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Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 24-APR-2007
Media Type: DVD Not your typical star-studded or star-spangled war film, cult-fave director Samuel Fuller’s Fixed Bayonets is a viscerally thrilling Korean War drama of one platoon’s trial, and one corporal’s baptism, under fire. Morale is high but the ammo is low for an American division hunkered down in the mountains of Korea. Certain massacre awaits if they retreat. To give “15,000 men a break,” 48 “of our toughest combat men” are selected to stay behind and trick the “commies” into thinking the entire division is in place while the others escape safely across a river. Fixed Bayonets is raw and brutal in the best Fuller tradition. The backgrounds are obvious fakes, and the platoon members sport the usual war movie nicknames like Whitey, Rock, Jonesy, and “Mr. Belvedere” (he’s the resident know-it-all). But all else has the authentic ring of reportage, as in a powerful scene when the men cluster together to rub their feet to ward off frostbite. Richard Basehart stars as Denno, who can “take an order, but can’t give one” until his three superiors are knocked off one by one, leaving him in command. This rueful exchange–”They told me this was going to be a police action.” “Why didn’t they send the cops?”–is as close as Fuller gets to geopolitics. For war-movie buffs, he does deliver pounding and tense action sequences. In one harrowing scene, a medic must navigate a minefield to try and rescue a wounded sergeant and retrieve the only map to the field.. But he is resolutely unsentimental and more interested in the ravaged, human face of war. These are faces you will not soon forget (one of them, reportedly, belongs to James Dean, but this film is so gripping, one is hard-pressed to make the effort to try to spot him). –Donald Liebenson
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December 16, 2010
#1
Korean War Shoot-em-up !,
Richard Basehart stars as a Corporal who does not like the responsibilities of command. When the Chinese invade the Division must pull back across the river and set up new defence positions. A stay behind platoon is left on the opposite bank of the river to hold a critical pass. One by one the platoon’s leaders are killed and it is up to Basehart to save the day. Excellent Korean War drama/action movie. On par with “Pork Chop Hill” and “One Minute To Zero”. Also stars Gene Evans as the Sergeant and Skip Homier as a soldier. Highly recommend!
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|December 16, 2010
#2
Good solid Sam Fuller Movie,
A solid Sam Fuller directed movie with outstanding performances by Gene Evans and Richard Basehart. Classic Fuller with more dialogue than ‘action’. Similar to his other Korean War movie “Steel Helmet” including the use of WWII Infantry packs in Korea which had been replaced by then. Overall, a good movie for a Saturday afternoon. Fuller was a veteran WWII Infantryman who showed us the grimness of the front-line soldier’s world. It would make a great DVD set with “Steel Helmet”. Throw in “Big Red One” and you would have the key Sam Fuller war movies.
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|December 16, 2010
#3
A tale of the Korean War,
This is a taut war movie from Samuel Fuller. A platoon is cut off from the rest of the outfit and has to try to work itself back. Richard Basehart plays the corporal who ends up in charge as men get killed off one by one. Look for James Dean as one of the soldiers.
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