Take the High Ground!

Infobox_Film
name = Take the High Ground!


amg_id =
imdb_id =
producer = Dore Schary
director = Richard Brooks
writer = Millard Kaufman
starring = Richard Widmark
Karl Malden
Elaine Stewart
music = Dimitri Tiomkin
cinematography = John Alton
editing = John Dunning
distributor = MGM
released = October 30, 1953
country = USA
runtime = 101 min.
language = English

"Take the High Ground!" is a Korean War film, starring Richard Widmark and Karl Malden as drill instructors who must transform a batch of everyday civilians into soldiers.

Plot

In May 1953, a new group of Army recruits at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas encounter their drill instructors, Sgt. Laverne Holt (Karl Malden) and the tough-as-nails Sgt. Thorne Ryan (Richard Widmark). After Ryan's caustic appraisal of the recruits, Holt vows to make soldiers out of them during their sixteen weeks of basic training. Ryan, a combat veteran who resents his stateside duty, repeatedly applies for a transfer back to the Korean front.

One night, the men cross the border to Mexico for recreation. In a bar, Ryan and Holt see a beautiful woman, Julie Mollison (Elaine Stewart), buying drinks for a group of soldiers. Later that evening, the two sergeants escort the inebriated Julie to her apartment, and Ryan finds himself drawn to her.

Training begins. Ryan exposes his men to tear gas to prepare them for the harsh conditions of battle. Ryan and Holt return to the bar one night, and find Julie sitting alone. When the crude Sgt. Vince Opperman (Bert Freed) insults Julie, she runs out of the bar in tears, and Holt comforts her. Ryan and Opperman fight, and Opperman reveals that Julie was married to a soldier who was killed in Korea shortly after she left him.

One day, recruit Lobo Naglaski (Steve Forrest) visits the camp chaplain to confess his murderous feelings toward Ryan, but comes to see that the sergeant has very little time in which to do a tough job. Tensions arise between Ryan and Holt, both over Ryan's callous treatment of the men and Holt's relationship with Julie. Ryan puts his men through increasingly tough drills, and during a bitter confrontation one day, Holt slugs Ryan and walks away.

Later, Ryan calls on Julie at her apartment, and they fall into a passionate embrace. When she resists his further advances, however, Ryan becomes insulting, casting aspersions on Julie's virtue and chiding her for having left her late husband.

One day, during a field exercise, recruit Donald Quentin Dover IV (Robert Arthur) runs away. Ryan tracks him down and gives the young man a second chance, confessing that his own father had been a deserter.

As the training period draws to a close, Ryan returns to Julie's apartment and discovers she has moved out. He finds Julie and Holt at the train station. After Holt leaves, Ryan apologizes for his behavior and asks Julie to marry him, but she sadly replies that he is married to the Army. Outside the train station, Ryan and Holt silently make their peace. The men finish basic training, and as the new soldiers march by during their graduation exercises, Ryan proudly points them out to a fresh group of recruits.

Cast

*Richard Widmark as Sgt. Thorne Ryan
*Karl Malden as Sgt. Laverne Holt
*Elaine Stewart as Julie Mollison
*Carleton Carpenter as Merton Tolliver
*Russ Tamblyn as Paul Jamison
*Jerome Courtland as Elvin Carey
*Steve Forrest as Lobo Naglaski
*Robert Arthur as Donald Quentin Dover IV
*Chris Warfield as Soldier
*William Hairston as Daniel Hazard
*Maurice Jara as Franklin D. No Bear
*Bert Freed as Sgt. Vince Opperman

According to pre-production Hollywood Reporter news item, James Arness, Ralph Meeker, James Whitmore, William Campbell, and Richard Anderson, were cast, but they were not in the film.

Awards

*The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, losing to "Titanic".

Production

The film was originally to be shot at the U.S. Marine boot camp in San Diego, California, but it was later asserted that "the Marines refused to cooperate because they did not want to stir up old controversies over the toughness of their training program." The Army, however, cooperated fully with the studio, and location filming took place at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

External Link

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