Mitchum is the U.S. forces colonel, trying to train the Korean army in warfare, while Ann Blyth is the interpreter "Linda". Of course, they disagree on everything, but naturally they fall in love, in spite of themselves. Even back then, they make the comment that "Nato will just pass some more strongly worded resolutions." This is extra interesting, since the war was still going on when this film was released. Viewers will also spot William Talman, in an early role here, who would go on to be the DA on Perry Mason. He died young at 53. Great flick, overall. They toss in joking one-liners, although they sometimes feel out of place, since there's so much death and dying all around them. Directed by Tay Garnett. He had a great track record, making some of the great films of Hollywood. Showing on Turner Classics.

The movie had some excellent footage of F-80 jet aircraft in action against ground targets. In the early months of the Korean conflict, Shooting Stars were used to assist UN troops battling the onslaught of the North Korean invasion. Designed by Kelly Johnson in the 40's, the F80 performed quite well until the Mig 15 went into action in late 1950. There were USAF claims that Lt Russell Brown shot down a Mig 15 in the first jet to jet air combat. The Soviet's dispute this. Lots of data on various web site on Korean war conflict. Other US Jet aircraft used were Republic F84 Thunderjets, Douglas F2H Banshee, Grumman F9F Panther, North American Fury and Sabre, Gloster Meteor, etc

How someone as workmanlike as director Tay Garnett could take talents the like of Robert Mitchum and Charles McGraw and crank out this piece of sausage is pretty hard to fathom. It's not that the story is so bad for its time (early 1950s), but that the execution is so poor. Mitchum manages to be good insofar as the worst dialog of his career allows him, and McGraw is loaded down with even worse talk. The chemistry between Mitchum and love interest Ann Blyth is nil, the story veers from sickeningly sweet to nauseatingly real (courtesy of some actual combat footage of various people during or just after being roasted alive, etc.), and the majority of the supporting performances are amazingly amateurish for a studio picture of its time. Mitchum plays an infantry officer in Korea at the beginning of the war there. He has a bit of a queasy stomach after slaughtering a bunch of civilian refugees because a few Communist infiltrators were hiding among them, but even his initially outraged girlfriend comes to see that "even a doctor amputating a leg has to cut off some good flesh with the bad," and pretty soon, this mini-My Lai is forgotten (without anyone apparently considering whether a wiser choice than massacre might have existed). But it's the amateurishness of the direction, the high-school-play sort of staging and dialog that make "One Minute to Zero" (a title without meaning or explanation in the film) an anomaly: how could these people, whose talent is undeniable, have made such a silly and childish little home movie. The philosophy of war, the details of combat and life in a war zone in general, even the romance, all are done with the sophistication and expertise of the average seven-year-old boy. This is the kind of movie Robert Mitchum was often accused of sleepwalking through, but in reality, were it not for him, it would be utterly unbearable.

The one good thing about this so-so Korean war film is the music score by Victor Young. It features the great romantic song "When I Fall in Love" Although not sung in the film (therefore not Academy Award nominated) it was recorded by Nat "King" Cole and others. Cole's is the best and is featured on many of his albums.