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The Young Lions (1958)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 8/14

Lions
8/14: Which is worse: Brando's blond dye job or his sensitive portrayal of a sympathetic Nazi?

I haven't seen a war picture this atrociously bad since Beach Red. The Young Lions? Ha! They're hardly that. Maximilian Schell was 28, Marlon Brando 34, Montgomery Clift 38, and Dean Martin 41 when the film was made.

Marlon Brando is wasted given the fact that his character has so much potential but isn't well-developed. Montgomery Clift, who appears brain damaged, did this before in From Here to Eternity. Dean Martin is absolutely miscast and therefore looks all wrong. Maximilian Schell plays a German character as he always does in almost every Nazi picture ever made. I'm only surprised he didn't speak German this time. On the whole, it's safe to say they've been outperformed by the females.

The romance subplot between Marlon Brando and May Britt shows promise but fails to materialize. What's annoying is there's no sense of a plot. It's just a pointless movie, clocking at nearly three hours, with many interminable scenes. Director Edward Dmytryk should've cut out the Americans and kept the film strictly German by focusing solely on Christian Diestl. That way, Marlon Brando might have scored another Oscar nomination, but I have to be reminded of the hammy scene of him and Maximilian Schell on the scooter in front of the traveling matte as if it's Days of Our WWII Lives.

All in all, The Young Lions is one of the worst war pictures I've ever seen.