The Young Lions (1958)

80% of critics liked it
(5 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(2,693 ratings)

Though several concessions to the censors and the box-office were made in adapting Irwin Shaw's bestseller The Young Lions to the screen, the end result is generally effective and satisfying. Set during World War 2, the film concentrates on three individuals, one German, two American. Marlon Brando… More Though several concessions to the censors and the box-office were made in adapting Irwin Shaw's bestseller The Young Lions to the screen, the end result is generally effective and satisfying. Set during World War 2, the film concentrates on three individuals, one German, two American. Marlon Brando plays an idealistic German whose early fascination with Nazism leads to doubt and disillusionment. American entertainer Dean Martin, on the verge of the Big Time, does his best to dodge the draft but ends up in uniform all the same. And American Jew Montgomery Clift, so sensitive that he's practically breakable, must come to grips with anti-Semitism, not only from the Germans but also from his fellow soldiers. Romance enters the picture in the form of Hope Lange as Clift's gentile girlfrind, Barbara Rush as the socialite who shames Martin into joining up, and May Britt as Brando's vis-a-vis. Screenwriter Edward Anhalt was obliged to shoehorn in a boot-camp sequence indicating that the Brass disapproved of the bigoted behavior of Clift's topkick Lee van Cleef (as if racism was a mere aberration during the 1940s), and to "slightly" alter the ending of the book, in which the embittered but still patriotic Brando character, shouting "Welcome to Germany!," machine-guns the Martin and Clift characters (in the film, it is Brando who bites the dust, symbolically dying for Hitler's sins). Maximillian Schell offers a starmaking turn as Brando's cynical comrade, while an uncredited John Banner, "Sergeant Schultz" on Hogan's Heroes, shows up as a pompous burgomeister who feigns ignorance of the hellish concentration camp in his community. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: G, 2 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Edward Dmytryk
Written By: Edward Anhalt
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Kids & Family, Classics

In Theaters: Apr 2, 1958 Wide
On DVD: Nov 6, 2001
Studio: WGBH Boston Video

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Despite major departures from Irwin Shaw's novel, Edward Dmytryk's film is an enjoyable, well executed WWII melodrama with top-notch turns from Marlon Brando as the sympathetic Nazi officer and Montgomery Clift as the shy Jewish-American soldier.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
All three stars shine and give this film a luster despite periodic breakdowns in the way the episodic story was told.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Belíssimo filme sobre a segunda guerra, mostrando ponto de vistas de soldados de ambos os lados do front. Brando, obviamente, assume o papel de alemão - e sua humanidade faz contraponto aos horrores que testemunha.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Mike T

For the most part, this methodically constructed anti-war film manages to stray away from sappiness, maintaining a feeling of genuine sentiments throughout. It's a very well-made, intriguing film with standout performances from Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift.
Andre T

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, based upon the 1949 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw, and starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin. The Young Lions is about the destiny of three young soldiers involved in WWII. The German officer, Lt. Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando),… More
Directed by Edward Dmytryk, based upon the 1949 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw, and starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin. The Young Lions is about the destiny of three young soldiers involved in WWII. The German officer, Lt. Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando), approves less and less of the war, while the American-Jewish GI, Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift), tries to survive the very bigoted military and Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin), who starts out as a coward who tries to avoid the war, becomes more and more blood-thirsty as the war progresses. Christian is caught in the middle of this war because he fancies two women who are American and French. He does his duty in the German Army but realizes at the end that the war, and just about everything else except his French girlfriend, is lost. Ackerman is befriended by a fellow draftee, the reluctant soldier Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin), and falls in love with a New England woman named Hope (Hope Lange) whose father is anti-Jewish.Filmed in majestic black & white, this movie is a festival of great and genious performances by Brando and Clift.Classic.

Cast

            Marlon Brando as Christian Diesti

            Montgomery Clift as Noah Ackerman

            Dean Martin as Michael Whiteacre

            Hope Lange as Hope Plowman

            May Britt as Gretchen Hardenberg

            Barbara Rush as Margaret Freemantle

            Maximilian Schell as Capt. Hardenberg

            Lee Van Cleef as Sgt. Rickett

            Liliane Montevecchi as Francoise

            Parley Baer as Sergeant Brandt

            Arthur Franz as Lieutenant Green

            Hal Baylor as Pvt. Burnecker

            Richard Gardner as Private Cowley

            Herbert Rudley as Capt. Colclough

            John Alderson as Cpl. Kraus

            Sam Gilman as Pvt. Faber

            L.Q. Jones as Private Donnelly (uncredited)

            Julian Burton as Pvt. Brailsford

            John Banner as Burgermeister

            Stephen Bekassy as German Major

            Joe Brooks
            
            Robert Burton as Col. Mead

            Ann Codee as French Woman

            Paul Comi as Pvt. Abbott

            Ashley Cowan as Maier

            Dora Doll as Simone

            Robert Ellenstein as Rabbi

            Harry Ellerbe as Draft Board Chairman

            Milton Frome as Physician

            John Gabriel as Burn

            Kurt Katch as Camp Commandant

            George Meader as Milkman

            Clive Morgan as British Colonel

            Alberto Morin as Bartender

            Voltaire Perkins as Druggist

            Otto Reichow as Bavarian

            Gene Roth as Cafe Manager

            Henry Rowland as Sergeant

            Jeffrey Sayre as Drunk

            Norbert Schiller as Civilian

            Harvey Stephens as Gen. Rockland

            Vaughan Taylor as Plowman (uncredited)

            Alfred Tonkel as German Waiter

            Ivan Triesault as German Colonel

            Stan Kamber as Acaro

            Hubie Kerns Sr.
            
            Michael Pataki as Pvt. Hagstrom

            Art Reichle
            
            Joan Douglas as Maid

            Nicholas T. King as Medic

            Christian Pasques as French Boy

            Ed Rickard as Mailman

            Michael Smith as Draft Board Member
See full cast