256 PORK CHOP HILL
on the Western Front 28 years earlier. The filmmakers also benefited from the sup-
port of the Pentagon, which lent them the ser vices of Joseph Clemons, Jr. himself
as technical advisor (Fishgall, 2002, pp. 205–208). Budget- conscious Peck had
insisted that the picture come in at $1.3 million. Casting unknowns and shooting
in black and white near Los Angeles helped keep costs down, but what was sup-
posed to be a 40- day shoot (26 May–18 July 1958) went 15 days over schedule. The
film wrapped in early August, $450,000 over bud get. Ironically, the actual battle
lasted just two days and two nights. In post- production, Peck, Sy Bartlett, and James
Webb took over the final editing and cut the film by nearly 20 minutes to make it
tauter. An unhappy Lewis Milestone attributed the last- minute excisions to Gregory
Peck’s wife, Veronique, who felt that her husband made his first entrance too late
into the picture, an unconfirmed but plausible assertion.Plot Summary
In a surprise attack on the night of 16 April 1953, near the end of the Korean War,
a Chinese battalion overruns U.S. defensive positions on Pork Chop Hill: an exposed
outpost that proj ects into Chinese lines. The Chinese quickly capture most of the
hill except for a few isolated bunkers. King Com pany, 31st Infantry Regiment, com-
manded by Lt. Joseph Clemons, Jr. (Gregory Peck), is tasked with recapturing the
hill, with two platoons of Love Com pany mounting a supporting attack on the right
flank. Subjected to demoralizing propaganda via loudspeaker (spoken by Viraj
Amonsin) and withering artillery, mortar, and automatic weapons fire, both units
take extremely heavy casualties. Love Com pany’s advance is stymied, but King
Com pany ultimately manages to capture most of the bunkers and trenches on
the hill’s summit. Of the 197 men who began the assault on Pork Chop Hill, only
35 men from King Com pany and 12 men from the two platoons of Love Com pany
make it up the hill unscathed. After further casualties Lt. Clemons has only 25 men
left to hold the hill against impending Chinese counterattacks. George Com pany
arrives to help but is mistakenly ordered down off the hill. All of Clemons’ men
are exhausted, low on ammo, and under constant and heavy enemy fire. Clem-
ons requests reinforcements to stave off annihilation but none are forthcoming.
Unknown to him, the merits of holding Pork Chop Hill are being debated at every
command level, from battalion, to Eighth Army headquarters, all the way up to the
peace talks table at Panmunjom. Fi nally realizing that the Chinese had attacked
Pork Chop Hill to test American resolve (not for its strategic value), the American
negotiators at Panmunjom authorize 7th Infantry Division commanding officer,
Major General Arthur Trudeau (Ken Lynch), to send in reinforcements for Clemons
and his beleaguered men, who descend the hill as fresh troops climb it.Reception
Released on 29 May 1959 (just before the Memorial Day weekend), Pork Chop Hill
received no Oscar nominations but earned rave reviews for its gritty realism. For
example, Bosley Crowther praised the filmmakers’ willingness to depict the “resent-
ments and misgivings” of the American troops: “The readiness to incorporate
these resentments in the account and demonstrate the application of this new