The Bold and the Brave (1956) User Reviews

Good, But Not as Good as I Remembered

[bux · 6/10 · 26 March 2007]

I recently viewed this movie after not seeing it in several decades. It had always stuck out in my memory as one of the best of the 1950s war movies.

The writing was excellent, a great story of men in war, the brave, the bold, the fallen, the fallen women, and the pious men. The crux of the plot concerns a religious zealot that disdains alcohol, women and gambling, yet feels no empathy at blowing away the enemy. God and Country I guess. As the story progresses, he feels betrayed by his comrades.

The problem I had, was that during the first half of the movie, the acting seemed stiff and all but Rooney seemed to be over-acting...to the point of parody. Then about half way thru, things pick up and so does the acting. I wonder, since Rooney is "un-credited" as one of the directors, perhaps he stepped in to pull this one out of the fire.

The crap game is legendary, and the final action is quite good. The ballad sung over the opening credits and at the conclusion are an added bonus.

While not quite as good as "Attack"(1956) or "The Steel Helmet"(1951) this is still fun 50s war stuff.

Four people's reactions to war

[kijii · 6/10 · 17 November 2016]

Mickey Rooney received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in this movie which presents a small group of American soldiers in Italy in 1944.

Three types of soldiers are presented here, based on their reactions to their first encounter with the German enemy while in Italy.

Rooney is the energetic and a happy go-with-the-punches soldier.

Wendell Corey is a fairly well balanced soldier but is unable to kill the enemy when he is faced with the possibility.

Don Taylor is a superman in battle situations but has trouble when faced with normal human spiritual matters, no doubt stunted by his upbringing.

Nicole Maurey is a local Italian prostitute, forced to sell herself for survival.

Movie Up on YouTube

[william-paul-beau-gruendler · 7/10 · 3 November 2012]

I hadn't seen this since childhood; the moving climax stuck in my mind long after the ballad sung over the credits faded from memory. The crap game is somewhat replicated a few years later in the memorable Mickey Rooney-starring episode of COMBAT!: "Silver Service". Mickey brings the same self-effacing, self-sacrificing ebullience to the role of Harry White as he does to Dooley in The BOLD AND THE BRAVE... Louis Morgan says, on his blog: ''Mickey Rooney is an actor who is commonly derided by modern viewers for his Rooney mannerisms, and tendency to overact his parts. I must personally I have no animosity toward Rooney. Firstly he showed in The Human Comedy he is capable of giving a moving performance, secondly I personally never had a problem with his Rooneyisms. This is not to say that I do not understand people who do hold this animosity, Rooney certainly is an actor that if he rubs you the wrong way he probably really rubs you the wrong way. He simply does not annoy me in that way, although it most certainly is true that his performances tend to be better when they are further away from a typical Rooney performance than closer.''

Highest recommendation!

"This mission gets accomplished if I have to go it alone!"

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 12 March 2023]

After a fallow period during the early fifties Mickey Rooney established himself as a fine straight actor, a position consolidated in this otherwise very ordinary war film set in Italy in 1944 to which Rooney not only contributed the title song but collected an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The best performance is as usual provided by Wendall Corey with his regular quiet authority. Don Taylor - soon to give up acting in favour of directing - is strictly speaking the star as a Holy Joe who's heart is broken by a brunette Nichole Maurey pretending to be an Italian as a local girl with whom he shares a glass of buttermilk before it all ends in tears.

Hardest To See Of Rooney's 4 Oscar Nominated Performances

[lchadbou-326-26592 · 24 September 2013]

I saw this on Mickey Rooney's 93rd (!) birthday. It's in some ways a typical mid 50s U.S. product: One of those titles popular at the time (The Bad And The Beautiful, The Proud And The Profane, etc.), a theme song (co-written by Rooney) played during the opening and end credits, and one of the dubious then trendy widescreen spinoffs, SuperScope (It is hard to judge how well it was used here as the only watcheable copy I was able to find is in the standard TV ratio.) The story of American foot soldiers in Italy in 1944 concentrates on three characters who have a certain amount of psychological depth in the (Oscar nominated) writing. Wendell Corey stars as a cynical, well off guy who's afraid to shoot but not surprisingly gets the courage in the well done climax to fire back and even destroy a German tank. Don Taylor's role is the most complex, as the sergeant Preacher, a hard taskmaster, sexually repressed, and unable to accept when he finally meets a woman that she has already been with others.But Rooney, nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar, has the show stealing big scene, as a gambling obsessed little dynamo, when he plays with dice in a tent full of other soldiers and scrambles for his scattered bills after the lights go out. In the combat scenes that finally come, an hour into the picture, when they go on recon patrol in a forest, he gets killed trying to retrieve some of these winnings.(The rock formations later in this scene are a giveaway that the movie was shot not in Italy but in Southern California.) Rooney's acting throughout is hyper, wound up, almost as if he were on pep pills during the shooting.Director Lewis Foster, based on his credits, looks worthy of further study.

