John Saxon & Robert Redford in

Near the end of the Korean War, a replacement, Private Roy Loomis (Robert Redford), is assigned to an infantry company on the front line. One night, Loomis notices a soldier leaving camp in dark clothing and face paint. He learns that this is Private Raymond Endoren (John Saxon), who routinely infiltrates enemy lines. The company's commander, Captain Wallace Pratt (Charles Aidman), allows Endore to act independently because, after many of these nighttime excursions, he has returned with useful information. However, Endore is also knifing to death enemy soldiers and, as Loomis himself witnesses during a night patrol, conducts an odd circle-ritual around each of his murdered victims. The other men in the company steer clear of Endore and warn Loomis, who is prone to asking probing questions, not to "mess with that guy".

Endore's only friend is a Korean orphan, nicknamed Charlie (Tommy Matsuda), with whom Loomis tries to cultivate a friendship. He suggests to Endore that the boy should be placed in an orphanage where he will at least have other children around and some kind of basic lifestyle. This brings Loomis into conflict with a demonstrably psychotic Endore, who plans to remain in Korea after the war ends, and to keep Charlie with him.

The tension comes to a head when the armistice occurs. Endore, in direct defiance of company orders, once more dons dark clothing and takes Charlie to cross enemy lines. Loomis, alarmed that this could impact the armistice, approaches his company Sergeant, Owen Van Horn (Sydney Pollack) about Endore. The two soldiers are forced to bring Endore's actions to Pratt's attention. Pratt, realizing he has let Endore have too free a hand, asks the men for volunteers to bring Endore back, but only Loomis and Van Horn agree to join him.

The group finally locates Endore, who has taken Charlie behind enemy lines and resists Pratt's orders to return. Endore grabs a knife and attempts to attack Pratt after beating up Van Horn. Despite Loomis' pleas, Pratt shoots the deranged Endore and Charlie flees in the ensuing confusion. The resolution suggests that Charlie, having been influenced and given lessons in killing by Endore, will grow into the same kind of man.

A 1962 American Black & White neo-noir war film directed by Denis Sanders, produced by Terry Sanders, written by Stanford Whitmore, cinematography by Ted McCord, starring John Saxon, Robert Redford, Charles Aidman, Sydney Pollack, Tommy Matsuda, Gavin MacLeod, Anthony Ray, Tom Skerritt, William Challee, and Nancy Hsueh. Released by United Artists.

Francis Ford Coppola appears as one of the Army Truck Drivers, uncredited, and associate producer Noel Black worked as an electrician.

Feature film debuts of Robert Redford, Tom Skerritt and Sydney Pollack. Thirty years on, Redford would direct Skerritt in "A River Runs Through It" (1992).

First of two films starring Tom Skerritt in which he portrayed an American soldier in the Korean War. The other was "M*A*S*H" (1970).

Redford and Pollack met on the set of the film as actors, and began a lifelong friendship and the beginning of an exceptional body of work together as actor and director.

After making this film, Sydney Pollack devoted himself to his directorial career - he would make his feature debut in that capacity three years later with "The Slender Thread" (1965). Pollack would not appear in a feature film again as an actor until an uncredited cameo in his own "The Electric Horseman" (1979) and then three years later in a very well received role in "Tootsie" (1982), which he likewise directed, that reignited his acting career.

Three of the actors in the film later directed films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture: Francis Ford Coppola directed "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974), Robert Redford directed "Ordinary People" (1980) and Sydney Pollack directed "Out of Africa" (1985). With the exception of Coppola with respect to "The Godfather" (1972), the three men also won the Academy Award for Best Director for the relevant films.

Anthony Ray would later be nominated for an Academy Award for producing the Best Picture nominee "An Unmarried Woman" (1978), directed by Paul Mazursky.

The Sanders brothers, who started in Hollywood as second unit directors of the river sequences in "The Night of the Hunter" (1955), shot most of the film at night to hide their low budget.

Producer Terry Sanders sent the script to the Pentagon in the hope that the Army might provide technical assistance. The Army replied that it objected to many portions of the script, such as a private soldier being an independent professional killer with his commanding officer's approval, a scene in which the captain calls a sergeant an "idiot", and scenes the Army thought "too gruesome to be in good taste".

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "one of the most original and haunting war movies in years" and said "most of this picture is pure unvarnished gold".