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| Fixed Bayonets | 
 enlarge | Director: Samuel Fuller
Actors: Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O'shea, Richard Hylton, Craig Hill
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $8.17
You Save: $6.81 (45%)
New (33) Used (7) from $8.17
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 13108
Format: Color, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 92
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 2243283
UPC: 024543432838
EAN: 0024543432838
ASIN: B000MGBLIC
Theatrical Release Date: December 1951
Release Date: April 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New and Factory Sealed Item Fast Shipping
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Amazon.com
Not 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
Product Description
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: 2243283
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Very good movie August 28, 2008
This was a very good movie showing the diffrent characters and how they handled themselves. if you are a fan of classic war movies, heres one you wont want to mis. Good acting and plenty of action. Theres not enough movies of the Korean War out there and this is a good movie.
Good, but not as gritty as "The Steel Helmet" July 24, 2008
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".
 We spend too much time in Richard Basehart's head June 16, 2008
An okay movie that felt more like the original made for TV dramas of the late 1950s than a full blown movie. Appears to have been shot mostly on a sound stage, and the feel is of early video tape rather than film.
The story involves an Infantry platoon in Korea left behind to secure the withdrawal of the rest of their regiment. They are to hold a position and create a diversion while the regiment withdraws, then to withdraw themselves. The pivotal character is a corporal who does not wish to have command responsibility, but will have it thrust on him. (I think this was a theme borrowed from Henry Fonda's role in "The Imortal Sergeant"). As he agonizes over the emerging reality that he is going to be put in charge by the slow elimination of those above him, Richard Basehart's character conducts entirely too much internal monologue, which we get to share in.
The small unit Infantry tactics, weaponary, and interactions all feel quite authentic, and this is not a bad little movie, just not one I'd put on my "A" list.
Good war film April 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Low budget war film with great script and performances. A classic film well worth watching.
SAMUEL FULLER, OPUS 4 April 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
***1/2 1951. Based on a novel by John Brophy, FIXED BAYONETS! was written and directed by Samuel Fuller. After the success of The Steel Helmet, Fuller was hired by the Fox company to direct another war thriller about the Korea war that had just started. This time, it's the story of a platoon ordered to stop the red army while the rest of the regiment is trying to come back to its base. Replace the STEEL HELMET temple by a cave hidden in the middle of a hill covered by snow and you have FIXED BAYONETS!. Samuel Fuller was more interested in the study of the characters than in the originality of the plot. Anyway, after a film like THE STEEL HELMET, any movie about Korea will seem inferior. Recommended.
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