Attack!

LEE Marvin draws on his own real-life experiences once again, lending a toughness and brutal pragmatism to the role of a lieutenant colonel who leaves troops under the command of an idiot captain (Eddie Albert) because he wants to curry political favour. He’s a bastard and no mistake, but somehow understandable, where Albert comes off as a petty dictator – weak and despicable. Jack Palance – who is probably best known as the villainous gunfighter in Shane – plays a lieutenant who has to save his men from bureaucracy and cowardice. Released in 1956, the film is shockingly frank in its depiction of officer-class incompetence, prefiguring the cynicism of the Vietnam War era. You’ve probably seen director Robert Aldrich’s most famous war movie The Dirty Dozen, but this is his World War masterpiece.