You won't be disappointed!

Lack of good storyline.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Absolutely the worst movie.

I'm nostalgic for a good war drama pre 1970. I thought I had seen them all, being middle aged, but I had never watched this one before (it's on TCM). At first I was dismissive, Robert Redford? Oh boy this is going to suck. But no, I was wrong, this is a great war film. It's totally unpredictable, I honestly did not know where this was going. I would suggest to not read any reviews past this point and just watch it first as a spoiler would probably ruin the film. John Saxon puts on an awesome performance and the dialog of everyone involved was real enough for me to become involved. It's not over the top, it's very, very character driven and very engrossing. If you liked low budget war films such as Attack!, Men In War, and Hell Is For Heroes, you will enjoy this. 10 out of 10. It probably deserves it's mid 6 rating technically but as a character driven war drama I don't think you can do any better. I don't want to give away spoilers but every character involved in this was plausible and real. The less you know before watching the better your experience will be.

In Korea, in May 1953, the rookie G.I. Roy Loomis (Robert Redford) joins the Jaguars in the front. He befriends the soldiers and discovers that the psychotic Private Raymond Endore (John Saxon) sneaks out of the base every night to slice the throats of their enemies with his dagger. Further, the Korean orphan Charlie (Tommy Matsuda) idolizes Endore. When the governments sign the cease-fire, Endore once again leaves the base bringing the boy with him.The dramatic "War Hunt" is a film with a wonderful cinematography in black and white, excellent acting but the story is only reasonable. The characters are not well-developed specially the psychotic Raymond Endore that is a rich character but the motives for his death wish and his affection for Charlie are poorly explained along the screenplay. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Obsessão de Matar" ("Obsession of Killing")

This ultra low-budgeted and virtually unknown war/drama movie is probably the most interesting from an "acting" point-of-view. "War Hunt" remarkably – but I suppose coincidentally as well – features the big screen debuts of no less than three names that are nowadays considered hugely famous and acclaimed. Director Sydney Pollack (who sadly passed away earlier this year) and charismatic star Tom Skerritt both appear in small yet memorable roles, while Robert Redford (later star of classics such as "The Sting" and "All The President's Men") debuts in the fairly complex leading role of idealistic soldier in the center of a senseless Korean war zone. And yet, in spite of the more appealing great names, it's unquestionably the still underrated veteran actor John Saxon who steals the show. Even more so, Saxon owns the film and he's genuinely petrifying as the introvert soldier who appears to use the Korean War to give rein to his murderous and psychotic tendencies. When the young and inexperienced private Loomis arrives at the front during the last stage of the Korean War, his fellow soldiers immediately warn him to stay out of the way of Private Endore and his protégé Charlie; a local orphan kid. Endore is a brilliant soldier and of immeasurably value to the American army, but that is mainly because he single-handedly decreases the number of Korean soldiers by deliberately sneaking behind enemy lines at night. Private Loomis protests against this, especially because he wants to protect the young Charlie from his dangerous colleague. The rudimentary plot of "War Hunt" is actually pretty genius, since it's the first and only film – at least, as far as I know – that openly suggests signing up for the army is the ideal method for psychopathic killers to get away with their incontrollable urges and even get honored for them! Private Endore is anti-social, impolite and without manners but his superiors never cease to cover from him because he's such a powerful weapon against the enemy. The atmosphere of "War Hunt" is aptly depressing and dark, with some really brilliant musical choices and bleak photography. Presumably due to the absence of financial means, there's a severe shortage of action scenes and hence you'll have to struggle yourself through a handful of seemingly dull and redundant moments. Still, if it's not necessarily boisterous gunfire and violent battles in the trenches you're searching for, I would definitely recommend "War Hunt", if it were only for John Saxon's stupendous performance. His menacingly painted faced, the desolate star in his eyes and his completely unpredictable and impulsive personality make this one of the greatest performances I've ever seen in a low-keyed war epic.

**SPOILERS** With the war in Korea winding down everyone in this front-line combat platoon are looking forward to go home alive and in one piece before the final shot is fired. Everyone with the exception of Pvt. Raymond Endore, John Saxon.Endore is of the type of material that soldiers are made of. Tough ruthless and totally unfeeling, to himself or the enemy, when he's out on patrol knifing and strangling Communist Chinese and North Koreas soldiers on guard duty or in their sleep. Endore is now in danger of becoming an endangered species with the war, that he loves so much, about to end and him becoming obsolete.The movie "War Hunt" shows how those who participate in combat, Like Pvt. Endore, become so dehumanized by it to the point where they can never go back to society again. Endore had befriended this Korean, North Korean to be exact, orphan Charlie (Tommy Matsud) who not only looks up to him as a father figure but as a God. It's when Pvt. Loomis, Robert Redford, is assigned to Endore's squad that he starts to really lose it. Loomis wants little Charlie to grow up in an orphanage with little boys and girls like himself as friends to play and get along with instead of becoming an unfeeling killer like his hero Pvt. Endore.Despite it's shoe string budget "War Hunt" has a number of very convincing and terrifying battle scenes in it that you would have expected in a first run major Hollywood studio release. There's an nail biting Communist Chinese human wave night attack on the US, or UN, lines that has Pvt. Loomis freeze in his tracks almost ending up run through, with a bayonet, by one of the onrushing Red Chinese troopers. Endore uses Loomis', what he thinks, cowardice under fire to turn Charlie against him. Loomis in his first taste of hand to hand combat did in fact freeze up but later courageously made it back to his battered platoon after killing, in a brutal hand to hand confrontation, a Red Chinese soldier who tried to cut his throat.With the cease fire that was to end the Korean War just hours away Pvt. Endore desperate to keep the war from stopping goes out on his own, taking Charlie along with him, to somehow relight the fuse. Crossing into no-mans land Endore tries restart the fighting by creating an incident in killing a Communist Chinese or North Korean soldier after the cease fire went into effect. It's then when Pvt. Endore buddies, who liked him so much when the war was going on, turned against him.Obscure little war drama despite it's, in years to come, well known cast of Robert Redford Tom Skerritt and of course John Saxon "War Hunt" ranks right up there as one of the best, as well as least known, anti-war films ever to come out of Hollywood. The movie doesn't at all glorify war it in fact shows how it can turn normal men into blood-thirsty and mindless killers. Pvt. Endore got to like war, and the killing that goes along with it, so much that he even tried to get little Charlie addicted to it.In the end getting shot and killed, by his own men, may have well been the best thing that happened to Pvt. Endore. I can just imagine what he would have done when he came back to the states. With the only thing, and pleasure, to look forward to being him going out at night and kill like he did in the many "war hunts" that he participated in back in Korea Endore more then likely would have resumed his murderous obsession. This time not against enemy soldiers but innocent, and unsuspecting, civilian non-combatants.