Pork Chop Hill
Encyclopedia
Pork Chop Hill directed by Lewis Milestone
, is a Korean War war film
based upon the eponymous book by military historian S. L. A. Marshall, depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill
between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the tail end of the Korean War, in April 1953. The film features Gregory Peck
, Woody Strode
, and actors who became movie stars in the 1960s and the 1970s, e.g. George Peppard
, Harry Guardino
, Rip Torn
, Robert Blake
, Norman Fell
, Martin Landau
, and Gavin MacLeod
, with Harry Dean Stanton
in an uncredited minor role.
, a company
of American infantry are to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger Communist Chinese army force; they recapture the hill, but are depleted. They prepare for a large-scale Chinese
counter-attack which they know will overwhelm and kill them in vicious fire fights and hand-to-hand fighting while the Panmunjeom
cease-fire negotiations continue.
Higher command is shown as being unwilling to either abandon or reinforce the hill. They will not reinforce the hill because the value of the hill is not worth further losses. They will not abandon the hill because it is a point of negotiation in the cease-fire talks.
The American negotiators come to the conclusion that the Chinese were pouring soldiers into a battle for a militarily insignificant hill to test the resolve of the Americans in the negotiations. The decision is then made at the last minute to reinforce the hill.
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
, is a Korean War war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
based upon the eponymous book by military historian S. L. A. Marshall, depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill
Battle of Pork Chop Hill
The Battle of Pork Chop Hill comprises a pair of related Korean War infantry battles during the spring and summer of 1953. These were fought while the U.S. and the Communist Chinese and Koreans negotiated an armistice. In the U.S., they were controversial because of the many soldiers killed for...
between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the tail end of the Korean War, in April 1953. The film features Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, Woody Strode
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...
, and actors who became movie stars in the 1960s and the 1970s, e.g. George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
, Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. In 1964, he was cast in a short-lived CBS series entitled The Reporter, a drama about a hard-hitting investigative journalist named Danny Taylor. His principal co-star was Gary Merrill as city...
, Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
, Robert Blake
Robert Blake (actor)
Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
, Norman Fell
Norman Fell
Norman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Early life:...
, Martin Landau
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
, and Gavin MacLeod
Gavin MacLeod
Gavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...
, with Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
in an uncredited minor role.
Plot
In April 1953, during the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, a company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
of American infantry are to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger Communist Chinese army force; they recapture the hill, but are depleted. They prepare for a large-scale Chinese
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
counter-attack which they know will overwhelm and kill them in vicious fire fights and hand-to-hand fighting while the Panmunjeom
Panmunjeom
Panmunjom, located in Gyeonggi Province, is a village on the de facto border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War was signed. The building where the armistice was signed still stands, though it is on the northern side of the Military...
cease-fire negotiations continue.
Higher command is shown as being unwilling to either abandon or reinforce the hill. They will not reinforce the hill because the value of the hill is not worth further losses. They will not abandon the hill because it is a point of negotiation in the cease-fire talks.
The American negotiators come to the conclusion that the Chinese were pouring soldiers into a battle for a militarily insignificant hill to test the resolve of the Americans in the negotiations. The decision is then made at the last minute to reinforce the hill.
Cast
- Gregory PeckGregory PeckEldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
– as Lieutenant Joe ClemonsJoseph G. ClemonsColonel Joseph G. Clemons, Jr., United States Army was the First Lieutenant of Company K, 31st Infantry during the Korean War and led the counterattack on Pork Chop Hill. He was portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1959 movie Pork Chop Hill and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism... - Harry GuardinoHarry GuardinoHarry Guardino was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. In 1964, he was cast in a short-lived CBS series entitled The Reporter, a drama about a hard-hitting investigative journalist named Danny Taylor. His principal co-star was Gary Merrill as city...
– as Private Forstman - Rip TornRip TornElmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
– as Lieutenant Walter Russell - George PeppardGeorge PeppardGeorge Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
– as Corporal Chuck Fedderson - James EdwardsJames Edwards (actor)James Edwards was an African American actor in films and television. His most famous role was as Private Peter Moss in the 1949 film Home of the Brave, in which he portrayed a soldier experiencing racial prejudice while serving in the South Pacific during World War II...
– as Corporal Jurgens - Bob SteeleBob Steele (actor)Bob Steele was an American actor. He was born Robert Adrian Bradbury in Portland, Oregon, into a vaudeville family. After years of touring, the family settled down in Hollywood in the late 1910s, where his father, Robert N...
– as Colonel Kern - Woody StrodeWoody StrodeWoodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...
– as Private Franklen - George Shibata – as Lieutenant Ohashi
- Norman FellNorman FellNorman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Early life:...
– as Sergeant Coleman - Carl Benton ReidCarl Benton ReidCarl Benton Reid was an American actor. He achieved fame on the Broadway stage in 1939 as Oscar Hubbard, one of Regina Giddens's greedy, devious brothers in the play The Little Foxes, and made his film debut reprising his role opposite Bette Davis in the 1941 film version...
– as American Admiral - Robert BlakeRobert Blake (actor)Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
– as Private Velie - Biff ElliotBiff ElliotBiff Elliot is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as popular detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 version of I, the Jury, and as his guest appearance in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark".-Early life:...
– as Private Boven - Viraj Amonsin – as Chinese broadcaster
- Charles AidmanCharles AidmanCharles Aidman was an American film scenarist and television actor.-Career:Among his many television credits include appearances on NBC's western series The Road West in the 1966 episode "The Lean Years"...
– as Lieutenant Harold - Barry AtwaterBarry AtwaterGarrett "Barry" Atwater was an American character actor who appeared frequently on TV from the 1950s into the 1970s...
– as Lieutenant Colonel Davis - Martin LandauMartin LandauMartin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
– as Lieutenant Marshall - Ken LynchKen LynchKen Lynch was an American film and TV actor best known for his starring role as 'the Lieutenant' on the 1949-1954 Dumont detective series The Plainclothesman, on which his face was never seen, and for his co-starring role as Sergeant Grover on McCloud.-Career:Lynch appeared in numerous TV series...
– as Major General Trudeau - Chuck HaywardChuck HaywardCharles B. Hayward was an American motion picture stuntman and actor. He was associated particularly with the films of John Wayne...
– as Chalmers - Paul ComiPaul ComiPaul Domingo Comi is an American film and television actor. Mr. Comi was invited to join and is active voting member of the Actor's Branch of the :Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.- Biography :...
– as Sergeant Kreucheberg - Abel FernandezAbel FernandezAbel Gonzalez Fernandez is a Yaqui/Mexican actor who played in movies from 1953 to 2002. He is best known for his role as Federal Agent William "Bill" Youngfellow on the 1959-1963 ABC Television series The Untouchables...
– as Kindley - Kevin Hagen – as Corporal Kissell
- Gavin MacLeodGavin MacLeodGavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...
– as Private Saxon - Harry Dean StantonHarry Dean StantonHarry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
– BAR man (uncredited)