Rent Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
3.6 of 5 from 61 ratings
1h 29min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Loosely based on the novel by John Brophy, "Fixed Bayonets!" tells the story of a rag-tag regiment of veterans left behind to fight a rearguard action for a retreating platoon during the Korean war. Amongst the motley crew of men is Corporal Denno: wetter behind the ears than most and unable to bring himself to shoot an enemy soldier. However as one by one of his colleagues fall, he must step up and take responsibility for those who are left.
- Actors:
- Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O'Shea, Richard Hylton, Craig Hill, Skip Homeier, Howard Banks, Paul Burke, George Conrad, Glenn Corbett, James Dean, John Doucette, John Drexel, Patrick Fitzgibbon, Bill Hickman, Pat Hogan, Tony Kent, Robert Knapp, Henry Kulky, Weaver Levy
- Directors:
- Samuel Fuller
- Producers:
- Jules Buck
- Writers:
- Samuel Fuller, John Brophy
- Studio:
- Optimum
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 15/02/2016
- Run Time:
- 92 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New Audio Commentary by Film Scholar Adrian Martin
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Gallery of Production and Publicity Photos
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Reviews (1) of Fixed Bayonets!
Korean War. - Fixed Bayonets! review by Steve
One of a pair of films directed by Sam Fuller during the Korean War. The other is The Steel Helmet. This could as easily be set in WWII, but it is staged against a real incident, a long retreat by American soldiers. A rearguard of 48 men is left behind to protect the retreat and to keep Chinese soldiers tied up in the snow of a strategically critical mountain thoroughfare.
Richard Basehart plays a Corporal who lives in fear of command and who must suffer the anxiety of seeing everyone senior die during the conflict, leaving him in charge. Fuller fought in the US 1st Infantry in WWII from North Africa to the concentration camps so his war films have an implied authority.
The men have little individuality or back story. We see their response to the intensity of fear, and demoralising hopelessness. It is staged on a small studio set in artificial snow, with no music or ambient sound (like wind), with Fuller's camera mounted on a crane, searching out pockets of US soldiers trapped by fire into their tiny ice caves.
This is a psychological war film. Most of the dialogue is a back and forth exchange of trench wit, a way of not confronting the danger. It's not about the pity of war, or anti-war, or a propaganda film. It attempts to authentically capture the impact of combat on the men who are made to fight. Their interior war.
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