Don't listen to others when it comes to affairs of the heart, but don't fall in love so easy, either!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 25 November 2023]

The acclaim went to the wrong actor here. Mickey Rooney got the Oscar nomination, but after a 30 year career, it seems to me that he's basically playing the same bombastic boy man he'd been playing since the war began 15 years before this. For me, the best performance comes from Don Taylor as the very religious soldier who by chance meets beautiful Nicole Maurey just walking down the road, finding out through gossip about how she's been involved with other American soldiers, usually trying to get them to marry her.

The film stars Wendell Corey who after starring roles opposite Crawford and Stanwyck slipped back to more appropriate character parts, here the oldest of the three and the most pragmatic, supportive but concerned about the others. He's not afraid of reading the others the filth when he needs to. Rooney's big scene is a scene where he organizes a card game, speedily delivering his dialog as if he's been on uppers for years. A little bit of him goes along way in parts like this. The fact that bombs are going off around him doesn't seem to bother him in the least.

It isn't until three quarters through the film that it deals with anything concerning the war, having mainly focused on personal conflicts up to that point. The dreary black and white photography isn't vivid in dramatizing the action, and it looks like dozens of other B war movies made around the same time. Maurey seems sincere in her scenes with Taylor, perhaps just extremely desperate to grab onto someone to get out of harms way, and I never believed that she fell in love with Taylor, who's rather a buttermilk drinking hypocrite, at first sight. Sadly not the classic I expected it to be, but for what it is, a decent but not exceptional film.

Unlikable characters

[HotToastyRag · 2/10 · 19 November 2019]

The main problem with The Bold and the Brave is that the main character isn't likable. Don Taylor, whom you probably know as Buckley in Father of the Bride, stars as a righteous, pious soldier stationed in Italy. The other featured soldiers are Wendell Corey and Mickey Rooney, but when they get together to play a prank on their pal, it gets out of hand. They pay an Italian prostitute, Nicole Maurey, to act innocent and seduce Don.

There are some steamy scenes between the two, but since there are other 1950s movies that also have steamy scenes, you don't have to rent this one. It's not that great of a war movie, and the characters aren't compelling. Mickey is obsessed with gambling, chasing women, and talking big to impress Wendell, whom he thinks is a top dog. Wendell isn't really a top dog, and inconsistently disrespects then defends Nicole. Don is the worst of all. He's rude, stubborn, and righteous, and when he finds out he's been betrayed, he's unforgivably unforgiving. I'm not sure if he's supposed to be a sympathetic character or not, but since he's the lead, it's not very much fun to watch him when he never redeems himself.

"The Preposterous and the Predictable"

[Rob-120 · 2/10 · 15 June 2022]

In the 1950s, there were a number of movies that had "The This and the That" titles. These included "The Bad and the Beautiful," "The High and the Mighty," "The Power and the Prize," "The Proud and the Beautiful," "The Proud and the Profane," "The Prince and the Showgirl," and "The Old Man and the Sea."

"The Bold and the Brave" is something of a redundant title. "Bold" and "brave" are essentially the same thing.

But a better title for this movie might be, "The Preposterous and the Predictable."

It's a war movie, focusing on the lives of three foot soldiers in Italy, 1944: Dave Fairchild (Wendell Corey), Willie Dooley (Mickey Rooney), and Sgt. Ewald Wollaston (Don Taylor).

But these three don't really look like soldiers. They look like actors making a war movie!

Wendell Corey was 42 when he made this film. Mickey Rooney and Don Taylor were both 35. They're too old to be believable as foot soldiers. If anything, they should be playing officers. (At one point, Rooney takes off his cap, and we see that he's already starting to lose his hair.)

