Who bite the grass

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Movie
German title Who bite the grass
Original title Hell Is for Heroes
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1962
length 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Don Siegel
script Robert Pirosh ,
Richard Carr
production Henry Blanke
music Leonard Rosenman
camera Harold Lipstein
cut Howard A. Smith
occupation

The bite into the grass (original title: Hell Is for Heroes ) is an American war film by director Don Siegel from 1962. The premiere in the Federal Republic of Germany took place on June 21, 1963.

action

During the Second World War , the US Army stood on the Siegfried Line in Lorraine in autumn 1944 . The soldiers of the second group of Platoon Sergeant Pike's platoon hope to finally get a vacation after a long front-line deployment. The group includes the dutiful Sergeant Larkin, the mechanic and improviser Corporal Henshaw, the organizer Corby, the simple Cumberly, the homeless Polish DP Homer and the family man Kolinsky. The elite soldier Reese joins the group - a sinister loner with an alcohol problem. Pike knows him, he has already been to the front with him in North Africa . Reese had stolen a jeep and run over an officer while drunk, for which he was punished and demoted.

Instead of going on vacation, the men are sent back to the front. After settling in an old position, the Americans soon realize that they are on their own and actually too weak to hold their defensive position. The experienced US soldiers expect a difficult battle with the German enemy. Sporadic artillery fire will soon set in. You have to be especially careful in front of a bunker with a machine gun position. An office soldier, Driscoll, mistakenly ends up at the front in his jeep. Larkin confiscates the vehicle and Henshaw tweaks its exhaust to simulate tank sounds for the Germans. Driscoll is supposed to give false reports over the radio. The Americans know that the Germans are listening to them through a microphone hidden in the bunker.

After dark, the group was able to repel an attack by a German patrol in close combat and took prisoners. Cumberly is killed in the brief exchange of fire. Reese put three Germans out of action alone. Now excited, he suggests "cracking" the bunker on the other side of the field with a concentrated load . The aim is to give the Germans the impression that the Americans have moved in with full confidence and strength. Larkin is skeptical about the prospects of success of the project, refers to the command situation and gets into a heated argument with the lower-ranking daredevil Reese. Shortly afterwards, however, Larkin is killed by an impacting grenade. The now initiated by Reese on their own action against the German bunker fails: Henshaw falls during pre Robben in no man's land by a land mine , Kolinsky seriously wounded during the escape back to their own lines and dies. Immediately afterwards, Captain Loomis joins the previously isolated troop with reinforcements. The company commander , who had reservations about Reese from the start, confronts the insubordinate soldier in a rage and announces a military trial. However, the US offensive is imminent. In the major attack on the German position system planned for the next morning, Reese should have another opportunity to prove himself.

Many Americans fall in the attack. Finally, Reese penetrates through the dense enemy defensive fire with a concentrated charge to the bunker. He throws the bomb into the bunker and is then shot in the back. The bunker crew throws the burning explosive charge out again, the fatally wounded Reese still notices it, grabs the charge with his last bit of strength and rolls with it in kamikaze style at the last second into the loopholes . The bunker, which was in flames after the detonation, illuminates the battlefield on which many fallen US soldiers lie.

background

The crew members of the Paramount film, shot in California, suffered greatly from the heat wave prevailing at the time of shooting. In order to prevent breakdowns and sunstrokes, many scenes that were supposed to take place during the day were redesigned into night scenes.

The budget for the film was $ 2.5 million. The studio was unwilling to increase the budget so the production suffered from some weaknesses. The weapons that were used in the film were often defective.

Don Siegel didn't want to shoot the scene in which a fake radio conversation was supposed to lure the Germans on the wrong track at first. The studio bosses overruled him. Popular Bob Newhart, who played Driscoll, was a comedian who played out one-sided phone calls on his shows.

Oscar-winning Hal Pereira (art director) and Sam Comer (set decorator) were responsible for the film equipment. The special effects came from Oscar winner John P. Fulton . The film's military adviser was Major William Harrigan Jr.

Lee Harvey Oswald , the alleged assassin of US President John F. Kennedy , was arrested shortly after the crime at the Texas Theater in Dallas while watching the film.

In the eighth episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , some people with role names from this film appear as guest characters. So are z. B. Reese and Larkin, as well as a character named Kellin. Likewise, the names Loomis and Parker are used for people who do not appear.

Reviews

“Nightmarish, ruthless and realistic war film,” said Cinema .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. imdb.com
  2. ↑ cf. cinema.de