"The Young Lions" novel that this film is based on was based on author Irwin Shaw's experiences in Europe during the Second World War.
"The Young Lions" novel that this film is based on was based on author Irwin Shaw's experiences in Europe during the Second World War. During World War II, Shaw was a warrant officer in the United States Army.
"The Young Lions" novel to which this film was based was it's author's Irwin Shaw's first novel and it was first published in 1949, about nine years before this film was made.
Marlon Brando and Indian actress Anna Kashfi married during the production filming of this movie. Marlon and Kashfi met in 1955, and Kashfi became pregnant with Christian in 1957.
Marlon Brando plays a Nazi soldier in this movie. He would play a Nazi again in Morituri, both this film and that movie were filmed in black-and-white and were made for the same studio, 20th Century Fox.
Marlon Brando's bleached blond hair which he had done for his Arian Nazi German character he plays in this movie attracted a large amount of publicity.
Marlon Brando's son whose birth name was Christian Brando See: Christian Brando was named (first name) after Marlon Brando's character in this movie, Lt. Christian Diestl, who was a production baby during this movie. Some reports also state he was named after Marlon Brando's friend, Christian Marquand.
Eddie Fisher wrote in his autobiography "Been There, Done That" that he very much wanted and almost won the role of Michael Whiteacre, the part played by Dean Martin. Fisher says that producer Al Lichtman promised him a part in his next film. Unfortunately, Lichtman passed away on Feb. 20, 1958, shortly before this film was released, so that never happened.
Dean Martin stepped into the role of Michael Whiteacre when Tony Randall became indisposed. It was a move that solidified Martin's solo film career after his split from Jerry Lewis two years earlier.
Dean Martin was a close friend of Montgomery Clift. Martin was always grateful for the help Clift had given him while filming The Young Lions - Martin's first major dramatic role - and he would accompany him to parties after the rest of Hollywood had disowned him due to his increasing addictions to drugs and alcohol.
Tony Randall was replaced by Dean Martin in the role of Michael Whiteacre. This was apparently due to MCA's insistence that there be an actor each from the four major entertainment sectors: night clubs, recordings, television, and movies, "a quadruple threat", so to speak.
According to his autobiography, Marlon Brando based his Nazi German character on a blond haired boy with a perfect nose he had seen in a German film.
According to the book 'Picture this! - a guide to over 300 environmentally, socially, and politically relevant films and videos ' by Sky Hiatt, this movie took three re-writes before the Pentagon of the United States government approved this film's script.
According to the book 'Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History ' by Aubrey Solomon, the production filming of "The Young Lions had the misfortune to hit torrential rains in almost every location and was even struck by a locust plague, causing delays which amounted to $1.3 million, almost 50 per cent of the original budget."
According to The New York Times, "several concessions to the censors and the box-office were made in adapting Irwin Shaw's bestseller The Young Lions to the screen."
Both one of this film's stars, Montgomery Clift, and source novelist Irwin Shaw complained about the many changes made to the book for the film. Clift stated that the film bore no resemblance to Shaw's novel. Shaw later said that Monty was "bitter as I was at the deformation of the book." Apparently, Clift once promised that if Brando tries to die at the end of the picture with his arms outstretched in a Christ like motif, he would walk off the set.
The meaning and relevance of both the source novel and it's film's title "The Young Lions" is a reference to three young soldiers, lions being a reference to their military prowl, young as the soldiers are supposed to be youthful.
The unit Ackerman and Whitearce serve in appears to be the 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, judging by the sleeve patches and the location of the barracks.
This film attracted averse criticism from film critics for its portrayal of a sympathetic Nazi character.