War drama focuses on leadership incompetence
World War II offered 1950s Hollywood countless opportunities for action picture plots and background for dramas. Some of the best known are “Bridge on the River Kwai,” “From Here to Eternity,” and “The Caine Mutiny.” Less known is “Attack!” Based on the play “Fragile Fox,” the movie keeps the focus on a single infantry company and the testy relationship between two of its officers.<br /><br />Toward the end of World War II, Fox Company must set up observation posts in a strategic area. Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert) failed to act during a recent engagement with the heavily entrenched Germans and 14 men died as a result. Cooney is a heavy-drinking judge’s son who never wanted to be in the army and is there only to earn his father’s respect. He’s under the command of Col. Bartlett (Lee Marvin).<br /><br />Lt. Joe Costa (Jack Palance) blames Cooney’s cowardice for the unnecessary loss of his men and warns Cooney that he will kill him if he fails to do his duty again. During a visit from Col. Bartlett, Lt. Woodruff (William Smithers) tells him morale in Fox Company is low and suggests that Bartlett place Cooney in a staff job, far from the front line.<br /><br />Anticipating military advancement for sheltering Cooney, the cynical and pragmatic Col. Bartlett puts his own career ahead of the safety of his men and ignores Cooney’s weakness as a leader. Bartlett has no open staff jobs and assures Woodruff that the company is not likely to see further action, since the enemy is on the run.<br /><br />But the Germans make one last massive effort in the Battle of the Bulge and Fox Company is called into action. Cooney orders Costa and his men to capture and hold a position in what is believed to be a deserted Belgian town. Cooney will provide back-up in case the company faces enemy resistance.<br /><br />Rather than glorify all American fighting men, director Robert Aldrich (“The Dirty Dozen”) shows that there were incompetents and cowards among American officers and soldiers and sometimes the wrong men were put in charge. The enemy may not always be the primary villain. It may be the corrupt and cowardly officers on our own side.<br /><br />The emphasis of “Attack!” is the interplay among individuals, not battle action. The film opens with a well staged uphill attack on a German pill box and there is some tank action later on, but the movie is not packed with gunfire and explosions. James Poe’s script fleshes out the characters of Cooney, Bartlett, Costa, and Woodruff and features some good moments for Buddy Ebsen, Richard Jaeckel, and Robert Strauss as men in Cooney’s command.<br /><br />Albert dominates the film. His Cooney is inept and knows his men don’t respect him. More concerned with the bottles of brandy he cherishes than with his duty, he thinks first of himself. He is the antithesis of Costa, an officer who is protective of his men and intolerant of lethal incompetence. Costa follows orders, even when he know they’re not the soundest, attempting to carry out a mission with minimum human loss. Both Albert and Palance are excellent actors and inhabit their characters. The scenes between Cooney and Costa bristle with tension.<br /><br />“Attack!” is a gritty war picture that grabs you on an emotional level. The characters’ flaws are magnified by the daily stresses of life and death. The screenplay doesn’t pull its punches as it features brave men captained by a coward. Because of this less-than-heroic look at its officers, the military refused cooperation and equipment, making it necessary for director Aldrich to make the film on a small budget. Appropriately edgy and bleak, “Attack!” has lost none of its bite and is still a powerful film<br /><br />The only bonus features on the Region A, unrated Blu-ray release are theatrical trailers.
The movie title "Attack [Blu-ray]," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.7 from 35 reviewers. 
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 {"Genre": "Military & War/World War II, Military & War/Drama", "Format": "Anamorphic, NTSC", "Contributor": "Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert", "Language": "English", "Runtime": "1 hour and 47 minutes", "MPAA rating": "NR (Not Rated)", "Product Dimensions": "0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.22 Ounces", "Media Format": "Anamorphic, NTSC", "Run time": "1 hour and 47 minutes", "Release date": "December 1, 2020", "Actors": "Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert", "Studio": "KL Studio Classics", "Country of Origin": "USA", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : There’s dissension in the ranks during the Battle of the Bulge! From Robert Aldrich, the acclaimed director of Apache, Kiss Me Deadly, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Flight of the Phoenix, The Grissom Gang and The Longest Yard, comes this WWII classic starring Jack Palance (Ten Seconds to Hell), Lee Marvin (Prime Cut), Eddie Albert (The Gun Runners), Robert Strauss (Stalag 17), Richard Jaeckel (Ulzana’s Raid), Buddy Ebsen (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and Peter van Eyck (Five Graves to Cairo). When Lieutenant Joe Costa (Palance) learns that his men died because their commander, Captain Cooney (Albert), was too much of a coward to join the fight, Costa issues a serious warning: Don’t let it happen again! But Cooney’s cowardice forces Costa into a fateful choice: continue to risk the lives of his men... or take the life of the captain. Beautifully shot by Joseph F. Biroc (The Towering Inferno), Attack is a tightly directed and gritty film that packs a wallop.Special Features:-Theatrical Trailer -Dual-Layered BD50 Disc -Optional English Subtitles.