Merrill's Marauders

After reviewing a heavily anti-war movie yesterday, I thought it was only right to counter today with a different look at war and soldiers in a more heroic light.  The 1960s were full of war flicks that focused on real-life military units, like 1968's The Devil's Brigade that dealt with the First Special Service Force, and then for a change of pace here, 1962's Merrill's Marauders in the Pacific theater of WWII.

Directed by WWII vet Samuel Fuller, Marauders tells a mostly factual story of the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), dubbed Merrill's Marauders after their commander, General Frank Merrill. This was a fighting force of 3,000 American volunteers with experience in jungle warfare after years of island-hopping across the Pacific on places like Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and many others. Fuller doesn't try to present the Marauders as a unit of Superman-like soldiers who can't be defeated.  These are men pushed to their physical, emotional and mental limits as they undertake a near-suicide mission late in WWII.  Heroes of course, but Fuller isn't going to shove any rhetoric down your throat.  Here's the story, and if you don't like it, tough.

Early in 1944 as the advantage shifts toward the Allies in WWII, the 5307th Composite Unit marches into Burma from India with a dangerous mission, get behind enemy lines and walk 125 miles undetected in Japanese territory to knock out a key Japanese supply base.  Commander Brigadier General Frank Merrill (Jeff Chandler) is at the lead, pushing his men every step of the way. The mission is a success if a costly one, but it's only the start.  The Marauders are ordered to continue on, marching further into the Burmese jungle on their way to an essential airfield at Myitkyina where they will link up with British forces.  Out in front leading his scout platoon, Lt. Stockton (Ty Hardin) begins to see the men wear down but somehow continue on, ready for whatever awaits them.   

Telling the story of the Marauders, Fuller puts together a fast-paced, full of action story that never slows down, even in the moments following the firefights as the men wait for orders.  With backing from the U.S. Army, Fuller films his story in the Philippines which does a fine job filling in for Burma.  Much of the movie is filmed in dense jungle, giving a feel of what trudging through such horrifically dense landscape would be like.  Howard Jackson's musical score borrows some from 1945's Objective Burma! but stands well on its own, supplying a driving pace at times that balance out the softer moments as the Marauders cope with their situation.

Chandler tragically died at the age of 42 before this last movie of his was ever in theaters, a shame because of how good his performance is.  Never a huge star, he was a class professional, and makes Merrill a red-blooded character, an officer who knows he must sacrifice some of his men if the Allies ever hope to win the war.  Difficult decisions, but he knows the end result will prove it all worthwhile.  He has a father-son relationship with Hardin's Stock, the platoon leader who struggles dealing with the ever-increasing casualties among his men.  Joining the platoon is Bullseye (Peter Brown), the sharpshooter, Kolowicz (Claude Akins), the tough but fair sergeant, Muley (Charlie Briggs), the mule driver with his pack animal Eleanor, Chowhound (Will Hutchins), the platoon a-hole, and Taggy (Filipino star Pancho Magalona), a Filipino volunteer. We get to know little to nothing about these men, but by seeing their actions, as viewers we get a strong sense of who they are as people.  The personal background would be a wasted effort.

Certain moments can bring a war movie up a notch or two, and it doesn't require an epic battle or a heroic sacrifice.  Here, it comes following a bloody battle at a railyard.  Stock walks over cement posts where the heaviest fighting took place, the bodies mingled together so closely it is impossible to tell who was American and who was Japanese.  It is one long tracking shot as Stock surveys the battle silently, Jackson's score playing softly.  A few minutes later, Akins -- in a career-best performance -- is offered food by a young boy and his grandmother.  They're just offering a cup of water and a bowl of rice (very little in the grand scheme of things), but Akins' Wolowicz breaks down, the exhaustion taking over of months behind enemy lines.  These are the moments that stick with you more than anything else, the mark of a truly moving story.

With his lightning quick pacing, Fuller covers a ton of ground in just 97 minutes. The studio made certain cuts -- including a slightly different ending -- giving the story a sometimes disjointed feel, but it never distracts for long.  The battle sequences sound like toy guns instead of real guns (Fuller opted for blanks instead of sound effects), but they're shot so well you hardly notice minutes in.  The movie ends on a positive note, asking the question that's been brought up the whole movie by Doc (Andrew Duggan). Men on the brink of exhaustion after months of fighting with limited supplies, how do they do it?  They did it because they had to.  A great, underrated WWII movie well worth catching up with.

