FIXED BAYONETS (71)

Directed by: Samuel Fuller (1951)

Starring: Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O'Shea

Theo Sez: Korea, though it could be anywhere (all we see are a couple of icy peaks) ; a platoon has to hold a mountain pass against a vastly superior enemy ; that's all. Nine-tenths set over an area about the size of a football field - the cave where the men are sheltering, plus a couple of surrounding hills - this is the most stripped-down-for-action of Fuller's war films, working only with men's faces, a claustrophobic sense of space and an air of morbid realism (plus the occasional low-budget explosion). There's a corny scene now and again - a slow pan down the line of waiting men, stopping on each face so thoughts can be voice-overed, all but cries out for a ZAZ parody - and some of the soldiers' actions (walking out onto a minefield to rescue a wounded buddy, say) seem less brave than foolhardy, but there's always a saving grace, an intelligent kicker (the line of men ends with a gag ; the wounded buddy dies anyway). Evans as the veteran Sergeant gets most of the best lines ("Only three things you need to worry about in the Infantry - your rifle and your two feet") and some of the worst ("There's something cookin' on that Commie stove!") : he represents the film's brisk, no-nonsense pragmatism and unflinching honesty. Tense, smart, meticulously observed : there have been richer war films, but few as compelling.