1959 film by Lewis Milestone
- For the
Korean War
battles, see
Battle of Pork Chop Hill
.
Pork Chop Hill
is a 1959 American
Korean War
film
starring
Gregory Peck
,
Woody Strode
,
Rip Torn
, and
George Peppard
. The film, which was the final war film directed by
Lewis Milestone
, is based upon the 1956 book by U.S. military historian
Brigadier General
S. L. A. Marshall
. It depicts the first fierce
Battle of Pork Chop Hill
between the
U.S. Army
's
7th Infantry Division
and
Chinese
and
North Korean
forces in April 1953.
The film features numerous actors who would go on to become movie and television stars in the 1960s and the 1970s such as
Woody Strode
,
Harry Guardino
,
Robert Blake
,
George Peppard
,
Norman Fell
,
Abel Fernandez
,
Gavin MacLeod
,
Harry Dean Stanton
, and
Clarence Williams III
. It is also the screen debut of
Martin Landau
and
George Shibata
, who was a West Point classmate of
Lieutenant Joe Clemons
, who also acted as
technical adviser
on the film.
Plot
[
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]
In April 1953, during the
Korean War
, K Company,
31st Infantry Regiment
,
7th Infantry Division
, under the command of Lieutenant
Joe Clemons
, is assigned to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger
Chinese People's Volunteer Army
force. Clemons leads 2nd Platoon, while putting his friend and
Executive Officer
, Lieutenant Tsugio Ohashi in charge of 1st Platoon, while 3rd Platoon is kept as a reserve. They succeed in taking the hill, trench by trench, but at the cost of high casualties. Clemons is promised another company as reinforcements, but L Company is ambushed, and only about a dozen infantrymen reach him. They prepare for a large-scale
Chicom
counterattack, with only 25 men left out of the whole company.
Meanwhile, at nearby
Panmunjeom
,
cease-fire negotiations
continue, and U.S. Army High Command are unwilling to reinforce the hill because its value is not worth further losses. Yet they will not abandon the hill either, because it is a point of negotiation in the talks. Eventually, American negotiators come to the conclusion that the Chinese are pouring soldiers into the battle for a militarily insignificant hill to test the resolve of the Americans. Thus, the decision is made to reinforce the hill, saving the lives of the survivors of Clemons's unit.
Cast
[
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]
Production
[
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]
The film was based on Marshall's book
Pork Chop Hill
published in 1956.
[4]
The
New York Times
called it "unforgettable".
[5]
In August 1957 the film rights were bought by
Melville Productions
, the film company of
Gregory Peck
. Sy Bartlett was to produce and James Webb was to write the script.
[6]
It was Webb who recommended the project to Melville. He decided to focus the action on Company K, who took up a chapter in the book, "All the King's Men", over a 24-hour period.
[7]
S.L.A. Marshall
reportedly disliked the fact that he had sold the movie rights to his book for next-to-nothing, and vowed not to make the same mistake again.
[8]
In January 1958 Lewis Milestone agreed to direct.
[9]
He and Bartlett wanted to cast unknowns in support of Peck and saw over 600 actors for 83 speaking parts.
[10]
Strode and Edwards' portrayal of
African American
soldiers is based on the
24th Infantry Regiment
, which was still
racially segregated
in Korea. All Black units were integrated in the summer and fall of 1951 and all Black units were integrated and closed out on 1 October 1951. Like its cinematic portrayal, the real regiment was poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly led.
[11]
More than once when this all-black unit was placed on the front lines, a unit in reserve was positioned directly behind because they were expected to break. The regiment was finally considered so unreliable it was disbanded. Its personnel were reassigned to other combat units just as in the film, which portrays Edwards' character - with good leadership - becoming an effective soldier.
Casting choices
[
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]
George Shibata, who stars as Lt. Suki Ohashi, became the first
Nisei
appointed to
West Point
through the sponsorship of Sen.
Elbert D. Thomas
. Shibata would become the first
Asian American
graduate of the
United States Military Academy
, Class of 1951 and he was commissioned in the
United States Air Force
later in that same year (1951).
[12]
During the
Korean War
he flew an
F-86 Sabre
out of
Taegu Air Force Base
. The film Pork Chop Hill was about Shibata's classmate
Joseph G. Clemons
, who was also a 1951 West Point graduate. This came about when Clemons accidentally bumped into his old friend Shibata at a drugstore when Clemons was in California acting as a
technical adviser
for the forthcoming film. He convinced Shibata to try out for the role of the
Japanese-Hawaiian
Executive Officer, Lt. Tsugio Ohashi when Hollywood was having a problem casting the role.
[13]
During the production Clemons decided to play a joke on his Air Force pilot classmate whose accommodations during the war were more comfortable than Clemons' by ensuring that Shibata wore the only actual
flak jacket
in the film; the other cast members wearing foam rubber reproductions.
Filming
[
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]
Filming started 19 May 1958. Some of the location shooting was conducted in California near
Westlake Village
and in
San Fernando Valley
. Two months before filming the unit moved into an Albertson Company Ranch where the bulk of the film was to be shot and created a series of trenches.
