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It took, as a matter of historic fact, more strong men than the Wehrmacht could provide. Audie took to soldiering like a shark to mullet. He was cool and quick, and when his Irish was up he laid about him like Kevin o' the Bogs. The picture makes this plain in combat scenes which could never have been napalmed off as the real thing without Audie. Credibility, burns in his mild face and gentle gestures as he moves through scenes of battle raptly, like a man reliving them with wonder and something of reverence. And just for a nervous instant, now and then, the moviegoer glimpses, in the figure of this childlike man, the soul-chilling ghost of all the menlike children of those violent years, who hovered among battles like avenging cherubs, and knew all about death before they knew very much about life.