That's the setup for Fixed Bayonets! (1951), an exceptional combat movie from the great writer-director Samuel Fuller. A gruff, colorful, cigar-chomping combat veteran of World War II, Fuller made noirs, westerns and war movies, but really they were all war movies in the forceful approach of their visuals and the bluntness of their dialogue - no matter the subject.
The credits declare that this film is "suggested by" a John Brophy novel. Technically, this refers to The Immortal Sergeant, which was made into a solid Henry Fonda movie by Fox in 1942, but the only remnant of Brophy's tale here is the inclusion of a character who fears greater responsibility in combat. Fixed Bayonets! is essentially a Sam Fuller original.
Fuller himself later wrote: "My yarn included stuff I'd lived through on the front lines, such as the risk of frostbite in freezing weather, an officer's misgivings about having to order his men into danger, and a soldier's fear about pulling the trigger. 'You take care of her,' says one of my characters, looking at his M1, 'and she'll take care of you.' I'd heard my sergeant say that again and again.
"I firmly believed that the only way to honor GIs at war was by showing the truth. There's nothing romantic about the infantry. If you survive, you'll be proud of having been a foot soldier until the day you die. As it turned out, the army would request permission to show Fixed Bayonets! in their own training schools."
Sure enough, while the plot of this movie is well designed and absorbing, it's the little details of the grunts' existence which prove most memorable. A scene which reveals one man to have frostbite is unforgettably chilling because of the way Fuller sets up the reveal. Another turns out to be surely the best "rescuing-a-man-in-a-minefield" scene ever shot - hugely suspenseful and, in the end, ironic.
There's also humor in unexpected places, and a captivating performance by Gene Evans, who was a favorite of Fuller's. He plays the third-in-command, but he's really the most seasoned and knowledgeable guy in the platoon. He's gruff, forceful, and instantly likable. The fourth-ranking soldier is played by Richard Basehart, who is perpetually fearful that the top three men will die and he will have no choice but to assume command. Basehart must also overcome his fear of killing: "You're not aiming at a man," Evans tells him. "You're aiming at the enemy. Once you're over that hump, you're a rifleman."
The idea of tricking the enemy through staged combat, as in this movie, is always a provocative device in that it asks the audience to consider that combat itself is in many ways like a game. The device pops up in other war movies as disparate as Beau Geste (1939), Hell is For Heroes (1962), Play Dirty (1969) and A Midnight Clear (1992), and often it carries a movie to the realm of metaphor. Fixed Bayonets! remains pretty straightforward, with the focus on the terror of being so outnumbered and on doing what is necessary to simply survive.
That said, the movie does possess an almost ethereal quality, something film historian Jeanine Basinger has labeled "magic and eloquence... a kind of mystical presence." It's expressed in moments such as the larger company's departure, when they leave the rear guard behind as "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" plays faintly on the soundtrack. It's also in the film's overall conceit of concentrating on an arena completely cut off from the larger Korean War as a whole; for much of the film we're only in a cave. Some of this was undoubtedly the result of the film's low budget, but Fuller was an intelligent filmmaker who knew how to channel his limitations into powerful strengths.
As Fuller recalled in his autobiography, he told Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck, "I want to shoot the entire picture on one goddamned hill covered in snow." Zanuck agreed. Fuller's previous movie, the combat classic The Steel Helmet (1951), had been such a gigantic independent hit that every studio in town now wanted Sammy Fuller on its payroll. 20th Century-Fox won the battle because Fuller took an instant liking to Zanuck, whom Fuller later wrote was "the only mogul who didn't talk about money."
Lucien Ballard's gorgeous black-and-white cinematography has been well-transferred to DVD by Fox Home Entertainment, and the soundtrack is clean. Extras include a trailer (in good technical shape) and a gallery of production stills. Fixed Bayonets! is part of the ongoing "Fox War Classics" series of DVDs, which are reasonably priced and are now starting to include lesser-known but very worthy titles like this one. Others on the way in spring 2007 include Tonight We Raid Calais (1943), Hell and High Water (1954) and Sailor of the King (1953).
Making his first feature film appearance in Fixed Bayonets!, in a tiny uncredited role at the end of the picture, is James Dean. Fuller remembered him as "a young, sensitive kid in his first movie. I liked his face and gave him a crack. I hoped it would bring him luck."
For more information about Fixed Bayonets, visit Fox Home Entertainment To order Fixed Bayonets, go to TCM Shopping.
by Jeremy Arnold
