3:15pm PST – Hell is for Heroes (1962) – A small U.S. squadron holds off the Nazis in a desperate last stand. Cast: Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino Dir: Don Siegel BW-90 mins, TV-PG
No classic, but damn close and certainly a tough, engrossing WWII actioner, as though director Don Siegel teamed with Steve McQueen could come up with anything else. My favorite scenes involve a very young Bob Newhart putting the telephone bit that made him famous to good use as he fakes phone calls he knows the enemy is listening to in order to create the impression just a few guys, cut off and badly out-numbered, are something just a tad larger.
You look back on films like these and your memory recalls a rich, full, satisfying story. So it’s always surprising to see a run-time of 90 minutes, especially with so many bloated films today that eat up another forty minutes to tell half the story.
Steve McQueen. Yeah, we have some movie stars left, but he was the last of the gods.
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