Harrowing

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2016)

Easily the most important movie I've seen in terms of its emotional and intellectual impact. I was nine when it showed at the Main Street theater (25¢ for Saturday matinée), and never forgot it. The idea that army officers would be dishonest, corrupt, and willing to have their own troops executed for no crime was absolutely at odds with everything I was supposed to believe about how the world works—growing up in a military town, in a family proud of its war stories. When I finally saw it again almost sixty years later every scene resonated as if I'd seen it just a week before. The movie was exactly as great as it was the first time around—and for exactly the same reasons. It pulls no punches. Recommended without reservation.