Merrill's Marauders (1962)

One of my all time favorites.

Just perfect...

A lot of fun.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

General Stitwel (John Hoyt) assigns a dangerous mission to commander Merril (Jeff Chandler) and his 3000 USA Marines volunteers . As the tough officer commands a two-fisted regiment fighting in the jungles of Burma. In 1944 the exhausted unit achieves their latest aim and expects to be relieved . However , Merril has to lead his band throughout the Burmese jungles to his definitive mission in Japonese zone , beyond the enemy lines , at Mykyana . At the end of the movie there is a parade review that features the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.Action , adventure , war movie by the great Samuel Fuller in which Chandler leads a group of soldiers through the Burmese jungle and battling feared Japonese . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Ty Hardin , Claude Akins , Peter Brown , Andrew Duggan , John Hoyt and Will Hutchins . At the beginning , the film being produced by Warner Bros and hired Gary Cooper . However , Cooper died by cancer and then it was totally financed by screenwriter and producer Milton Sperling in a lower budget . Nicely played by Jeff Chandler , an ebullient actor who died by stroke before the movie was released . Colorful cinematography by William H. Clothier , John Ford regular . Well photographed in Warnerscope and Technicolor and shot on location in the Philippines Islands . Furthermore , a thrilling and moving score by Howard Jackson . The motion picture was well directed and co-scripted by Samuel Fuller for three months . Fuller has become something of a cult favorite , an essential and fundamental figure in the film world . Here Fuller excels at showing the mayhem and confusion of battles , giving spectacular frames as when it takes place a desperate pitched fighting at an enemy installation , as a railhead and other overwhelming bloody events . The cigar-chewing Fuller directed several classic movies , such as : ¨The naked Kiss¨ , ¨Pickup on South Street¨ , ¨Underworld USA¨ , ¨shock corridor¨ , ¨Hell and high water¨ , ¨Fixed bayonets¨ , ¨White dog¨ and ¨The big Red one¨.

Another attempt for Sam Fuller to show the "blood and guts" Reality of War. The Horror that the real Folks Felt and endured, Suffered and sweat, and in the end it was all for the Love of Squad and Country. Hollywood Hotshots paraded through the standard War Movie was not acceptable. But here is the Rub, unfortunately the Industry was not ready for or Never Did Understand the Vision of this Maverick Director, and that is usually what He got. He Tried so Hard with varying results Restrained by the System and at odds with the Money Men. His best War Films are his Independently produced Movies that were Cutting Edge and pushed the boundaries of Social Paradigms and rampant Hypocritical Behavior. This Film does have the Psychological predetermination and Buddy Bonding lacking in lesser efforts done by Hacks and Company Men and some Exceptional Photography and Battle staging. But compared to say, The Steel Helmet (1951), this is more of a Studio Film than he felt comfortable with and was Not totally Satisfied with the completed Work.

This was a decent World War II movie, but not as exciting as I had hoped it would be. I liked the fact it was exactly that - a war story - with no sappy romance distractions - but yet it was still on the bland side. I can't quite put my finger on it, but some spark was missing. If this was re-made today, I'm sure it would have been more of an attention-grabber.Perhaps part of the minor problem is that the story is a bit of a downer most of the way through (not that war is ever uplifting). It's basically about a group of soldiers who volunteered for this bad assignment (to fight in Burma) and when their assignment was over and they assumed they were going home, they were given further assignments. Battling unrelenting fatigue and extremely difficult terrain means there are very few upbeat moments in this film. In this based-on-a-true story movie, only about 100 soldiers were left fighting after 3,000 started. Yet a lot of the movie just shows the poor guys sloshing through swamps or slowing trying to make their way up treacherous mountain terrain.You get a few minor attempts at some humor to break up the depressing story, but they are weak such as the stereotypical southerner with his pet mule who wears a straw hat.In some respects, this film reminded me of "The Big Red One," which also was directed by Sam Fuller but had a lot more intensity and passion to it.Jeff Chandler and Ty Hardin were fine in the lead roles, as was Claude Atkins in a supporting one. Chandler and Atkins looked like tough, battle-scarred soldiers more than the others. Hardin has too much pretty-boy looks and voice for this role, although his acting was fine.Overall, okay, but not worth a second look.

It's too bad this great cast and interesting subject matter were squandered in this cliché-ridden, cheaply made production. The music is awful, except the bits they stole from "Objective Burma". The Phillipine Army, standing in for the Japanese, look way too modern and American with their equipment and uniforms. And from the look of it, the movie was filmed entirely in the Phillipines, which do not look like I imagine Burma to be.Jeff Chandler is fine as Merrill, but the script is pretty limiting. It's a shame this was his last film.Ironically, "Objective Burma", filmed entirely in California, has a much richer jungle feel than this movie. It's clear from reading about Burma that you need a machete to move about in the jungle and you see that in "Objective Burma". The Philipine terrain in "Merrill's Marauders" is much too open.