The Men (1950)

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Marlon Brando in "The Men" played a character quite similar to the one portrayed by Harold Russell in "Best Years of Our Lives." Both men had been seriously damaged (physically and psychologically) by the ravages of wartime combat. Both had major problems returning to civilian life. Both were decent men caught up in the terrible personal conflict of reconnecting with sweethearts left behind who still wanted to marry them. Ultimately both adjusted to their situation and the ending in both films----if not happy-----was certainly optimistic."The Men" is by far the more worthy story because it contained the greater reality. The many details that contributed to the Brando character's attitude are fully fleshed out----and leave no doubt about what they were and why they were important to better understand his feelings and emotions. Russell's character is not fully realized----perhaps because there were several other story lines in his film.Is Fred Zinnemann a better director than William Wyler? Maybe not. But in this one instance---when each directed a similar story----Zinnemann achieved the greater work of art----a classic in its own right.

Have only caught up with this film for a few (significant) moments on television, especially the two scenes in which Marlon Brando is driving himself and his friend back to the hospital after being out in a bar (and when they also crash), and the final scene where he drives himself back to his home with Teresa Wright, I spotted one glaring mistake in particular.Acknowledging the fact that when the film was made, there was much less knowledge and awareness of all the issues associated with various forms of disablement. But the thing which immediately struck me about these two scenes was that Brando, as a supposed paraplegic, was up there on screen driving a heavy American car of the 1950s, without a single driving aid to be seen on the screen - such as a remote gear change device or even knobs on the steering wheel to assist with the steering of cars for such people.

"The Men" comes from a time when movies didn't have long credits, from a time when a black and white frame was the only and the most beautiful thing existing in the world. It also comes from a time when what today sounds unbelievably clichéd, sounded perfect and accurate; exaggeration was a common thing.Some of the phrases in Carl Foreman's screenplay would probably make people laugh ridiculously nowadays (only some), but in this film they appear as reflexive and honest lines spoken by normal human beings. Then, "The Men" comes from a time when a young actor by the name of Brando, Marlon Brando; was bursting into the cinematic industry.Ironically, Brando is the most positive and the most negative element in "The Men"; I'll explain why soon enough. He plays Ken, a lieutenant shot in war who now lies in a hospital bed, paraplegic. In a powerful scene, Dr. Brock (Everett Sloane) gives a speech about the condition, and afterwards desperate mothers and wives bombard him with questions about how he thinks their sons and husbands are: if they'll be able to make it.In this scene, one lady, Elle (Teresa Wright), approaches the doctor, asking about a patient who is her fiancée but apparently doesn't want to see her; this is Ken. The reason is that he doesn't want her to see the man he's become, because she might not be able to cope with it. Or maybe he's still the same man and, with the help of his new friends Norm (Jack Webb), Leo (Richard Erdman) and Angel (Arthur Jurado), he is going to figure it out.Thus, a lot of training to get well arrives; completely depicted in a scene with musical background, kind of like what "Rocky" would do more than a decade after, but with his legs. In that scene, the music works, but through the rest of the picture I found it a total mess, accentuating moments that didn't need accentuation and making the voices of the actors difficult to listen to. However, maybe this was because of the fact that the score (or sound) of the film was 'muffled', as they told us in the theater. This wouldn't make sense though, because muffled is quiet, not loud…Whatever.Another great moment is when Elle eventually visits Ken, and he shows his legs to her: "This is what you wanna see?", he shouts; obliging her to look. In this particular moment, Marlon Brando's characterization is so strong that it seems to be coming from another film. And this is the double-sided aspect of Brando's fantastic acting skills in this movie: you can perfectly realize he was superior to all of his peers, but out of place because they couldn't pair him.For example, Wright's overly calm and exaggerated tone (perhaps common with some actresses at the time), confronting Brando's expressive loud voice in some scenes, makes the actor look like a madman; when he is actually capturing the essence of these scenes. Same to be said about Brando's sense of reality when talking to Webb and Erdman, who act as if they were living a joke.Being a paraplegic is no joke; the movie and Fred Zinnemann's care for the characters (just like in "From here to eternity") try to make this clear, as he takes them to deal with society in several situations: "Do you see how they're staring us?", Ken tells Elle when they go out for dinner. Of course some people may want to face the condition by laughing about it; but that's another story.And "The Men" is also a love story, and a good one with an ending so predictable and classic that, after watching Mikio Naruse's "When a woman ascends the stairs", comes as a breath of fresh air.

....to mention one of William Wyler's finest films.Teresa Wright was in that movie too,she was the banker's daughter Fred married .She was in "Mrs Minniver" as well.She was par excellence the girl-they-left-behind.Wright is a as sensitive as tender and as warm as ever ,but she is overshadowed by Brando's brilliant debut,fresh from the actor's studio. But all the cast is to be praised particularly Everett Sloane as doctor Brock who tries to help paralyzed war vets to adjust to the world without their limbs.Great scenes:The moment when the doctor explains to the wives/fiancés/mothers how heavy their task is.The scene when Brando has an argument with a civilian,a sequence which will remind you of a similar scene featuring Dana Andrews in "best years of our lives" .French title is "C'étaient des Hommes" ="They were men! .This is a stupid one.They ARE men!