Fixed Bayonets
by Samuel Fuller
List Price:
Our Price: $5.94
You Save: $9.04 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Craig Hill, Gene Evans, Michael O'Shea, Richard Basehart, Richard HyltonDirector: Samuel Fuller
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Fixed Bayonets
Movie Review: Good, but not as gritty as "The Steel Helmet"
Summary: 4 Stars
After seeing Sam Fuller's "Steel Helmet" on one of the classic channels (AMC or TCM), I bought this DVD expecting a movie of similar originality and grittiness. While "Steel Helmet" confronts the issue of racism with stark realism and grittiness, Fixed Bayonets takes a somewhat softer approach on the issue of cowardice versus leadership.
This movie describes the actions of a platoon left behind as rear-guard, to allow a badly mauled division to withdraw safely to regroup in the face of imminent Communist-Chinese attack. Richard Basehart gives a believable performance of a Corporal who shies from the thought of having to take command because he is afraid of making decisions that affect other mens' lives. Gene Evans, with an equally good performance, plays the Sergeant who ultimately convinces the Corporal that the yellow streak is not permanent. Ultimately, the Corporal's cowardice dissolves away when he confronts the responsability that is thrust upon him. Unfortunately, this point is made rather laborousily and the movie seems to lumber along part of the way.
If you are a classic war movie buff, I'd say "Fixed Bayonets" would make your B list (while "Steel Helmet" should definitely be in your A list). Another Korean war movie that should be in your collection is Antony Mann's "Men in War".
Summary of Fixed Bayonets
The story of a platoon during the Korean War. One by one Corporal Denno's superiors are killed until it comes to the point where he must try to take command responsiblity.System Requirements:Run Time: 92 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 024543432838 Manufacturer No: 2243283Not your typical star-studded or star-spangled war film, cult-fave director Samuel Fuller's Fixed Bayonets is a viscerally thrilling Korean War drama of one platoon's trial, and one corporal's baptism, under fire. Morale is high but the ammo is low for an American division hunkered down in the mountains of Korea. Certain massacre awaits if they retreat. To give "15,000 men a break," 48 "of our toughest combat men" are selected to stay behind and trick the "commies" into thinking the entire division is in place while the others escape safely across a river. Fixed Bayonets is raw and brutal in the best Fuller tradition. The backgrounds are obvious fakes, and the platoon members sport the usual war movie nicknames like Whitey, Rock, Jonesy, and "Mr. Belvedere" (he's the resident know-it-all). But all else has the authentic ring of reportage, as in a powerful scene when the men cluster together to rub their feet to ward off frostbite. Richard Basehart stars as Denno, who can "take an order, but can't give one" until his three superiors are knocked off one by one, leaving him in command. This rueful exchange--"They told me this was going to be a police action." "Why didn't they send the cops?"--is as close as Fuller gets to geopolitics. For war-movie buffs, he does deliver pounding and tense action sequences. In one harrowing scene, a medic must navigate a minefield to try and rescue a wounded sergeant and retrieve the only map to the field.. But he is resolutely unsentimental and more interested in the ravaged, human face of war. These are faces you will not soon forget (one of them, reportedly, belongs to James Dean, but this film is so gripping, one is hard-pressed to make the effort to try to spot him). --Donald Liebenson
Art House & International DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in If you want to discover Samuel Fuller ( 1912 - 1997 )
Street of No ReturnRelease date: 2003-07-29; DVD
Best price: $10.78
Price in other shops:
White DogDVD
Best price: $20.99
The Big Red One - The Reconstruction (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-05-03; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
SharkRelease date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Naked Kiss - Criterion CollectionRelease date: 1998-08-26; DVD
Best price: $20.59
Price in other shops:
Shock Corridor - Criterion CollectionRelease date: 1998-08-26; DVD
Best price: $20.58
Price in other shops:
Merrill's MaraudersWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $12.21
Price in other shops:
Forty GunsRelease date: 2005-05-24; DVD
Best price: $3.51
Price in other shops:
House of Bamboo (Fox Film Noir)Release date: 2005-06-07; DVD
Best price: $4.97
Price in other shops:
Hell and High WaterTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $7.45
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Thirty Seconds Over TokyoWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $11.40
Price in other shops:
Decision Before DawnTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops:
Tonight We Raid CalaisTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Guns at BatasiTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Immortal SergeantTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $7.85
Price in other shops:
Purple HeartTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $6.78
Price in other shops:
Man in the MiddleTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $4.69
Price in other shops:
Play DirtyTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $8.22
Price in other shops:
Hell and High WaterTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops:
Sailor of the KingTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops: