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The Reluctant Heroes

1971 film by Robert Day

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ23302086 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Reluctant Heroes is a made-for-TV movie and war film set in the period of the Korean War. It was directed by Robert Day and starred Ken Berry, Jim Hutton, Trini López, Don Marshall, Ralph Meeker, Cameron Mitchell and Warren Oates.

Plot

A tired platoon is about to be sent home, but is picked to hold an observation point. They are led by the inexperienced Lt. Parnell Murphy (Ken Berry), who is a military historian with no combat experience. In order to defend Hill 656, which has strategic importance, he uses military tactics of Napoleon and Alexander the Great, which he draws from his own studies in history.

Cast

Lt. Parnell Murphy ... Ken Berry

Cpl. Bill Lukens ...

Editorial summary

“The Reluctant Heroes” enters the record as 1971 film by Robert Day. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Reluctant, Heroes and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current 119-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1971-11-23. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Reluctant, Heroes and film.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“The Reluctant Heroes” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Reluctant, Heroes and film provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23302086. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Reluctant Heroes”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Reluctant Heroes primary sources, The Reluctant Heroes archive and Reluctant research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Reluctant Heroes”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Reluctant Heroes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.