Heroes for Sale

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Heroes for Sale

1933

1h 13m

Drama

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Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

69%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

World War I hero Tom Holmes (Richard Barthelmess) finds life back in Depression-era America uncharacteristically hard. Tom cannot find work, and after being wounded in battle, he's struggling with a dependency on pain medicine. After Tom beats his addiction and lands in Chicago, he settles down with a woman (Loretta Young) and gets a job at a laundromat. But trouble is still ahead, as union groups threaten Tom's job, and he gets caught up in the mounting unrest sweeping through the city.

Frank S. Nugent

New York Times

Many a mystery is less bewildering than Heroes for Sale, which was not intended as a puzzler at all.

Jun 5, 2014

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

This is also bracingly egalitarian, attacking the hypocrisy of communists and capitalists alike.

Jun 5, 2014

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TV Guide

A hokey melodrama that is too far from reality to be enjoyed.

Jun 5, 2014

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Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Not a gram of fat in Wellman's crazy, urgent, ribald Depression pamphlet

Jan 24, 2014

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Nick Davis

Nick's Flick Picks

A Pre-Code Battle in Seattle... Heroes for Sale is not a perfect film, and not particularly interested in perfection, but really and truly, pretend this isn't a clich: they don't make 'em like this anymore.

Rated: B+

Jan 5, 2012

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John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

An astonishment: a no-punches-pulled social history of America from World War I to 1933 that covers trench warfare, drug addiction, Communism, automation, labor riots, false imprisonment, xenophobia, bread lines and more.

Rated: 4/4

Feb 17, 2011

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David K

A tough, hard-hitting studio presents a tough, hard-hitting movie directed by a tough, hard-hitting director. If you're a film fan, go for it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/13/23

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Audience Member

Very dated but still quite good. Heroes for sale tells the story about Thomas Holmes who has an unbreakable spirit despite all the obstacles he has to face.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

Within its 71-minute time frame, this film (co-written by "professional cynic" Wilson Mizner) tackles such issues as disenfranchised war veterans, misguided hero worship, drug addiction, the Depression, capitalism, labor relations and communism.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

3: The film is not particularly well written or structured, but the ending more than makes up for this. I couldn't really figure out where it was heading for the longest time, but this was mainly because I wasn't actively considering the social conditions surrounding the creation of the film. In the end both the rich man that was given everything on a silver platter and the poor man for whom everything was a struggle end up with nothing, as was the case with many during the Great Depression. The message is all about giving rather than taking and the rehabilitation of the American dream via the policies of FDR. It is actually quite effective, especially since I didn't see it coming. I can see why pictures made under the code largely failed to discuss topics like this, at least in such an overt and obvious manner. I suspect it wouldn't always be good for business, nor fit in with the rigid puritanical notions of those controlling the code.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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Audience Member

A film that really touched me.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

Brilliant and often bleak social-satire from William A. Wellman. (Even the communist becomes a capitalist big with fascist impulses). It might be a bit confused in the end but this pungent stuff.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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William A. Wellman

Director

Richard Barthelmess

Thomas "Tom" Holmes

Loretta Young

Ruth Loring Holmes

Aline MacMahon

Mary Dennis

Gordon Westcott

Roger Winston

Robert Barrat

Max Brinker

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Synopsis

World War I hero Tom Holmes (Richard Barthelmess) finds life back in Depression-era America uncharacteristically hard. Tom cannot find work, and after being wounded in battle, he's struggling with a dependency on pain medicine. After Tom beats his addiction and lands in Chicago, he settles down with a woman (Loretta Young) and gets a job at a laundromat. But trouble is still ahead, as union groups threaten Tom's job, and he gets caught up in the mounting unrest sweeping through the city.

Director: William A. Wellman
Production Co: First National Pictures
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 13m