This is a very good war film. However, at almost three hours in length, it still feels way too short--way too rushed. In many ways, the story seems a lot like "The Winds of War"--and that was a 20+ hour mini-series. That's because the film starts just before WWII and ends in the waning days of the Nazi regime--a much longer time period than you'd find in a normal war film.
"The Young Lions" is the parallel story of three soldiers. One is a German (Marlon Brando) and two are Americans (Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin) who are friends. Their stories really don't intersect until the final scene and there aren't that many parallels between them. This is very unusual in style but works well enough. The film could have just centered on Brando or Martin and Clift and worked just fine.
The German portion of the story is interesting because it presents Brando as just a loyal soldier--not a Nazi. In fact, this is a conflict in the story--between an honorable soldier a dishonorable regime.
As for the Americans, the most interesting portion of the story is Clift--who is scapegoated in boot-camp and he is literally fighting mad. As for Martin, his is a struggle with taking the easy way out of the war or working hard to prove something to his girlfriend and ultimately to himself.
Overall, a very good film--mostly due to the acting. While I am not a particular fan of Brando (I think he's overrated--at least in his later films), here he seemed very good as the German. Native Germans might blanch at his accent--I don't know. But, he seemed quite good. As for Martin, in his first dramatic role, he was very good and Clift put in a typical performance. As for Clift's character, he was very good because unlike in "From Here to Eternity", Clift's tiny frame was realized and was part of the script--him begin THAT tough in the "From Here to Eternity" always seemed a bit silly and was a HUGE stretch.
Parley Baer as a Nazi How good does the German accent sound to Germans? grainy stock footage could have been a lot longer--like WOW FYI--the evil Mayor (John Banner) was actually Jewish
"The Young Lions" is the parallel story of three soldiers. One is a German (Marlon Brando) and two are Americans (Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin) who are friends. Their stories really don't intersect until the final scene and there aren't that many parallels between them. This is very unusual in style but works well enough. The film could have just centered on Brando or Martin and Clift and worked just fine.
The German portion of the story is interesting because it presents Brando as just a loyal soldier--not a Nazi. In fact, this is a conflict in the story--between an honorable soldier a dishonorable regime.
As for the Americans, the most interesting portion of the story is Clift--who is scapegoated in boot-camp and he is literally fighting mad. As for Martin, his is a struggle with taking the easy way out of the war or working hard to prove something to his girlfriend and ultimately to himself.
Overall, a very good film--mostly due to the acting. While I am not a particular fan of Brando (I think he's overrated--at least in his later films), here he seemed very good as the German. Native Germans might blanch at his accent--I don't know. But, he seemed quite good. As for Martin, in his first dramatic role, he was very good and Clift put in a typical performance. As for Clift's character, he was very good because unlike in "From Here to Eternity", Clift's tiny frame was realized and was part of the script--him begin THAT tough in the "From Here to Eternity" always seemed a bit silly and was a HUGE stretch.
Parley Baer as a Nazi How good does the German accent sound to Germans? grainy stock footage could have been a lot longer--like WOW FYI--the evil Mayor (John Banner) was actually Jewish