The Men

"A completely new experience between men and women!"

1950 1h 25m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🍅

79%

FRESH

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 96🍅79%Rotten Tomatoes★7.1IMDB · 5,317

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Ken, a WWII GI, returns home after he's paralyzed in battle. Residing in the paraplegic ward of a veteran's hospital and embittered by his condition, he refuses to see his fiancée and sinks into a solitary world of hatred and hostility. Head physician, Dr. Brock cajoles the withdrawn Ken into the life of the ward, where fellow patients Norm, Leo and Angel begin to pull him out of his spiritual dilemma.

“A completely new experience between men and women!”

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Cast

Marlon Brando
Ken
Teresa Wright
Ellen
Everett Sloane
Dr. Brock
Jack Webb
Norm
Richard Erdman
Leo
Arthur Jurado
Angel
Virginia Farmer
Nurse Robbins
Dorothy Tree
Ellen's Mother

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Writers: Carl Foreman, Carl Foreman
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

85 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

76 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Fred Zinnemann, shot by Robert De Grasse. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Harry Gerstad shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Marlon Brando and Teresa Wright and Everett Sloane carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A completely new experience between men and women!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fred Zinnemann directs. Robert De Grasse behind the camera. Dimitri Tiomkin scores. Harry Gerstad cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

185 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
276 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Directed by Fred Zinnemann, shot by Robert De Grasse. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Harry Gerstad shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Marlon Brando and Teresa Wright and Everett Sloane carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A completely new experience between men and women!".
9IMDB entry: tt0042727 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 96 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "depression", "post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)", "broken engagement", "war veteran".
12Released under 20 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert De Grasse
Original score: Dimitri Tiomkin
Editing: Harry Gerstad
Production design: Rudolph Sternad
Makeup / hair: Gustaf Norin
Runtime: 85 min · 1h 25m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Men (1950)
Rotten Tomatoes: 79% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 5,317 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 3 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Fred Zinnemann

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-02-06
★ 7/10
"Ken" (Marlon Brando) is a paraplegic war veteran who has returned to the United States, and to an hospital, psychologically ill-equipped to cope with his new situation. His doctor "Brock" (Everett Sloane) tries to understand this increasingly violent and reactionary man whilst his wife "Ellen" (Teresa Wright) vacillates between the terrified and the loving. His behaviour slowly alienates all those around him - including his fellow soldiers and pretty soon he is looking at being kicked out of the place - or worse, being sent to jail. Brando is good here. Watching his performance here it's not hard to see why audiences fell in love with him. Not just because he looks great, but because here he exudes a degree of frustration and exasperation that is selfish, yes, but also explicable in an environment in which prosthetics weren't really an option and so life in a chair was all that was on offer. That prospect challenged his very masculinity and posed quite a problem for "Sloane" and his erstwhile loving wife. On that front, Wright delivers well too, if sparingly, as a woman just as frustrated as her husband - with no real prospect of a solution for her on the cards either. It packs quite a bit of punch for just under ninety minutes and sends a salutary message to an audience that might need to be made more aware of the limitations of the post traumatic treatment being offered to people who suffer life-changing injuries of both a physical and a mental nature, and though I didn't really love the conclusion, it's still well worth a watch.

Production companies