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The Young Lions

The Young Lions

War · Drama · Action · 1958

The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.

Movie details

The Young Lions

“Irwin Shaw's monumental best-seller”

1958 War · Drama · Action 2h 47m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

75 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Young Lions?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Devil's Brigade

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At the onset of World War II, American Lt. Col. Robert Frederick is put in charge of a unit called the 1st Special Service Force, composed of elite Canadian commandos and undisciplined American soldiers. With Maj. Alan Crown leading the Canadians and Maj. Cliff Bricker the acting head of the American contingent, there is initial tension -- but the team comes together when given a daunting mission that few would dare to attempt.

The Longest Day

The Longest Day

War · 1962

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

The Guns of Navarone

The Guns of Navarone

Action · 1961

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel

The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel

Action · 1951

The life and career of Erwin Rommel and his involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler.

The Man Who Never Was

The Man Who Never Was

Thriller · 1956

The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.

The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away

War · 1957

Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.

Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog

Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog

Family · 2020

Follow the perilous journey to freedom when a young boy and his dog attempt to escape a concentration camp during World War II. Based on true events.

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

War · 1979

At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

War · 1942

During a raid on Germany, a British bomber crew is forced to bail out after their plane is damaged. They land in Holland, where they're aided by Dutch civilians.

Uprising

Uprising

Drama · 2001

In the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, Jews rise against the Nazis.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Edward Dmytryk

Written by

Edward Anhalt

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Lt. Christian Diestl

Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift

Noah Ackerman

Dean Martin

Dean Martin

Michael Whiteacre

Hope Lange

Hope Lange

Hope Plowman

Barbara Rush

Barbara Rush

Margaret Freemantle

May Britt

May Britt

Gretchen Hardenberg

Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell

Capt. Hardenberg

Court is in session

Put The Young Lions on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.