Also, they seem to pay little attention to rank insignia in this film. Don Taylor is supposed to be a Sergeant, but he's only wearing two stripes on his arm, indicating that he's a Corporal. Rooney and Corey are supposed to be Privates, but they're not even wearing stripes on their arms. These guys would have trouble passing the next inspection!

Don Taylor's character, Ewald Wollaston, is nicknamed "Preacher," because he's a religious zealot who is always talking about resisting temptation and fighting against "the Devil." He's so straight-laced that when he visits a local Italian village, he doesn't want a bottle of wine - he wants a glass of buttermilk! He doesn't want to visit the local bars - he wants to visit the local churches!

Wollaston falls in love with Fiamma (Nicole Maurey), a local Italian woman. He's so unbelievably naïve that it never even occurs to him that this woman might be a prostitute, even though she's wearing a loose-fitting dress that is cut down to Sicily!

Later, when they visit a cantina, a pair of G. I.s from another unit recognize Fiamma as the woman who's been a "friend" to all of them! Wollaston is shocked, shocked to discover that he's actually fallen in love with a "scarlet woman," even though Fiamma tearfully tells him that she only turned to prostitution to keep from starving to death. As Wollaston leaves the village, he mutters to himself, "I should have known better! I should have known better!"

I'm thinking, "Yes! A guy like you *should* know better! How can a *combat Sergeant* be so unknowledgeable about the world? You never encountered a prostitute in boot camp, let alone the rest of Italy? Give me a break!"

Wendell Corey plays Dave Fairchild, a soldier who freezes on the battlefield. He can't bring himself to shoot an enemy sniper, even when the sniper is taking aim at another American G. I. How Fairchild made it this far in the Italian campaign without getting himself killed is never explained.

Mickey Rooney earns his Oscar nomination as Willie Dooley, a chatterbox G. I. who is always on a lucky streak. His best scene, and the only really good scene in the movie, is when Dooley joins a wild G. I. craps game, part of which takes place underneath a blanket during an air raid on the camp.

An hour into the movie, they finally get around to giving us a combat scene. The soldiers are trapped in an abandoned Italian farmhouse, and have to fight their way out. The dialogue is overloaded with "combat cliché lines" (i.e. "Cover me!" "We'll fight to the last man!" "Don't leave me, Smitty!") Wendell Corey redeems himself by single-handedly taking down a German tank.

Near the end, there is an unintentionally hilarious moment. Throughout the movie, Mickey Rooney has occasionally referred to his wife back in the States. Her name is Jeannie. ("When the war's over, me and Jeannie are going to open a restaurant!")

In the final scene, Rooney is shot down by enemy machine gun fire. As he drops to his knees, he says his wife's name. "Jeannie!"

And what song does the background orchestra play on the soundtrack as Rooney falls to the ground? Just take a wild guess!

Solid, thoughtful WW II film

[wtmack · 8/10 · 20 May 2004]

This low-budget, old-fashioned film, set in Italy during World War II, is probably best remembered for Mickey Rooney's Oscar-nominated performance in a supporting role. And he does steal the show as Dooley, the fast-talking soldier with a dream. But the primary plot revolves around Wendell Corey and Don Taylor's roles as soldiers with very different approaches to war, and life. Corey and Taylor also do fine work, if less flamboyant than Mickey's. The film is extremely well-plotted, in a way that's very rare in today's movies, and the screenplay also was Oscar-nominated. It's a thoughtful piece with something to say about human character. The film has basically disappeared from view. It never appears on TV, and is very hard to find anywhere. But if you come across it, it's well worth viewing.

Soldiers 3

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 3 November 2013]

I remember seeing this at a drive-in back when it first came out with my cousin's family in Rochester. This is one of those films that really sticks with you. At the time however some of the more adult themes of the film went completely over my head.

The Bold And The Brave focuses on three soldiers in the Italian campaign. Wendell Corey plays an amiable drifter type who in civilian life was a lawyer, but never practiced much law as he was married to a rich woman. He's not sure if he has the right stuff.

Corey's best pal is Mickey Rooney who got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He's a cheerful extrovert who lives for his off duty moments. He's got a marvelous scene cleaning out the company in a crap game. In the end though, that truly does him in.

Both are commanded by Don Taylor who is their uptight model GI Joe sergeant. In war he's great, but has some issues in his personal life. They call him preacher and it's suggested ever so gently that he's been celibate. Corey tries to fix him up with Nicole Maurey who also gives a great performance as a girl who does what she can to survive the war.

