Review: The Men


Marlon Brando plays a WWII soldier paralysed from the waist down due to a shot to the spine. He arrives at a spinal injury ward run by the compassionate yet matter-of-fact doctor Everett Sloane. He has a rough time of it with the other patients at first, as he’s surly and incommunicative and they’re a bit tough on him. He’s clearly not dealing with not only his physical injuries but the psychological toll his injury is taking on him. He won’t even see his loving fiancĂ© Teresa Wright. However, she conspires with Sloane to find a way to get through to him. Jack Webb plays a cynical paraplegic patient who sees himself as a realist.

 

This 1950 Fred Zinnemann (“The Search”, “High Noon”, “From Here to Eternity”) war/drama about wounded/disabled WWII soldiers is no “The Best Years of Our Lives”, but it does have a well-cast Marlon Brando giving one of his least mannered performances in his film debut. Scripted by an Oscar-nominated Carl Foreman (“High Noon”, “Bridge on the River Kwai”, “Smiley Gets a Gun”), there are better films of this type out there (“Born on the 4th of July” and “Coming Home”, in addition to the aforementioned) but it’s got Brando in his debut interestingly paired with the absolutely lovely and warm Teresa Wright. I’m not sure his ‘Method’ and her acting style necessarily mesh totally, but individually they are excellent and together they are at least interesting to watch. He’s well-cast and suitably anguished, she’s absolutely spot-on. There’s also top-notch support from no-nonsense Everett Sloane (one of the greatest character actors in the history of cinema) and an interestingly cynical Jack Webb. Sloane tries his best not to sound like the walking PSA on spinal cord injury that his character clearly is, whilst Webb is wonderfully cynical without being a complete buzzkill. Nice goatee too, Mr. Webb!

 

Yes the film is dated, but being dated isn’t always fatal for a film and there’s still some interesting stuff here. As a paraplegic myself, there’s a nice attention to detail early on with Brando having a leg tremor. I only have a very minor and very occasional one, but other paraplegics have it much worse and will definitely identify with that moment. Although other films about wounded soldiers have been superior, there aren’t nearly enough films about paraplegics in my completely biased view and this is a pretty good, early one.

 

Yes it has dated, but Brando is interestingly natural in his film debut, Teresa Wright is wonderfully warm and sensitive as always, and there’s terrific support from Everett Sloane and Jack Webb. It’s not a great film, but it could’ve been a lot worse in lesser hands than Zinnemann and Foreman. It’s also perhaps the perfect Brando film for people who frankly can’t stand the guy.  

 

Rating: B-

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