U.S. military services usually aid movies with military themes and situations, even if those agencies object to particular elements in the script (the best example of this is The Caine Mutiny; the Navy demanded and received a prologue stating that no mutiny has ever been staged on an American naval vessel in exchange for its cooperation). But the Department of Defense wanted nothing to do with Attack in 1956.
Director Robert Aldrich wished to make a war film that was different than those he had seen before. “My main anti-war argument was not the usual ‘war is hell,’ but the terribly corrupting influence that war can have on the most normal, average human beings, and what terrible things it makes them capable of that they wouldn’t be capable of otherwise,” Aldrich remarked in an interview.
His film, based on Norman Brooks’ play Fragile Fox, was an independent production that received no uniforms, equipment or other aid from the Department of Defense. Its story centers on Army lieutenant Costa (Jack Palance), who attempts to protect his platoon from the negligence of their cowardly commander, Colonel Cooney (Eddie Albert) during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Cooney sends the men into a town rife with German soldiers, then refuses to support a mission to rescue them. A few of the men survive, including Costa, who swears vengeance against Cooney, but a German initiative prevents his retribution. Costa is unable to avenge the deaths but the men take matters into their own hands after the battle concludes.
Attack is a harsh, gritty, unequivocal indictment of agendas and power struggles during war. It utilizes religious symbols and imagery to emphasize Costa’s position in the story and ultimate fate. It recounts familiar situations but does so without a trace of sentimentalism. It paints an authentic portrait of personalities in war, trying to survive yet looking for personal advantages wherever they can find them.
Attack is superbly enacted, with Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, William Smithers, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel and Jimmy Goodwin marvelous in their roles. Eddie Albert is nothing short of brilliant as Captain Cooney and should have received Oscar recognition for his work. Attack is one of the great anti-war films — exciting, horrific, meaningful and poetic. My rating: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰. (7:1).