigans, this is men holed up in a mountain station forced to win the battles amongst themselves in order to win the war. Nicely shot in stark black and white on location at the Glacier National Park, Montana, All The Young Men is very much a mood piece. Odd then that the makers shoehorn in some light relief courtesy of Mort Sahl's Corporal Crane. It's not Sahl's fault of course, but it doesn't sit right in context with the story. It's as if someone said to director and writer Hall Bartlett, you can't make an overtly bleak mood piece, put some fun in there!Still this was one I had a real good time with, partly because of its two lead actors and partly because of the locale. It's recommended on proviso that you expect character over action, oh yes sir. 7/10

It seems that most war films about the Korean War during the time this one was made struggled to get their message across. They wanted to show action like all war pictures but also wanted to convey an anti-war message without being openly blatant about it. This picture while often times sluggish has some good moments in it. Comedian Mort Sahl gets a scene where he's allowed to do what he does best, semi-sarcastic comedy. All in all it's not an overly bad war film but it's not one of the better ones either. Former heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson who hailed from Sweden has a role in this movie.