You would be hard pressed to find a more pedestrian war movie than Hell is For Heroes. Like director Don Siegel's career, there's little in this film that distinguishes it. It's about a small band of soldiers — on the Siegfried Line in 1944 — trying to fool the Germans into thinking they're a much larger unit.

There's almost no character development in the film. Steve McQueen plays the main character, Reese, and his entrance plays up what an anti-social, cold bastard he is. Once on the line, he spends most of his time on watch. Eventually, Reese is shaken up by a failed attempt to take a German pillbox, but he redeems himself during the climax with a heroic act. But the connection between his failure and subsequent heroics is tenuous at best. It's already been made clear that Reese, for all his anti-social tendencies, is a damn good soldier. His actions weren't motivated by the thinning of his squad; they were exactly what we would expect of him. The other members of the squad are all given screen time, but it's simply to show some of the tricks they devise to make their numbers seem larger.

The only standout scene is an attempted crossing of a minefield. The deaths that occur are appropriately disturbing for a war movie that too often feels like an action film with a WW2 setting.

Fess Parker, Harry Guardino, and James Coburn give adequate support, considering they have little to work with. Nick Adams has the embarrassing task of playing one of those "helpless but earnest foreigner" stereotypes that Hollywood still uses. (Included is a scene in which Adams expresses a sudden and unjustified contempt for his own language). Bob Newhart provides unwelcome comedy relief, complete with a contrived reason for him to do his one-way telephone routine. The big surprise is Bobby Darin as the opportunistic scavenger Corby; it's not a great performance, but he's comfortable in his role, more natural than you'd expect from a non-professional actor. It's his character who provides the film's biggest cop-out: though expressing what amounts to an atheistic outlook, Colby predictably crosses himself by the end of the film. This scene lacks true motivation (other than to reassure the audience) considering that Colby does it after witnessing human bravery, not any divine intervention.

Despite following this small band of soldiers as they hold the line, the film takes a narratively awkward turn at the end; the emphasis is taken off the survivors and put on a large scale charge against the German lines. Hell is For Heroes becomes even less about the men. This directionlessness is best summed up by the ending; it's so abrupt and unsatisfying, it feels like the crew simply ran out of film. (Considering they had to resort to using stock footage, this isn't a farfetched assumption.) Or maybe the filmmakers simply got bored and went home.