WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

guylyonsntlworldcom I decided to see this film again, and now know why I forgot it was ever made. Cheap explosions, chunks of history ignored, and more women than every other 60s war films put together for what !!?? How on earth it gets such a high rating beggars belief, as it is presented in the most wooden way possible. A dreadful mess of a so called war drama, that looks so dated now. Better to watch paint dry, as this is one of the worst war films I have ever seen. Believe the other reviews at your peril......be afraid very afraid of wasting your time !!..!!!!!!!!!

JohnHowardReid Made with the co-operation of the Swedish Army Ordnance Corps. Photographed in black-and-white Panavision. Producer: Carl Foreman. A Carl Foreman Production. Copyright 31 December 1963 by Highroad Productions/Open Road Films. Released through Columbia Pictures. New York opening simultaneously at the Criterion and the Sutton: 19 December 1963. U.S. release: 19 December 1963. U.K. release: 12 October 1964. Australian release: 17 July 1964. 15,750 feet. 175 minutes. Cut by the censor to 155 minutes in Australia. SYNOPSIS: Following training in England, a U.S. infantry squad is sent into combat in Italy. After taking possession of a small town, one of the G.I.s, Baker, finds a few hours of happiness with a young mother, Maria, who has not heard from her soldier husband for several months. A few days later the group moves on and arrives in France after the D- Day landings. During the occupation of a small town, a rugged non-com named Craig (who later has his face shot away) spends an evening with a Frenchwoman terrified by the constant bombings. Another, Chase, becomes involved with a wealthy woman, Magda, who wants him to desert and join her in the enormously profitable black market. But he rejects her and rejoins his outfit and is wounded in action. Once the group has moved into Belgium, Sergeant Trower falls in love with Regine, a nightclub violinist, but loses her when she turns into a promiscuous opportunist. Later, in Berlin, he takes up with a young blonde who lives in the Russian zone and whose sister boasts of the greater luxuries provided for her by her Russian captain. Following a disillusioning evening with her, Trower becomes involved in a pointless squabble with a drunken Russian soldier.NOTES: Only film directed by screenwriter (Champion, High Noon, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone) and sometimes producer, Carl Foreman.COMMENT: A count-the-pretentious themes picture. On the credit side, we can count Saul Bass's titles, Senta Berger's performance, Challis' stark, newsreel-looking photography, and especially the execution of Private Slovik sequence with Frank Sinatra singing "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas". Action fans and Albert Finney fans are likely to be very disappointed by the minute amount of time given to them. It's very obvious that far, far too much footage was shot, but even so, many people just disappear from this film without any explanation.Needless to say, the movie does accommodate at least one actor whom we all wish would disappear, but who doesn't do anything of the kind. I refer to George Hamilton who gives am absolutely dreadful performance.And also, sad to reveal, but Carl Foreman's direction is dull, using poorly-composed long takes to monotony, whilst his sentiments, though doubtless sincere, are expressed in rubbishy terms. One of the worst examples is the Anglo-American friendship episode underscored by "There'll Always Be an England"! No wonder Carl, a splendid writer, didn't direct any more films, although he does have further credits as a producer and an executive producer. (Also, of course, as a director, he obviously couldn't contain himself and thus shot far, far, far too much footage, most of which ended up on the cutting-room floor).

The_TJT Forgotten gem of a classic war drama, delivered with taste and nice looking b/w cinematography. The story follows a platoon of US soldiers across several cities on their conquest of Europe during WWII. It's more of a compilation of vignettes on the platoon members' wartime affairs with local European women rather than a traditional war film, being almost devoid of battle scenes. Yet the presence of war is always felt; as in the superb bombing scene with Sgt Craig and the wealthy French war widow, played by Wallach and Moreau."The Victors" has a great all-round cast of characters, including George Hamilton as corporal Trower, Eli Wallach as the tough sergeant, Jeanne Moreau and Rosanna Schiaffino playing short but memorable segments as the conquered women, to name a few. The version I saw has a relatively long running time of two and half hours, and is sometimes slightly slow for all tastes.... which is however compensated with several high impact scenes that linger well after the fact... for example one with Peter Fonda and a doomed puppy. The film is a great character study on human condition and makes a strong anti-war message, especially in the snowy execution scene of a deserter with Sinatra's Christmas song playing in the background... a contrast of tender music and violence which contributes to one of the most striking scenes in cinematic history... a combination later seen in many films such as Kubrik's DR. STRANGELOVE (1964), Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966), Peckinpah's CROSS OF IRON (1977) - and of course various Tarantino films where the meaning is to rather glorify violence instead of criticizing it."The Victors" is based on British writer Alexander Baron's book "The Human Kind", which is a collection of short stories based on the author's own wartime experiences. Excellent film.

Leofwine_draca THE VICTORS is a black and white WW2 film following the misadventures of a squad of American soldiers as they work their way through various theatres of war in Europe. They begin in London, narrowly avoiding the Blitz, before moving into occupied Italy and finally - following the D-Day landings - working their way through France back towards Germany.This isn't a film I'd particularly heard about before watching and having seen it I have to say that I found it a bit of a slog to sit through. It's an epic-length movie with a very slow pace and a narrative which is episodic in nature. The soldiers are just that, soldiers, without ever being particularly sympathetic; whether you like them or not depends on how much you like the actors playing them. George Hamilton and George Peppard are both good value and Eli Wallach is great as always, but I could take or leave the rest of them.The film does have its strengths, including some fine cinematography which makes the bombed-out ruins of a war-devastated continent look incredible. There isn't a great deal of action here but that which does occur is realistic and engaging. Playing spot the famous face is fun, as the film includes bit parts for Albert Finney, Roy Scheider, and Peter Fonda. Some moments such as those involving the dog or the Russian soldier are extremely harrowing and downbeat. However, too much of the film chronicles the experiences of the Yanks with various European women, all of them played by top European talent like Jeanne Moreau and Elke Sommer. These romantic interludes are slow and where the film lost my interest, taking the edge off a potential masterpiece.