The Hook

I have to agree with Bosley Crowther and the other critics of the day who largely advised audiences to give this one a pass. THE HOOK is noble in its intent, but nothing about it rings true. When I was seven years old, watching TV alone at home on a Saturday afternoon, some network show without warning broadcast the footage of a Vietnamese prisoner being executed by an American military man. I have never been able to get the image out of my head -- and nothing anyone can say will convince me that the Kirk Douglas character in this movie, on receiving the order to execute his Korean prisoner, would do anything other than march the prisoner immediately to the deck of the boat, blow his head off and let the body drop into the water. End of story. It's all very well to have the discussion that THE HOOK has and wants us to have -- but military men do what they are trained to do and they don't have philosophical arguments about it. There's a lot of good work on screen, and the purpose is admirable, but it never for one second feels authentic.