[14]
Peck, although not credited, directed a few scenes despite protests by Milestone.
Milestone called it his "most interesting job in a long time."
[15]
The film had an allocated shooting schedule of 40 days and ended up needing another 15 days.
[16]
Clash between Peck and Milestone
[
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]
Peck and Milestone clashed during filming over Peck's performance; the director wanted Peck to play his character as more insecure while Peck wanted a more conventional approach. Before the film's premier in May 1959, United Artists cut the film by nearly 20 minutes. Director Lewis Milestone claimed changes were made because
Veronique Peck
, the wife of star Gregory Peck, felt her husband made his first entrance too late into the picture. While that claim stands as unconfirmed, the film does show signs of post-production editing, with segments of several excised scenes showing up under the main title credits.
[17]
Milestone's version reportedly featured more cross cutting between the fighting and the peace conference and made Peck's character less of a conventional hero. The director says it also featured more scenes involving the Chinese.
[18]
Release
[
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]
The film opened in Chicago and Detroit in the week ended May 26, 1959.
[19]
It opened at the
Roxy Theatre
in New York City on May 29 and became number one in the US.
[20]
The film was a minor box office hit.
[21]
Critical response
[
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]
The New York Times
applauded the film's "grim and rugged" style, the way it captured the "resentment" of the American GIs, and how it "tacitly points the obsoleteness of ground warfare".
[22]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Variety
, 5 October 1959 p. 12
- ^
Fishgall p 206
- ^
"1959: Probable Domestic Take",
Variety
, 6 January 1960 p 34
- ^
Books and Authors
New York Times 17 Oct 1956: 33.
- ^
Books of The Times: Unflinching Under Fire Only a Squad Holding a Hill
By CHARLES POORE. New York Times 24 Nov 1956: 17.
- ^
'THE DRAGON TREE' COMING TO SCREEN: New York Times 28 Aug 1957: 22.
- ^
Director Talks About War: Hollywood Letter
By Richard Dyer MacCann. The Christian Science Monitor 17 Feb 1959: 5.
- ^
Hackworth, David H.
; Sherman, Julie (1989). "Ch. 16: Box Seat".
About Face
. New York:
Simon & Schuster
. p.
568
.
ISBN
0671526928
.
LCCN
88036235
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
He'd given them away for
Pork Chop Hill
and often talked about how, as a result, he felt sick every time the film of his Korea story played on the tube and he didn't get a red cent. "I'll never let
that
happen again," he'd vow each time he wound up his lament on the subject.
- ^
LEWIS MILESTONE TO MAKE WAR FILM: Director Named for Peck's 'Pork Chop Hill' New York Times 1 Feb 1958: 13.
- ^
Director Talks About War: Hollywood Letter
By Richard Dyer MacCann. The Christian Science Monitor 17 Feb 1959: 5.
- ^
Hackworth.
About Face
. pp. 92?93.
...the 24th, was an all-Black outfit and as a fighting force it was sorrier than any unit I'd ever seen. It had not always been that way; in fact, the Deuce-Four had been responsible for the first significant American ground victory of the war, at
Yechon
, in July of 1950. But the regiment had been badly bloodied since then, and with the attendant loss of many of its fine black
NCOs
(too many of whom were replaced by white NCOs who were unable or unwilling to bond with the troops—and vice versa), it seemed the 24th had gone to hell in a hand basket. Individually, many of its members were great... but its leadership was too thin...
- ^
"Japanese Life in Utah"
. Archived from
the original
on 2006-01-09.
- ^
pp. 77-78 Rubin, Steven Jay
Combat Films: American Realism, 1945-2010
, 2nd edition McFarland, 1 Jan 1981
- ^
HOLLYWOOD CANVAS: San Fernando 'Korea' -Versatile Widmark
By THOMAS M. PRYORHOLLYWOOD. New York Times 15 June 1958: X7.
- ^
Milestone Films Realities of War: Milestone 'Veteran' of Three Wars
Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 7 Sep 1958: E1.
- ^
Fishgall p 207
- ^
"Pork Chop Hill (1959) - Articles - TCM.com"
.
Turner Classic Movies
. Retrieved
2013-12-03
.
Nevertheless, Pork Chop Hill was still cut by nearly twenty minutes, supposedly because the wife of star Gregory Peck felt that her husband made his first entrance too late into the picture. While that claim remains unconfirmed, the film does show signs of post-production editing, with segments of several excised scenes showing up under the main title credits.
- ^
Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1971).
The celluloid muse; Hollywood directors speak
. Regnery. p.
192
.
- ^
"National Boxoffice Survey"
.
Variety
. May 27, 1959. p. 7
. Retrieved
June 16,
2019
– via
Archive.org
.
- ^
"National Boxoffice Survey"
.
Variety
. June 3, 1959. p. 4
. Retrieved
June 16,
2019
– via
Archive.org
.
- ^
Fishgal p 208
- ^
"Pork Chop Hill (1959) Pork Chop Hill'; War Drama Directed by Lewis Milestone"
.
New York Times
. May 30, 1959
. Retrieved
February 1,
2014
.
Notes
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]
External links
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]