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Take the High Ground

Play trailer Poster for Take the High Ground Released Oct 30, 1953 1h 41m War Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 2 Reviews 27% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Sergeant Thorne Ryan fought bravely in the Korean War, and now he does his part by taking new recruits through basic training in the southern United States. A drill sergeant has to be fierce and hated by his trainees, but is Ryan the monster he is thought to be?

Critics Reviews

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David Nusair Reel Film Reviews ...stirring subject matter that’s employed to pervasively (and distressingly) hit-and-miss effect by Brooks... Rated: 2/4 Aug 4, 2023 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews The fun is in seeing the changes in the genre over the years and how army life was depicted in a bygone era. Rated: C+ Aug 20, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member For once my low rating is shared with the majority of the audience. This film suffered from either a poor screenplay or horrendous editing. It's a bunch of disjointed incidents about army life with no coherent direction. Even the love interest is poorly developed. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review Steve D Fine but like a million others. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/06/24 Full Review Audience Member Rather average, formulaic military tale of grunts being whipped into shape by tough drill sargeant Widmark, who has a few issues of his own. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Standard boys to men saga with a bit of tortured romance thrown in made far better than it should be by Richard Widmark. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Richard Widmark is a tough drill sergeant who prepares a bunch of green recruits for service in the Korean War. Karl Malden is his second in command who thinks Widmark is too hard on the young recruits. You've seen this story a hundred times, but who cares. The story was good and worked for "The Sands of Iwo Jima" all the way to "Heartbreak Ridge" and this film is no different. If you've got a good cast and a halfway decent sense of how to write characters, the formula will work and it works just fine here. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member life during war time Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Take the High Ground

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Cast & Crew

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Richard Brooks

Director

Richard Widmark

Sgt. Thorne Ryan

Karl Malden

Sgt. Laverne Holt

Elaine Stewart

Julie Mollison

Russ Tamblyn

Paul Jamison

Carleton Carpenter

Merton "Tex" Tolliver
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Take the High Ground

Take the High Ground (1953) Take the High Ground (1953) Take the High Ground (1953) Take the High Ground (1953) Take the High Ground (1953) Take the High Ground (1953) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Sergeant Thorne Ryan fought bravely in the Korean War, and now he does his part by taking new recruits through basic training in the southern United States. A drill sergeant has to be fierce and hated by his trainees, but is Ryan the monster he is thought to be?
Director
Richard Brooks
Producer
Dore Schary
Screenwriter
Millard Kaufman
Distributor
USA Films
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
War
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 30, 1953, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Feb 15, 2016
Runtime
1h 41m