Merrill's Marauders <---trailer (1962): *** 1/2 /****

Darby's Rangers

Released in 1955 to waiting audiences, Battle Cry ruined author Leon Uris' source novel.  I read the book and loved it, going into the movie with high expectations just because the book was that good.  Well, the movie ruined one of the best books I've read in years.  Sappy, overdone romances, and battle sequences that unceremoniously killed off characters (sometimes even offscreen).  Released three years later in 1958, Darby's Rangers used the tagline 'Nothing Like it Since Battle Cry!' and somehow found a way to make a similar but much, much worse movie.

It is based on the true story of the founding of the 1st Ranger Battalion, an American commando unit from WWII fashioned after British commando units that ended up taking part in France, North Africa, Sicily and Italy.  The story sounded like an easy home run for a studio, and a young, impressive cast was assembled to fill out the important roles.  Just last week I reviewed The Devil's Brigade, a prime example of the 'unit picture,' and I had high hopes for this one.  But instead of telling a hard-hitting, realistic look at this fighting unit, director William Wellman turns in a soap opera-ish story that almost completely disregards the actual development and fighting history of the battalion for a handful of wasted falling in love subplots.  In other words, an unofficial companion piece to 1955's Battle Cry.

Early in 1942, Army captain William Darby (James Garner) is chosen to lead a new American fighting force, the 1st Ranger Battalion, where regular Army soldiers can volunteer to be trained similar to British commandos.  Their job will be to lead beachheads and often work behind enemy lines, causing whatever havoc they can.  The volunteers go through arduous training in England and by the end only 600 of the 1,500 remain.  Their training is completed, and it's not long before the Battalion is shipping out to help join the war effort, including missions and fighting in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

For several years, I've tried to track this movie down, one, because of the subject matter, and two, the casting.  Along with James Garner, there's Jack Warden as the tough sergeant, Edd Byrnes as a lieutenant fresh out of West Point, and enlisted men that include Stuart Whitman, Peter Brown, Murray Hamilton, and Adam Williams.  First off, Garner is almost a secondary character even though Darby is the commander and has his name in the title!  Right in the middle of his TV success with Maverick, Garner is completely wasted here, making an occasional speech or address to his men before disappearing off-screen.  Too bad because his scenes with loyal sergeant Jack Warden provide the few positive moments this movie actually has.

The cast does what they can with their characters, but they're hamstrung by the movie's inability to pick a tone.  Instead, it bounces all around from slapstick, broad, physical comedy to steamy romance to hard-edged battle scenes.  Pick one and go with it, but don't bounce among all three.  Byrnes, Whitman and Brown are all given romantic subplots -- the same way the platoon in Battle Cry did -- that grind the story to a halt, especially Whitman's and Byrnes' stories.  A quick 2-3 minute firefight is shown, then Warden's narration, then a 20-minute interlude as Whitman woos a British girl and Byrnes falls for an Italian girl he mistakes as a hooker...oops!  Repeat this several times, and you've got a 122-minute movie about soldiers falling in love.

Then there's the comedy angle which would have been more appropriate in a Marx Brothers movie or a Three Stooges short.  One character is introduced in a comedic fistfight full of over the top stunts and over exaggeration with funny sound effects and all.  Then there's a running gag with one private -- played by the director's son, William Wellman Jr. -- who always fall asleep on the go and falls off the back of the troop truck and has to run to catch up.  Pretty hilarious, huh?  Wellman Jr. also gets one of the most overdone theatrical deaths I've ever seen.  And on a non-comedic rant, there's also a drawling, ladies man of a private (played by Corey Allen) who is billeted with an English family, seduces the wife, forces himself on her, convinces her to leave her husband and then dies in a training exercise.  It's a despicable character who is dispatched quickly -- thankfully -- and serves no real purpose for even being there.

