Battleground

How does one depict an event that they themselves were a witness to? Sure, there's the occasional embellishment here and there but overall it's more or less a recollection of what they saw. And an often common setting for those stories involve war.

William Wellman's Battleground is such an example. Written by Robert Pirosh (who witnessed the Battle of the Bulge firsthand), it's a story about the weariness of war. (Having several of its actors having served in World War II and the actual 101st Airborne Division as extras certainly adds to it.) But how does it compare to other World War II-based works of the time?

In comparison to other war pictures both past and future, Battleground doesn't boast an all-star cast. (While some of the actors would go on to make names for themselves, the more famous of the cast was Van Johnson.) That's not to say such a detail is a fault of on the film's part. In fact, it could make the viewer feel sympathy for the whole infantry rather than just a small handful of recognizable faces.

There's a speech delivered towards the end of Battleground that still rings relevant nearly seventy years later. In an attempt to rally the weary troops, a chaplain gives a sermon condemning the actions of the enemy. ("We must never again let any force dedicated to a super-race...or a super-idea, or super-anything...become strong enough to impose itself upon a free world.") In light of recent events in the United States, they continue to repeat history because they've failed it. ("We must be smart enough and tough enough in the beginning...to put out the fire before it starts spreading.")

Battleground may have been released amid other similar works but it's Wellman's direction that makes it remembered all these years later. Many films depict how war is absolute hell; only a select few show how it affect those fighting it.

My Rating: ****1/2

The Ox-Bow Incident

In old movies especially, morals are questioned on a regular basis. At first, some decisions were smart. But after more facts come in, those decisions don't look as smart.

A situation like that is shown in William Wellman's The Ox-Bow Incident. In the aftermath of a shooting, the townspeople are searching for who did it. They're hungry for justice and spilled blood. When they find the men (Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, Francis Ford), the only voice of reason in the posse (Henry Fonda) tries to convince the others the men are innocent.

Of the actors, I particularly liked Fonda and Andrews. Fonda because he is always the ideal choice for the voice of reason. (Anyone who has seen 12 Angry Men can agree with me.) Andrews, an underrated actor of the time, because he conveys fear without overdoing it. The close-up of him as he's told of the crimes shows the amount of worry within him building up. (That extra beam of light across his eyes in that shot is a nice touch.) Both are great and should have earned some form of recognition.

The Ox-Bow Incident could be viewed as almost a Western version of 12 Angry Men, however the outcomes for both are vastly different. It may be far from the Hollywood ending most movies of the time had, but there's no denying that the ending for The Ox-Bow Incident is a memorable one.

My Rating: *****

The Public Enemy

If there's one genre that's wildly popular, it's the crime genre. Men love it, women are turned off by it (not me).

Tom Powers (James Cagney) earns a living from bootlegging during Prohibition. But he finds out that bootlegging is a competitive and violent industry.

The Public Enemy is known for two things: kickstarting the gangster movie and Cagney giving Mae Clarke a grapefruit facial (the most ingenious ad-lib in my book). Cagney is just explosive as Powers (though I heard from another source he's better in White Heat). The Public Enemy, in my opinion, is the best introduction to Cagney and the gangster movie in general.

My Rating: *****