Bitter Victory (1957)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 15
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 931
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Movie Info
In Nicholas Ray's WWII drama, two British officers, Captain Leith (Richard Burton) and Major Brand (German character actor Curd Jürgens, who would later play Bond foe Karl Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me), a South African, are being considered to lead a daring raid to steal crucial documents from a Nazi stronghold in Libya. The two don't seem particularly fond of each other. Brand's wife, Jane (Ruth Roman of Strangers on a Train), arrives on the base. There's an odd awkwardness when Brand
Jan 1, 1957 Wide
Feb 22, 2005
Sony Pictures Entertainment
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Cast
-
Richard Burton
Capt. Leith -
Curd Jürgens
Maj. Brand -
Ruth Roman
Jane Brand -
Raymond Pellegrin
Mekrane -
Anthony Bushell
Gen. Paterson -
Sean Kelly
Lieutenant Barton -
Christopher Lee
Sgt. Barney -
Alfred Burke
Lt. Col. Callander -
Andrew Crawford
Roberts -
Ramon de Larrocha
Lt. Sanders -
Raoul Delfosse
Lt Kassel -
Harry Landis
Pvt. Berowining -
Ronan O'Casey
Sgt. Dunnigan -
Sumner Williams
Pvt. Anderson -
Nigel Green
Private Wilkins -
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All Critics (17) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (4) | DVD (5)
Nicholas Ray's direction of black-and-white CinemaScope, that freak child of the 50s, is consistently brilliant in this raw, confused masterpiece.
Contemplating the dangerous games men play with macho self-images, this survives as one of Ray's greatest works.
Fine thesping by Richard Burton leads a series of top performances by other members of large cast.
The title tells all.
Top CriticThe film's military detail is in most respects quite ludicrous.
Odd amalgam of a French film, starring a British, German, and American trio, directed by an American and written by three men from different countries.
There is a sense that while the men here are well-versed in the theories of war, they are clueless about the realities of combat.
It's one of Ray's more powerful films.
Nicholas Ray directs with an uncompromising austerity that puts the hypocrisy and the bitter inhumanity of war in focus...
Bitter Victory shows Ray at the height of his powers, making beautiful use of his black-and-white Cinemascope frame.
A brilliant, shamefully neglected war movie.
A starkly shot and probing inquiry into notions of cowardice and heroism.
The whole picture, deeply pessimistic and subversive, exerts a fierce grip.
To neutralize scorpion venom, all you have to do is surgically remove a camel's bladder to harvest the ammonia in its urine. Good to know.
Has almost become eclipsed by the thunder of Jean-Luc Godard's infamously rapturous tribute in the pages of Cahiers.
...characters remain woefully underdeveloped.
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Foreign Titles
- Bitter war der Sieg (DE)
- Bitter Victory (1957) (UK)
