Eight Iron Men

Eight Iron Men is a 1952 American World War II drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, produced by Stanley Kramer and starring Bonar Colleano, Arthur Franz, Lee Marvin, Richard Kiley and Mary Castle.

Eight Iron Men
Mary Castle on poster
Directed by	Edward Dmytryk
Screenplay by	Harry Brown
Based on	A Sound of Hunting 1945 play by Harry Brown
Produced by	Stanley Kramer
Starring	Bonar Colleano Arthur Franz Lee Marvin Richard Kiley Mary Castle
Cinematography	J. Roy Hunt
Edited by	Aaron Stell, Harry W. Gerstad
Music by	Leith Stevens
Production company	Stanley Kramer Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	October 24, 1952 (1952-10-24) (Hartford, Connecticut)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

American infantrymen Carter, Ferguson and Small are returning from patrol in a bomb-ridden town when they are forced to take cover by an enemy machine gun. Coke, who was separated from the patrol, returns to the squad's basement outpost where Pvt. Collucci is sleeping, dreaming of beautiful women. A runner from company headquarters delivers a package and informs the men that the regiment is to be removed from the line that night. Another patrol returns with Sgt. Mooney and privates Spiros and Muller. The package contains a fruitcake that the men divide into eight pieces.

Carter and Ferguson are able to reach the base, but the clumsy Small is trapped in a shell hole by the machine-gun fire. Sgt. Mooney asks his platoon leader Lt. Crane to rescue him that night. Crane refuses until Mooney relays the information that they received from the runner. He takes the request to Capt. Trelawny, the company commander. A sniper kills Crane as he is returning from the company command post. Trelawney denies the request and orders Mooney not to attempt a rescue, as it may cost more lives. The men debate about the mission to rescue Small, and Collucci tries to persuade Muller to allow him to eat Small's piece of fruitcake.

A runner alerts the squad that the company is departing in half an hour, but another burst of machine-gun fire galvanizes Mooney. He disobeys direct orders and he, Coke and Muller leave to rescue Small. Trelawny deduces that the men have defied his order and angrily confronts Carter for failing to stop Mooney. However, Carter persuades Trelawny to overlook the disobedience.

Mooney returns and reports that they were unable to reach Small and fear that he is dead. When Collucci is nearly shot by a sniper and returns fire, the squad realizes that he has ventured alone to retrieve Small. Using a destroyed tank as cover to approach the shell hole, he tosses grenades that destroy the machine-gun nest. Collucci returns as the squad is preparing to move, and he is carrying Small, who had sprained his ankle, injected himself with morphine and slept through the whole ordeal. As all eight men leave, Collucci eats the last piece of fruitcake.

Cast

1952 lobby card

• Bonar Colleano as Pvt. Collucci
• Arthur Franz as Carter
• Lee Marvin as Sgt. Joe Mooney
• Richard Kiley as Pvt. Coke
• Nick Dennis as Pvt. Spiros
• James Griffith as Pvt. Ferguson
• Dickie Moore as Pvt. Muller
• George Cooper as Pvt. Small
• Barney Phillips as Captain Trelawny
• Robert Nichols as Walsh
• Richard Grayson as Lieutenant Crane
• Douglas Henderson as Hunter
• Mary Castle as Girl
• Angela Stevens as Girl in Daydream (uncredited)
• Kathleen O'Malley as Girl in Daydream (uncredited)
• Sue Casey as Girl in Daydream (uncredited)

Release

Eight Iron Men premiered in Hartford, Connecticut on October 24, 1952, with Mary Castle in attendance.

Production

The screenplay was written by Harry Brown was based on his 1945 play A Sound of Hunting, which had played on Broadway in 1945 for only 23 performances.

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Although a great deal of shooting occurs in 'Eight Iron Men,' it would be not only painful but wholly misleading to say that a brand new year of movies has opened with a bang. This film, from 'A Sound of Hunting,' which was a play by Harry Brown, done in 1945 on Broadway, is a dismally meretricious thing, half of it smoldering dugout drama and the other half cheesecake burlesque. ... Mr. Brown's war-worn play, adapted by him for this project, comes off a crass and pointless film."

External links

• Eight Iron Men at IMDb
• Eight Iron Men at the TCM Movie Database (archived)
• Eight Iron Men at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films