fixed bayonets! is set during the korean war and follows a small unit of u.s. soldiers left behind to stall enemy forces to give a larger division time to advance. the story focuses on inexperienced corporal denno (richard basehart), a man wrongly believed to be a hero when in fact he is unable to pull the trigger when faced with an enemy, and his relationship with his superior, sergeant rock (gene evans).
i've never been all that interested in war films, but anything directed by samuel fuller is worth a watch. shock corridor is one of my favourite films and remains the most terrifying film about mental illness that's ever been produced. i'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but one flew over the cuckoo's nest has nothing on shock corridor. fuller also directed forty guns, which i love and reviewed here, and was still making great films towards the end of his career with the big red one and the controversial white dog. the thing about fuller and the reason his movies are still remembered and re-released is that there's always something a little different about them. he doesn't make a standard western or a standard war film, there's always an element of fuller magic that puts a different, usually darker, spin on things.
i'm no expert, but as a war film fixed bayonets! is pretty effective. it reminded me of that documentary restrepo, where the filmmakers follow one unit for a year in the same location. this had that same sense of pointlessness and isolation. essentially rock and denno and their men are trapped on the side of a mountain for pretty much the whole film and there's a constant threat of gunfire at all times. there's a realism to this, but also there's something a but existential about it with the men constantly questioning why they're doing what they are doing and what it means to be a solider.
there are some fantastically tense scenes, including a moment where denno has to cross a minefield to rescue a wounded comrade. there's also a really thrilling battle with a tank at the end of the film. however, the real highlight for me was one of the stranger moments, when one of the characters (i won't reveal which one) effectively predicts his own death. he describes to the men what he would do if he were the enemy, and the whole time he's talking about it we're watching an enemy soldier as he actual does it, following the prediction word for word. it's a weird moment of almost magic realism and it's kind of sad and beautiful at the same time.
fixed bayonets! is a solid war film and there are things to enjoy here whether you're into the genre or not. however, it also has some moments of sheer samuel fuller genius and for that reason it's worth checking out.
fixed bayonets! was released in a dual format (blu-ray and dvd) edition by eureka entertainment on 15th february 2016
a lone carriage trundles across a huge, empty plain, its three passengers dwarfed by the vast countryside. in the distance a sound, like thunder. the three men look up, but what they see coming is not a storm but forty men on horseback being led across the plains by a black-clad woman with a whip. this is the breath-taking, iconic opening to forty guns and it only gets better from here.
jessica drummond (barbara stanwyck) is a wealthy and influential landowner who essentially owns the nearby town and the people who live there as well as her land and the lives of her forty henchmen. things are going great for drummond until gun-for-hire griff (barry sullivan) and his brothers wes and chico roll into town in search of an outlaw under drummond’s protection. but it’s not until griff has a run-in with drummond’s brother brockie that things really start to spiral out of control.
director samuel fuller has become legendary for his stylistic flair and he makes use of every opportunity to use it here. early on we are introduced to a blind sheriff and fuller makes us painfully aware of his condition by shooting some of his scenes in blurry pov. later he films a seduction through the barrel of a rifle. then there’s the moment where griff first confronts brockie; a symphony of cross-cutting and close-ups that really ramps up the tension. there are other stylistic choices too, like the moment chico first kills a man and then in the following scene appears wearing black like his two older brothers, the uniform of the cold-blooded killer.
fuller is equally adept at taking on huge technical challenges, like the scene in which griff and drummond are caught in the path of a tornado (also an excellent visual metaphor for their relationship). then there’s the scene in which the corrupt sheriff (dean jagger of white christmas and later vanishing point) sets griff up for an ambush. we watch jagger describe the plan with glee, and then fuller ramps up the tension once more in a suspense-fulled set-piece that would have impressed hitchcock.
fuller also wrote the script, which at its heart is a dark, unforgiving love story. drummond and griff are portrayed as lost souls, broken by their experiences and the things they have had to do to survive. there are moments in which it feels like they’re made for each other, balanced by moments where it becomes apparent that neither of them can exist in the same world. both stanwyck and sullivan put in great performances here and really sell the idea of two people haunted by their past lives.
there is one other element that really makes forty guns stand out. i’ve mentioned stanwyck’s entrance, and the film never holds back on portraying her as a tough, uncompromising leader forced to make difficult decisions. in a time when it feels like Hollywood is still struggling to break female stereotypes, fuller and stanwyck managed to do it in 1957. what really strengthens stanwyck's character is that she’s not portrayed as an anomaly; she doesn’t have a moment where she puts down the whip and admits that all she wants is the love of a good man (although to be fair, the film does come worrying close to that on a couple of occasions). drummond is what she is, and she’s also not alone. there is one other female character in the film, a local woman named eve. you would expect that the other female lead in the film would be portrayed as the opposite of drummond, a showgirl maybe, or a pretty farmer's daughter. instead, eve is a gunsmith and spends most of her scenes wearing overalls and talking to griff’s brother wes about guns. to have two such characters in a film would be considered progressive by today's standards, and perhaps the sad thing is that in 1957 i suspect it was closer to the norm. yes, dear reader, when it comes to gender equality in films we are moving backwards. forty guns is proof of that.
there is a little more to it than the female characters challenging stereotypes. though they are onscreen less than the men, the film often feels like it’s about women; that it’s telling a story about a woman’s struggle. there is a moment towards the end where drummond and eve meet and talk briefly about their respective tragedies. it’s the most dramatic, touching and real moment of the film and it sums up everything that’s happened in the story and everything that the film is about perfectly. unfortunately, this theme of women being left to pick up the pieces while the men play with guns doesn’t run through to the end.
i won’t spoil it here, but the ending was apparently changed from the one fuller wanted to go with. if you want my advice, stop the film after the last gunshot, you’ll know when it happens. if fuller had been allowed to cut there, this would be a perfect movie.
it’s worth mentioning that as with all the masters of cinema releases the picture looks superb and there are some really interesting extras including an insightful interview with french film critic jean-louis leutrat. not only will you see one of the best westerns ever made, you might even learn something too.
forty guns will be released on dvd and blu-ray by eureka! entertainment on 22nd june 2015
