Hell Is for Heroes is a 1962 American war film directed by Donald Siegel and starring Steve McQueen. It tells the story of a squad of U.S. soldiers from the 95th Infantry Division who, in the fall of 1944, must hold off an entire German company for approximately 48 hours along the Siegfried Line until reinforcements reach them.
At Montigny, Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1944, infantry squad leader Sergeant Larkin is resting with his men after several weeks at the front. The platoon sergeant, Pike, finds an old acquaintance assigned to his platoon. Private John Reese is a former master sergeant, demoted after a court-martial, carrying a distinctive M3 submachine gun. Reese is a troubled loner who alienates the squad immediately. Unlike his jubilant comrades, anticipating furloughs or even a return home, Reese is saddened by being away from the fighting. The company commander, Captain Loomis, worries that Reese, a Distinguished Service Cross recipient, acts irresponsibly when out of combat. Pike reassures Loomis that Reese is reliable under fire.
Pike informs the men they are going back to the front. The 2nd Squad includes a con-man and scavenger named Corby, a skilled mechanic named Corporal Henshaw, an easy-going naïf named Cumberly and family man Kolinsky. The squad's mascot is a young Polish displaced person Homer Janeczek hoping to accompany the men back to the United States. Shortly after arriving at the front and digging in, the squad realizes an unannounced withdrawal by the rest of the company has left them spread dangerously thin and that any reconnaissance by the Germans across the valley will reveal how weak the American defenses are. The company clerk, Private First Class James Driscoll, drives his Jeep behind their line, rigging it to sound like a tank as a deception, then improvises misleading radio messages for a hidden microphone left by the Germans in an abandoned pillbox. The squad also uses makeshift rattles in the trees to convince the Germans they have a much larger force conducting regular patrols.
Cumberly is killed in a German raid, but Reese kills three of the Germans in close combat. Worried the survivors will report how weak their positions are, Reese recommends attacking a large German pillbox flanked by a minefield and barbed wire. Larkin is unable to locate Pike to obtain permission, and argues with Reese about sending a man for satchel charges. When Larkin is killed by an artillery barrage Reese proceeds without orders, taking Henshaw and Kolinsky. Shortly after they set out, Sergeant Pike and the rest of the company begin to return to the line.
During the attack, Henshaw sets off an undetected S-mine and the flamethrower tanks he's carrying detonate, killing him. Reese and Kolinsky retreat, covered by smoke from the company mortar squad, but Kolinsky is struck by shrapnel through the back and abdomen, and dies as others try to tend his wounds.
A furious Captain Loomis berates Reese and promises him a court-martial for defying orders, and the company launches a dawn attack. The German pillbox inflicts heavy casualties, but Reese and Coby get close enough to use a flamethrower and satchel chargees. Reese is wounded and his satchel charge is tossed back out of the bunker by the defenders. Reese retrieves it and carries it back through the pillbox opening, blowing up the fortification's occupants and himself. Pike orders Corby to burn the bunker with his flamethrower and the Americans continue the advance.[2]
Writer Robert Pirosh was a former master sergeant with the 35th Infantry Division in World War II. He gained a reputation after writing the script for the 1949 film Battleground, about the American 101st Airborne Division paratroopers’ defense of Bastogne, then writing and directing Go for Broke!, a 1951 war film about the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Soon after Hell Is for Heroes, he created the World War II TV series Combat!. Pirosh based some of the events in his film on his unit being withdrawn from the Vosges area to move towards the Battle of the Bulge, with their former positions in the line held by a small force in a then-classified deception operation. Pirosh based Nick Adams' Polish character on an actual displaced person who followed his unit around.[3]
Originally, Pirosh was also to have directed and produced the film, but he walked away from the project after trouble with McQueen.[4] Pirosh's screenplay was originally entitled Separation Hill, but the title was changed by Paramount's publicity office as being too close to the 1959 Korean War film Pork Chop Hill (which Harry Guardino had been in).[5]
Many of the cast were angry over the studio's budget restrictions, which resulted in phony-looking props, malfunctioning firearms and the same German having to be killed three or four times. In the last battle scene, McQueen can be seen experiencing multiple failures firing the M3 Grease Gun. These malfunctions were due to problems with the blanks used.[citation needed]
McQueen was reportedly furious with his agent for having induced him to sign onto the film and not securing up front the fee that he had been promised, and for passing on another movie he wanted. Thus, his angry, detached appearance might not have been entirely due to his method acting. Columnist James Bacon visited the set and said that "Steve McQueen is his own worst enemy". Bobby Darin overheard the remark and replied, "Not while I'm still alive."[6] Bob Newhart said he had been offered the film the previous year and noticed the script had changed when Steve McQueen came on board; Newhart believed the original script had been set to feature Darin as the main star of the film.[7]
McQueen and Siegel were continuously at odds during the production, with the two nearly coming to blows several times. In one scene, when McQueen was unable to cry while on camera, Siegel resorted to slapping him hard and blowing onion juice into his face, before administering eye drops that ran down the actor's face.[8]
Parker, Coburn and others in the cast were working on other projects during the making of the film and would repeatedly show up in the nick of time to do their lines without makeup and little or no rehearsal.[citation needed] It was one of a string of quality support parts Coburn appeared in around this time.[9]
Due to the intense heat of the 1961 summer in Cottonwood and Redding, California, many of the scenes were shot at night for the comfort of the actors.[10]
During the production, Newhart's comedy albums were selling unexpectedly well, resulting in higher fee offers for stand-up comedy nightclub appearances. As a result, he sought ways to have his character killed off so that he could leave the production. The director consistently told him that he would be in the film until the end.[11]
Both Newhart and Parker[12] recalled that the film ended abruptly due to Paramount shortening the production of the film for financial reasons.
A novelization of the screenplay was written by Curt Anders.
Theme
Biographer Judith M. Kass commented on the film's central protagonist Reese (Steve McQueen). His homicidal tendencies find an outlet in combat and establishes a measure of camaraderie with his fellow soldiers.[13]
In Hell Is for Heroes Don Siegel delineated the most futile of man’s occupations and the kind of person who flourished in this milieu. Steve McQueen is a psychopath, licensed to kill in the Second World War. In this situation he can unleash his natural anti-social instincts. McQueen can’t exist as a normal human being outside the war and its opportunities for regimented murder, but he loses his life at the moment of his triumph.[14]
Kass also noted that Seigel offered no social context that located the origins of McQueen's psychotic behavior: "No attempt is made to explain his behavior in terms of either an unjust society or a cruel environment."[15]
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Several of the guest characters in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Siege of AR-558" are named after characters and actors from this film. These include Patrick Kilpatrick's character Reese, Annette Helde's character Larkin and Bill Mumy's character Kellin (named after the actor Mike Kellin). Unseen characters named after characters from the film include Captain Loomis and Commander Parker. The episode has a similar plot, where Starfleet troops have been holding off repeated attacks from enemy forces for five months.
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