Hell Is for Heroes (1962) on Netflix
Private John Reese joins a weary infantry squad headed for rest in 1944 France. Ordered back to the line, a handful of men must hold a wide front against the Germans.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.9/108,193 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
At Montigny in 1944, Sergeant Larkin and his infantry squad rest after weeks at the front. A replacement, Private John Reese, arrives, a onetime master sergeant reduced in rank after a court-martial, and he fits in poorly. The squad includes scavenger Corby, mechanic Corporal Henshaw, Cumberly, family man Kolinsky and Homer Janeczek, a young Polish displaced person hoping to go to the United States. Captain Loomis doubts Reese will behave out of combat, but platoon sergeant Pike insists he is steady under fire. At the front, the rest of the company pulls out without warning, leaving a handful of men spread across a wide front. To hide how thin their line is, they fake a larger force with a jeep rigged to sound like a tank, misleading radio messages and rattles in the trees.
Cast
- Joseph Hooveras Capt. Loomis
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Steve McQueen and director Donald Siegel nearly came to blows during the shoot; when McQueen could not cry on camera, Siegel slapped him hard and blew onion juice into his face, then added eye drops to make tears run down.
- Guest characters in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Siege of AR-558" are named after this film's characters and actors, including Patrick Kilpatrick's Reese, Annette Helde's Larkin, Bill Mumy's Kellin (after Mike Kellin), and the unseen Captain Loomis and Commander Parker.
- Bob Newhart's comedy albums were selling so unexpectedly well during filming, bringing higher nightclub offers, that he tried to get his character killed off and leave early, but Donald Siegel kept telling him he would be in the film until the end.
- Robert Pirosh was originally set to direct and produce the film as well as write it, but he walked away from the project after trouble with Steve McQueen.
- Writer Robert Pirosh, a former master sergeant, drew on his own war service: his unit was pulled out of the Vosges area towards the Battle of the Bulge and its old positions were held by a small force in a then-classified deception operation.
- Bob Newhart and Fess Parker both recalled that Paramount cut the production short for financial reasons, so the film ends abruptly.
- When columnist James Bacon visited the set and called Steve McQueen "his own worst enemy", Bobby Darin overheard and shot back, "Not while I'm still alive."
