Film 25/52: The Young Warriors (1966)


Richard Matheson adapted his 1960 novel, The Beardless Warriors, which was based on his experiences in World War II, into the film The Young Warriors. While I own a 16mm print of the film, it has never been officially released on home video. For the sake of this series we watched an anamorphic widescreen DVD-R of the film that I've had for some time.

Private Hacker (Hackermeyer in the novel) is the latest 18 year-old to be assigned to Sergeant Cooley, who complains that he's running a boy scout troop. Cooley takes Hacker under his wing, and in no time at all, his new kid is proving to be a star in the rifle group. Whereas the book is a dark journey that takes place over a two-week period where Hackermeyer goes from a new recruit to a battle-seasoned veteran, the film is a somewhat lighter take on the material. Apparently much of Matheson's story was jettisoned in order to re-work the film to incorporate existing footage from the 1955 Universal Audie Murphy story, To Hell and Back. Not having seen that film. I can't tell you exactly how much of the footage is repurposed. 

Drury gets top-billing due to his role in The Virginian, though Hacker (Steve Carlson) is really the main protagonist. Recognizable in the cast are Norman (Three's Company) Fell as the Sergeant who appears briefly in the beginning to turn Hacker over to Cooley, Robert (CHiPs) Pine as a fellow 18 year-old who's not fit for soldiering, and Kent (ADAM-12) McCord in a small role (under the name Kent McWhirter). One of the most surprising performances was from Jonathan Daly (as Guthrie), who provides sardonic comic relief throughout the film. I'm sure I've seen him in other roles, though nothing immediately jumped out at me from a quick scan of his IMDB credits. 

It's been a few years since I last read the book, but it's definitely superior to the film. While characters do die in the film, the stakes didn't seem as high, nor did the characters seem to be as at risk, as they are in the novel. And the change that Hackermeyer undergoes in the book is much more palpable than in the film. 

I'm glad to have finally screened this Matheson-scripted adaptation of his novel, and perhaps best of all it has inspired me to revisit the novel. 

If you want to check it out, the full film can be viewed here: 

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