Predating Kubrick's Paths of Glory, this tough, hard-hitting World War II drama refuses - until a censor-mandated fade-out - to take the easy route.
It was always acceptable to make anti-war movies, but here Robert Aldrich makes one of Hollywood's rare anti-army movies, as hatchet-faced hero Jack Palance becomes a vengeful martyr because a politically ambitious colonel (Lee Marvin) keeps a quivering, bullying drunk (Eddie Albert) in a command position that consistently gets better men killed.
Based on a play, it has great verbal confrontations, but Aldrich also does outstanding battle carnage, notably a duel between Palance and a German tank.