One Minute to Zero

1952
Approved
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

873

YOUR RATING

Robert Mitchum and Ann Blyth in One Minute to Zero (1952)

During the early days of the Korean War, U.S. Army colonel Steve Janowski is one of the military advisers training the South Korean army and he's tasked with evacuating American civilians from the war zone.

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Drama War

During the early days of the Korean War, U.S. Army colonel Steve Janowski is one of the military advisers training the South Korean army and he's tasked with evacuating American civilians fr... Read allDuring the early days of the Korean War, U.S. Army colonel Steve Janowski is one of the military advisers training the South Korean army and he's tasked with evacuating American civilians from the war zone.During the early days of the Korean War, U.S. Army colonel Steve Janowski is one of the military advisers training the South Korean army and he's tasked with evacuating American civilians from the war zone.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

873

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Pvt. Jones
(uncredited)

Robert Bray

First Squadron Leader
(uncredited)

Thomas Carr

Pvt. Clark
(uncredited)

Wally Cassell

Pvt. Means
(uncredited)

Kay Christopher

Mrs. Stuart
(uncredited)

Eddie Firestone

Lt. Stevens
(uncredited)

William Forrest

Officer, Joint Operations
(uncredited)

Dorothy Granger

First Nurse
(uncredited)

Director
- Tay Garnett
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The film used 175 Korean War veterans as extras and actual Korean War footage is included.

Goofs
Live rounds are never used in movies. It puts lives in danger. But during the opening tank killing lesson, a semi-live bazooka round is used. It has live propulsion, but dud munitions. This way realistic flames shooting out of the back of the bazooka is achieved yet the crew have control over the special effect. The problem is, they did not actually figure out a way to lock the shell into the bazooka barrel. So it was actually a live firing of a dud-shell. This is why there is a huge plume of dust just prior to the tracks exploding. The marksman had to fire the dud round into the ground.

Quotes
Sfc. Baker: [after Steve has forcibly put Linda Day on a plane to evacuate] Sir, I once got in serious trouble throwin' a dame around like that.
Col. Steve Janowski: Oh? What happened?
Sfc. Baker: Well, she almost *married* me.

Crazy credits
Opening credits prologue: This is the story of a small detachment of American troops stationed in South Korea at the Outbreak of hostilities and their efforts to stem the surge of enemy aggression until the full force of British, American and other United Nations forces could be brought into action.

Connections
Featured in Dynamite Chicken (1971)

Soundtracks
Tell Me, Golden Moon
(uncredited)
Music by Nobuyuki Takeoka
English Lyrics by Norman Bennett

User reviews31

Featured review

6/10

Fairly Good Korean War Film

Unlike a great many films dealing with the Korean war ONE MINUTE TO ZERO does try to bring a sense of time and place to the proceedings . We see planes from Australia strafing North Korean troops while another scene scene shows British troops marching off to war behind a Scottish pipe band , and the most memorable sequence features North Korean infiltrators using refugees as human shields which did happen fairly often during that exceptionally cruel conflict. Compare this to most other films about the Korean war which could have been set in Asia or Europe during the second world war .

It does have a few flaws , for example there`s some painfully obvious real life film footage used and some of the battle scenes , especially the sequence with a soldier being killed by a flame thrower , could have been more graphic but I suppose that`s down to what you could show on screen in 1952 so perhaps that`s not a valid criticism . What is however is the inclusion of a love story which drags the story down some what . Women won`t want to watch ONE MINUTE TO ZERO because of the large number of combat scenes while fans of war films ( Who I guess are exclusively male ) will find the love story intrusive . But it`s a lot better than PEARL HARBOR