TARGET ZERO

US, 1955, 90 minutes, Black and white.
Richard Conte, Peggy Castle, Charles Bronson, Chuck Conners, Terence De Marney.
Directed by Armin Jones.

Target Zero comes rather late in the day of the films set in Korea, the action going back to the early 1950s, and the film coming out well after the end of the war.

It is a regular kind of war film, focusing on a small group, mainly American infantry but with three from a British tank and a woman from a United Nations body. She is travelling with a companion when they are hit, the companion killed, and she is rescued by the men in the tank. That have been observed but it is by the Americans who then introduce themselves.

The main part of the film is the group continually going forward, seeing the North Koreans in the distance and engaging in combat, some injuries on the American side, meeting some Buddhist monks, with the United Nations woman being delegated to care for the sick.

The film introduces the characters before the credits, naming them, giving something of their background, and what they bring them to their experience of warfare. Richard Conte had been in war films like A Walk in the Sun, not unlike this particular film. This is an early film for Charles Bronson who had been acting for some years but who was not to emerge as the star he became for another decada all more. Chuck Conners also appears in an early role as does L.Q. Jones.

A lot of the film is taken up with conversations and discussions between the characters, revealing who they are, their attitudes towards the war, as well as their involvement in action. There is also a romance between the United Nations woman, played by Peggy Castle, and Richard Conte.

The film was directed by Harmon Jones, a successful editor who became a director, making minor films and working extensively on television.

A film for the collection of all movies set in Korea.