Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

No, this is NOT the famous 1951 black and white masterpiece that we all know and saw many times. This is a 1974 TV film, which I never heard of and never saw before. Many people criticized that take fiercely, which laves me totally shocked. Why? This full color take is not bad, this is a very decent try, a nice effort that depicts war as it is - cruel, miserable, sad, bloody, ferocious, wild, wanton, merciless, panicking, awful, bad and horrid. The movie is short, so it doesn't drag or get on your nerves. The plot of the book is depicted very vividly and it does not glorify violence, it shows it as a real terrible and blood-chilling affair. This rare film is certainly worth watching if only for educational sake and also for a fresh view of a classic

Stephen Crane's classic American novel concerning fictional Yankee private Henry Fleming of the 304th New York Regiment--who loses his courage to fight after seeing the random insanity of life and death on the battlefield--is not a natural for the screen. In 1951, writer-director John Huston had tried for a thorough adaptation of the story, but that theatrical feature left audiences unmoved and was drastically altered by its studio. This faithful television version has been smartly thought-out by writer John Gay and director Lee Philips and, despite some overwrought performances and distinct 1970s haircuts, contains many powerful sequences. Richard Thomas is perhaps a bit too old to be convincing as the teenage Henry (age 18 in the book), yet his character's confusion--and guilt over his cowardice--is overpowering and intensely felt. Injured by stampeding soldiers, Henry finds strength and personal redemption in being 'wounded', returning to his fellow recruits to carry the flag into battle. This psychological tale of wartime is demanding and dramatic, yet is laid-out for us cleanly, without any creeping pretensions. The locations are disappointing (most likely due to budget restraints), however the power of Crane's storytelling is palpably realized.

I have looked and searched, trying to find this movie, there has to be one out there some where, its on TV once and in great while..I would even settle for your own Home Made VHS of this movie. Why cant the release of this movie be retrieved? I once heard it was available as an import, but I still got no results. I remember watching this on cable TV, I think it was The Retro channel, any way, I HAD a copy of this movie on my Cable TV DVR, but my DVR broke and I had to get a new one, I wish I would have remembered to Record this movie, before I turned my DVR back to The Cable Co. Like other Reviewers I keep a watch out for this movie to be shown again. I think your best bet is: The Family Channel. please let me know if you find this movie in any form.

This was a great movie and it's the second time Richard Thomas starred in a remake that was better than the original. The other film was All Quiet on the Western Front and is available on DVD unlike this film which I have not been able to find anywhere.