The Young Lions (film)
| The Young Lions | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Edward Dmytryk |
| Produced by | Al Lichtman |
| Screenplay by | Edward Anhalt |
| Based on |
The Young Lions 1948 novel by Irwin Shaw |
| Starring |
Marlon Brando Montgomery Clift Dean Martin |
| Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Edited by | Dorothy Spencer |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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167 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.55 million |
| Box office | $4.48 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
The Young Lions is a 1958 American CinemaScope war drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based upon the 1948 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw, and starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin.
German ski instructor Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando) is hopeful that Adolf Hitler will bring new prosperity to Germany, so when war breaks out he joins the army as a lieutenant. Dissatisfied with police duty in Paris, he requests to be transferred and is assigned to the front in North Africa. He sees what the war has done to his captain (Maximilian Schell) and the captain's wife (May Britt), and he is sickened by their behavior.
Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin) and Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) befriend each other during their U.S. Army draft physical examination and attend basic training together.They are then stationed in London. Michael is in show business and romantically involved with socialite Margaret Freemantle (Barbara Rush) who, coincidentally, in 1938 dated Christian in the Bavarian Alps where she spent her skiing vacation. She was upset by his Nazi beliefs and deserted him on New Year's Eve to return to Michael.
Noah, who is Jewish and employed as a junior department store clerk, attends a party Michael throws, where he meets Hope Plowman (Hope Lange). She falls in love with him and introduces her fiancé to her provincial father, who doesn't like Jews but has never met one. After a chat with Noah, the father approves of the marriage.
In the service, a commanding officer and some of the tough guys in his company try to bully Noah and demonstrate their bigotry. Noah gains the respect of the enlisted men by standing up to them in a series of fist fights, even though he's much smaller and often badly hurt. Authorities however discover Noah's deprived situation, and court-martial his officer.
Each of these soldiers comes to view the war differently. Christian is conflicted, hating what the war has done to his fellow Germans, but unable to escape from his role in it. He despises what his fellow soldiers have done in the name of the Fatherland but is determined to fulfill his duty to the end. While visiting his seriously wounded captain in a hospital, he unwittingly brings him a sharp weapon, and later learns from the captain's attractive and seductive wife that he had committed suicide there.
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