The Bold And The Brave has for some reason been lost for years. Hopefully it will be broadcast and a new generation can appreciate a fine underrated classic.

Combatant character study

[wilvram · 8/10 · 13 September 2012]

Set in a unit of the U.S. infantry during the Italian campaign of 1944, this focuses on three soldiers. Fairchild (Wendell Corey) whom in civilian life had got by doing very little after marrying a rich woman, further doubts himself after failing to kill an enemy sniper. He is saved by his sergeant, known as Preacher (Don Taylor) a puritanical bigot whose upbringing has left him with all sorts of hang-ups with the notable exception of "Thou shalt not kill". Extrovert Willie Dooley (Mickey Rooney) is a compulsive and successful gambler, obsessed with winning as much as he can to set himself and his family up in the restaurant business after the war.

This is a mostly gripping film which succeeds in portraying the heroism, courage and spirit of self-sacrifice demanded of soldiers in battle without glorifying war. The leading actors are all good with Rooney's fast-talking ebullient character particularly memorable; his marathon crap game provides the film's funniest moments. Nicole Maurey gives a sensitive performance as a beautiful Italian girl with whom Preacher falls in love, prior to callously dumping her on learning she's previously been with other men for money to survive. Perhaps best of all is Wendell Corey, one of those actors who could create believable characters with hidden depths, while apparently doing very little, who brings a quiet integrity to the part of Fairchild. It's all introduced with a rousing march, to which Mickey Rooney supplied the lyrics.

Brilliant Acting

[jromanbaker · 9/10 · 2 October 2022]

The names of three of the actors in this film are probably not very well known today, Wendell Corey, Don Taylor and Nicole Maurey. Mickey Rooney, who is I hope remembered rightly got an Oscar for his role, and the film is extremely good because of its balanced and well written screenplay. The director is unknown to me, and Mickey Rooney directed himself in a gambling scene, and that scene alone is worthy of the best of Howard Hawks. The film is set towards the end of WW2 in Italy, and the first half is a psychological journey for three soldiers and a woman who has turned to prostitution to survive. She falls in love with a preacher, at first against his religious beliefs and when he discovers her past his disgust overwhelms him, and there are consequences to this for the men who serve under him. No spoilers but the love scenes when he is temporarily transformed by love are beautifully acted and moving to watch. Don Talor plays the preacher and Nicole Maurey the woman who needs love, and not to be used. Wendell Corey is brilliant as a man who cannot kill, and his psychological development is accurate and again moving. The latter part of the film is grim in its war scenes, and the futility of war is admirably conveyed. I am not a fan of most War films, but this joins the handful that I do admire and respect. I would give it a ten if it was not for the final words onscreen, focussing too much on cowardice and bravery. These men are just there, doing their best in a theatre of war and suffering, and in this film, it is the analysis of their inner selves that is paramount. The same story could have been equally told from the other side. Well worth seeing.

Forget the war, focus on the drama.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 26 December 2021]

This is a pure drama for me, not a war feature. War is only used as a kind of setting, nothing more. It is a character study, behavior analysis, psycholigical surgery, very interesting to watch. Lewis Foster gives here is only "war" film, him who is rather specialized in adventure movies. It is rare and emerged only ten years ago on the market; before that it slept in some vault.... Good performances though Wendell Corey seems to be too old for the role. But it is not new in war films; see for instance the Duke in war films. It is nearly laughable. This film can be seen as a topic about different things including bravery, the definition of bravery. For me, some one is brave when he is at first scared and finally wins over his scare, his fright. Some one suicidal, or some one who ignores fear, is not brave. No. But that's only my opinion. And it's surprising to see those two parts in the film, the first where Don taylor's character seem to be ankward, the dude whom his pals "help" him finding a gal, to summarize, the poor good guy. And in the second part of the film, the war part, forget this Don Taylor's good guy, focus instead on Wendell Corey's one, who in the first part, was shown as a bit coward yes, but also the not so sympathetic guy who laughed at his commanding officer who fell in love with the prostitute. It's very unusual in a film to see characters places changing so rapidly during the story; one takes the place of the other.

Memory from my youth

[daviddax · 8/10 · 6 August 2021]

I saw this film many, many years ago, and I particularly recall beautiful, luscious Nicole Maurey as Fiamma and how Don Taylor as Preacher dumped her unceremoniously when he finds out that she had to prostitute herself to get by.