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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Samuel Fuller had fought in the Second World War and put his field experience to good use in directing this low budget film set in Korea during the Korean War. The story is simple. A major general in charge of an American division is forced to order a tactical retreat of his division across the only existing bridge over a major river, which he will then blow up behind him. In order to avoid the enemy massacring his 15,000 troops as they slowly make their way across that choke-point, the general decides to leave a small platoon of 48 soldiers behind, commanded only by a lieutenant, to make a lot of noise and fire a lot of weapons so that the enemy will not know for some time that the division has pulled out. This platoon, known as a 'rear guard', will thus buy time for the division, and then they can follow after a certain number of days, if they can. The action is set in the snow-covered and freezing mountain environment of that terrible war. (A friend who fought in it told me the worst thing was the cold, far worse than the fighting.) The action of the film is thus circumscribed within this narrow story, in a small mountain pass where 48 men face an entire enemy division complete with artillery. Richard Basehart plays a corporal who, as fourth in line of command, ends up becoming the commander of the platoon when the three men outranking him are all killed. He has an inner struggle about responsibility, and that part of the film is a psychological profile of a man who fears command and also cannot bring himself to fire a gun at another human being. So Fuller is driving home some important truths about what war really involves, namely killing people (a point often forgotten by politicians in their bubbles!) There is a tense scene where Basehart has to walk into a minefield to rescue someone, trying to feel gently through the snow with his boots where the mines might be. (The medic who had proceeded him in this effort had already been blown up by a mine.) I had a friend named Michael Scott who during the Second World War went into a minefield to save his friend Carlos Blacker, and lost an eye, so I have heard some first-hand accounts of this tricky subject. Early on in the film, when the enemy are firing artillery at the platoon, they blast away at a cliff and a rock-fall reveals a handy cave, in which the platoon is able to shelter from the cannon fire. I winced as I saw the soldiers knocking the stalagtites down inside the cave, despite one of the soldiers saying it had taken 2000 years for them to form. I know it was only a set, but the idea of damaged stalagtites offends my geological sense of the proprieties. This film was 'suggested by' a novel by the British author John Brophy. Brophy was from Liverpool, who also wrote a novel and screenplay for the film entitled WATERFRONT (1950), which tells a tragic tale of the Liverpool slums, from which Brophy presumably came himself. There is some good acting and a lot of grit in this simple war film, which concentrates on this small body of men and their struggle against the odds. The film has been restored and included in the 'Maters of Cinema' series on Blu-Ray, as part of the current revival of the films of Samuel Fuller, whose PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953) is probably his best known film. I need hardly point out that 'fixed bayonets' refers to the time when close combat is at hand, and soldiers have to fix bayonets to the ends of their rifles to defend themselves against the enemy, as firing is no longer possible because the enemy is only a few feet away. Bayonet fighting is probably every soldier's worst nightmare, and it is not much different from what warfare was like a thousand years ago, i.e., two men struggling against each other to the death with only sharp blades to decide who lives and who dies. Makes you want to join the army, doesn't it?

I finally got to watch this film not even knowing about it until pretty much now. I'm in my late 40's and watched multiple times Men In War and Pork Chop Hill because they were always on the TV as I was growing up, I'm a Navy Vet who served on the ground (behind the wire) in Iraq, so that is my background and experiences. I had seen The Steel Helmet before, and though this is going to sound sacrilegious, I was not that satisfied with it. This is an enjoyable war film, I liked it more then the Steel Helmet, less then Men In War and Pork Chop Hill. I give it the average rating of 7 I don't think it's a masterpiece or that its horrible, and 7 of 10 is a good score for a film. I thought the running drama of Basehart not wanting command was extremely dragged out and unnecessary, and a lot of the foot soldiers dialog was on the borderline WW2 film stupid. Also, like some of the 1 star reviews stated, the extreme cold and them constantly getting wet was hard to take. But my biggest criticisms were, where is the air cover, or where is the North Korean air assets if we didn't have any, and why did they leave this small group there for what seems like days? On the positive side, the battle scenes at least at first were shockingly good, totally above most war movies made up to that point (1951), the first battle scene comes close to All Quiet On The Western Front quality in my book. So I was satisfied watching this film and recommend it to all war film lovers, 7 out of 10.BTW a Medal Of Honor recipient, Raymond Harvey, was the technical adviser on this film, his bio is interesting, I wish they would just make films based on their actions alone, and leave out the silly melodrama but in 1951 I guess it was still necessary. Also, if it has not been mentioned by others supposedly this is James Dean's first movie, people have posted the specific part on youtube, I watched the whole film and never spotted him even though he has dialog, see if you can find him!

I have only recently seen some of Fuller's films after hearing about him for years. I have been surprised and pleased by each one. "Fixed Bayonets!" Is a great example of how Fuller made the Hollywood system of the time work for him simply because he got films done on time and on budget, (I think). What would have been either a "GungHo" movie or a trite rehash of "Red Badge of Courage" becomes an involving and action packed story of a man becoming a soldier and leader, something Fuller had first hand experience of in WWII. If you have heard the expression "dogface" applied to a soldier and wondered what it meant this picture will provide your answer. Fuller uses the closeup in just the right amount and just the right time here, and the closeups put the finishing touch on each of the characters, all of whom are distinct and varied. Instead of seeing soldiers similar to others films, these men come across somebody you might know as a regular guy.Anyone interested in putting stories on the screen should see Sam Fuller's work.

I saw this movie on the AMC movie channel, (cable). Had to be in 1997 or 98, I'm not that sure but I do know it was just before Saving Pvt. Ryan came out and AMC was playing all these war movies on Memorial day.I never saw this movie before so I started watching and from the first scene of the General jamming a big hunk of chew in his mouth I knew this would be a good movie.Well need-less to say it just got better. I only wish film makers today, or should I say movie exec's had the stones to make these kind of movies. No message, just a good story about men in combat doing the task that that job requires.A warriors story about warriors - Great job Sam.I was able to tape it too, so I have it to view anytime - what a treat.