Hell is for Heroes is a 1962 World War II film directed by Don Siegel and stars Steve McQueen as a disillusioned US soldier who is part of a company that finds itself short-handed while they are engaged by advancing German forces. The film's cast included James Coburn, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker and Bob Newhart in his feature film debut. The film was co-written by Robert Pirosh, who also wrote the 1949 WWII film Battleground and would later go on to create the WWII television series Combat!.
The following weapons were used in the film Hell Is for Heroes:
Pvt. Reese (Steve McQueen) uses the M3 submachine gun throughout the film. He tapes three of his magazines together for faster reloading. Interestingly Reese only has M1 Garand ammunition pouches, and not any box magazine pouches.
Note: Many weapons used in the film experienced malfunctions. The M3 submachine gun Steve McQueen uses in the film kept jamming and this can be noticed in several scenes.
The Karabiner 98k is used by opposing German forces. After killing a charging German, Reese picks up the dead soldiers Karabiner 98k rifle and removes the bolt so no other enemies can quickly use the rifle.
The M2 Flamethrower is used by Cpl. Henshaw (James Coburn) and several others. The firing mechanism looks like an M1A1 flamethrower, yet the fuel tanks are that of a M-2 flamethrower. Although a pair of typical M-2 Flamethrowers are seen, they are never fired in the movie.
The film was produced on a low budget that quickly got out of control. Only two actors played German soldiers, meaning that they are killed multiple times during the film. Hell is for Heroes utilizes the use of stock war footage shot during WWII. As with some other war movies of the era, filmmakers inserted clips of actual war footage saving time and money. Most of the stock footage is of artillery being fired, but also includes the some of machine gun fire. Below are some screenshots of the stock footage of artillery.
