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Rent Halls of Montezuma (1950)

Once again returning to the genre to which he was perhaps best-suited, director Lewis Milestone traces the fate of a Marine platoon during WWII. The film stars Richard Widmark as the no-nonsense Lt. Carl Anderson, an officer charged with the responibility of leading his unit on a scouting mission to capture prisoners from an experimental rocket-launching facility and bring them back for interrogation. Among his platoon are veterans Pidgeon Lane, Doc, and Sgt. Zelenko, as well as raw recruits Coffman and Cpl. Stuart Conroy. Anderson is skilled at subtly motivating the varied group of characters, while suffering himself from crushing headaches. The platoon attacks the island, taking losses on the heavily defended beach. When they try to take a strategic ridge, they're pinned down by rocket fire whose source is impossible to locate. In desperation, Anderson is ordered to take a hand-picked patrol behind enemy lines to bring back prisoners. After some painful losses, they finally return with prisoners. Despite occasional war movie cliches, this is a solid, exceptionally well acted effort, which gives full weight to the terrible human cost of war. The film is also notable for great performances by Malden, Palance, Widmark, Webb, and the very young Wagner.