Rent Fixed Bayonets! (1951)

3.6 of 5 from 60 ratings
1h 29min
Rent Fixed Bayonets! Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • 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:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , Patrick Fitzgibbon, , , , , ,
Directors:
Producers:
Jules Buck
Writers:
Samuel Fuller, John Brophy
Studio:
Optimum
Genres:
Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
BBFC:
Release Date:
02/09/2007
Run Time:
89 minutes
Languages:
English LPCM Mono
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
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

Spoiler Alert
28/08/2022

One of a pair of films by Sam Fuller made during the Korean War. The other was The Steel Helmet. This could as easily be set in WWII, but it is staged against an actual long retreat of 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 or wind, with Fuller's camera mounted on a crane, searching out pockets of US soldiers trapped by fire into their tiny ice caves.

Fixed Bayonets! is a psychological war film. Most of the dialogue is a back and forth exchange of trench wit and the avoidance of the dangers at hand. 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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