Sergeant Ryker (1968)

Director:  Buzz Kulik

Writers: Seeleg Lester, William D. Gordon

Composer:  John Williams

Starring:  Lee Marvin, Bradfor Dillman, Peter Graves, Vera Miles, Lloyd Nolan, Murray Hamilton, Norman Fell, Walter Brooke, Francis De Sales, Don Marshall, Charles Aidman

More info:  IMDb

Tagline:  COMMIE MAJOR...or U.S. SERGEANT? There's a bullet at one end...and a hangman's noose at the other!

Plot:  During the Korean War Sergeant Paul Ryker is accused of defecting to Communist China and then returning to his unit as a spy. He's court-martialed and sentenced to death but his attorney believes Ryker's innocent and asks for a new trial.

My rating:   8/10

Will I watch it again?   Yes.

I've never seen a Lee Marvin performance I didn't like and this is no exception.  He owns it and I don't think I've ever seen him play so humble and defeated as he does here.  Sure, he gets lots of time to shine where his anger bursts out like a rabid dog but he's also shines as a softer man who's facing the hangman's noose for treason.  

 

Original airing on KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE in 1963, the two-episode broadcast was later combined and released as a film in 1968 after Marvin's massive success the previous year with THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), the role that made him an overnight worldwide superstar.  Why not, right?  He'd been a solid character actor in films for 18 years.  Anyway, he gives the solid performance you've come to expect from him.  The rest of the cast does a fine job as well.  It's neat seeing some familiar faces like Vera Miles and Peter Graves.  Norman Fell and Murray Hamilton are pitch-perfect in their roles.  Hamilton plays a brash, slimy Army Captain that gets slimier as the film progresses.  Not enough can be said about the great Lloyd Nolan.  The more I see of him, the more I love this guy.  He's such a natural at this and he makes it look as easy as breathing, as if he IS that character.  When he pops up at the end with what he's there to do, I teared-up a bit with happiness.  I'd say half the movie is courtroom drama with the other half dealing with the events that led up to the trial with some breaks between court scenes.  The story gets better and better as it unfolds and I wasn't sure how it was going to play out.  It's a very good movie and worth a watch unless you hate courtroom dramas.  It's in the public domain and free to watch online.