Thursday, June 04, 2009

They Came to Cordura (1959)

Talk about a waste of movie time... That's two hours I can't get back. I appreciate the themes (what is courage and and what is cowardice in wartime and how do those relate to non-wartime actions), I appreciate what they tried to do (we're all only human with the capacity for either), but it just fell flat and failed for me. Not one likeable character in the entire film. Horrible score. Awful stilted, phony dialogue that no one could pull off except Van Heflin. (He was the only saving grace in the movie, the only one who managed to seem natural in a difficult role despite lacking any help from the script.) I admit, I'm not fond of Gary Cooper, but he's much better normally than he was in this movie. It's too bad, because the cast includes quite a set of famous names. All wasted.

Oh, and on the most annoying actors of all time list? For me, Tab Hunter is right up top. He is truly, absolutely annoying and a bad actor to boot.

Funny thing is, I already knew I didn't like this movie, but I gave it a try anyway because of the cast. I'd caught the beginning once a couple years ago when I was traveling and it was on in the hotel room. Just those first ten minute bored me and I turned it off then. I should have steered clear. ("You've got to steer clear. Steer. Clear?")

3 comments:

Millie said...

I've never seen this, but I've always been fascinated at the thought of all that star power.

DKoren said...

I know! It's a great cast, top notch actors. I was sorely disappointed in how badly it failed despite them.

Abe Lucas said...

IN HARM'S Way. Intrada. Go.