clanciai The plot is not quite credible, although it is splendidly acted. You actually can't fail to observe how Maximilan Schell enjoys his part, and Charlton Heston came into this film directly from the vaults in the Sistine Chapel as Michelangelo and makes almost the same hopelessly stubborn case of idiotic obstinacy here. However, the weak point of the film is the colonel, (Anton Diffring, who almost exclusively played wicked German Nazi officers). It's not plausible that any German officer would have treated musicians like that, coldly lining them up for execution with all their instruments with no respect or regard for music at all - this is extremely alien to German mentality. Of course, it makes an ideally dramatic plot, and you follow it with interest, while also Kathryn Hayes fails to convince, both as lover and musician. Nevertheless, it's a very enjoyable film, especially for musicians, as it is the music that makes the film, with Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Wagner dominating and leading the show. It's horribly exciting as well, and although, as I said, the plot is very far from convincing and not in the least realistic, you buy the end with delight. It might have happened that an American orchestra like this could have got caught behind the German lines in winter 1944-45, but if such an incident occurred, they have made a mammoth out of it, and in reality the outcome would have been no more than just a harmless incident. Here it is blown up with a lot of dead bodies, as the Germans in the 60s had to be made as wicked as possible.

Byron ARGIRIS I "rediscovered" and just watched this little gem of a film with Good classical music and great performances, particularly by Maximilian Schell. It's technically a war movie though. My rating of 7 is based on purely entertainment value. Pretty good

juan carlos I make a difference, referring to war movies. There are some that are very faithful to the history such as Midway, Tora, Tora, Tora and there are some that emphasize the epic and heroic aspects of soldier life in terrible circumstances. I have to say that I am more interested in the second ones such as The Dirty Dozen, The Eagle has landed, etc. Counterpoint belongs to the second category. A famous music director (C. Heston) and his orchestra is kidnapped by the Nazy army in Belgium. The German General (M. Schell) wants this orchestra to play for him but the director delays this concert as much as possible to avoid his musicians to be killed. I think Ralphn Nelson felt some empathy for the character, starred by Heston because he was in the Army in the II World War and participated in different plays in Broadway to entertain people in the same way Heston tries to entertain soldiers in the cold Europe. Schell and Heston perform their roles perfectly: they admire each other but war has placed them in different sides of the river. Schell is far from the archetype of the Germans in the Hitler era. There is a love subplot between Heston and one old love, his musician,Kathryn Hays, who is now married with a partner, a serious Leslie Nielsen. This love story and the sequence in which an American soldier is nearly discovered by a German Colonel but he feigns to be a musician of the orchestra, playing the U.S. hymn, remind me of Casablanca. The cinematography of Russel Metty, in which the shadows have a relevant role, is quite brilliant. So, it deserves to be seen.Juan Carlos del Castillo Álvarez

davidporter224 I saw this film when it first came out and thought it was excellent, Charlton Heston's best. I don't think the plot was too far-fetched, after all, the Battle of the Bulge DID occur and a USO orchestra could have been caught behind the enemy lines like this one was. Perhaps the German general would not have been quite so brutal, front line troops were not like concentration camp guards, but Charlton Heston HAD discovered important information about the German fuel situation. I too, would like to get a copy of it on VHS or DVD. I actually do have a 16mm film copy of it, 3 reels I think, which I would gladly donate to anyone for a DVD in return!