The Young Lions (1958)

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Writers: Irwin Shaw, Edward Anhalt

Composer: Hugo Friedhofer

Starring: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell, Dora Doll, Lee Van Cleef, L.Q. Jones, Gordon Mitchell

More info: IMDb

Tagline: 20th CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS ALL THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF the Young Lions

Plot: 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.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

I first saw this more than twenty years ago and I remember that I liked Martin, I liked Brando's character arc and I didn't like Clift at all.  Now that I've seen it again, I feel the same way.  Martin's got charisma in spades and he was well cast to add some charm and happy go lucky but grounded humor.  Brando with bright blonde hair makes for a great looking German officer.  Then there's Clift who offers up the mental and emotional struggles of a soldier but he's got the added weight of representing today's youth who don't want to fight and he has hopes and dreams beyond what he's forced into.  He also constantly looks like he's in pain and that he's carrying the weight of the world. This also has him looking like he's trying to hard to act.  Martin and Brando make it look so easy.  It's a good story, following these guys around, but it's easy to grow tired of the Noah Ackerman (Clift) thread as his drama slow the picture down.  The movie's almost three hours long and it's short on action.  I liked the ending where the three characters we've been following merge.  That's a powerful moment.  The 20th Century Fox DVD looks fantastic in anamorphic widescreen.  For extras, you get a lousy trailer for 20th Century Fox war pictures, the theatrical trailer for this film (anamorphic widescreen) and more trailers.