The one saving grace I figured could be the actual scenes of the Battalion forming and then going into battle.  The training sequences are handled well enough with a few nice montages, but the battle scenes are hampered by some very obvious indoor work.  Wellman showed with 1949's Battleground that indoor battles can work very effectively, but it doesn't click here.  Epic sequences of a battalion under attack is an actor or two with a few extras getting shot alongside them.  SPOILERS The battalion is all but wiped out in Italy, but we never see more than a handful of Rangers and the two or three German machine gun pits firing down on them.  END OF SPOILERS  Disappointed in the scale and lack of emotion brought up in these scenes.  What scenes do work are those of the battalion bonding, the quiet moments as they rest and recuperate, but they are few and far between.

After years of being unable to find this movie, the Warner Archive has made it available to purchase through a made-to order DVD.  It's a great system offering over 500 previously unreleased movies, but Darby's Rangers is a good example of doing your research before you buy.  Thankfully, I didn't buy this one.  It had a lot of potential but wastes a good cast and never makes up it's mind as to what type of war movie it wants to be.  A disappointing negative review for sure.

Darby's Rangers <----TCM clips (1958: */****   

Kitten with a Whip

Each Friday night, TCM Underground continues to impress me with its off the wall, cult favorites and guilty pleasures that the time slot airs.  These are movies that are typically pretty bad, but in the way that bad movies are entertaining because they embrace their badness.  The latest example, 1964's Kitten With a Whip, a doozy of a movie that is a nice window into how much society and teenagers were changing, even early in the decade.

By the time 'Kitten' was released in 1964, star Ann-Margret had already been in four legitimate movies, including most recently teaming up with Elvis in Viva Las Vegas.  I bring this up only because Margret was an up and coming star, and this is anything but a safe bet.  An impressive performance for sure, but not exactly one the average American household would probably embrace.  It's a role that plays on her sex kitten reputation and then throws in some crazy teenage characteristics with a naive and scared young woman.  Quite a mess for one personality, but it all clicks.


With his wife and daughter on vacation, David Stratton (John Forsythe) returns home one night to find a young woman sleeping in his daughter's room.  The girl's name is Jody (Margret), and she says she was running from an abusive boyfriend and sought shelter in the first place she could find.  David is somewhat wary of her explanation, but offers to help her on her way, buying her some new clothes and providing some bus fare.  David thinks nothing of it, only to find out that Jody escaped from a juvenile detention center, stabbing a matron in the process.  He returns home and finds that Jody has come back too, but this time she's got friends along, peace-loving but intimidating Ron (Peter Brown), thuggish Buck (Skip Ward), and ditzy blonde Midge (Diane Sayer).  With Jody threatening to blackmail if he tries anything funny, David is left to sit back and wait until an opportunity presents itself.

This is one of those stories where things go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.  At first, Forsythe's David is just helping an innocent-looking teenage girl in her nightgown out of a jam.  It escalates quickly and before David can figure out what to do, he finds himself kidnapped and driving this crazy group of teenagers across the border to Tijuana.  I'll add the link later, but doesn't it make sense that Mystery Science Theater 3000 would choose this movie for their show?  Making it all that much more perfect, Stratton is about to run for the state senate and doesn't need any sort of bad publicity so he basically has to go along with whatever he's told to do.  Too perfect if you ask me.

The movie rises and falls with Ann-Margret and Forsythe's performances, although the supporting players are pretty good too.  The 23-year old Margret oozes sex appeal with her part as Jody, an innocent teen with a history of being abused one minute and a manipulative, highly intelligent young woman the next.  She always was and is a beautiful woman -- and the movie does try to work the censors some with Margret in nightgowns, lingerie, low-cut dresses -- but she shows what a good actress she can be as Jody too.  If ever there was a poster child for being a little schizo, Margret pulls it off here.  Forsythe is the straight man here, an unwilling accomplice to all sort of teen hijinks who still finds it within himself to want to help this young girl.  She may be nuts, but dammit, he's going to help her!

Peter Brown and Skip Ward ham it up as Ron and Buck, two of Jody's friends who see a chance for some craziness.  Ron is college-educated and is always spouting off philosophy and peace in the most condescending way possible.  Buck is more the muscle of the duo, not the brightest guy around, and one who would rather resort to violence and intimidation to get things done.  The movie also stars Richard Anderson and Patricia Barry as a married couple and close friends of the Strattons who always seem to pop up at the worst possible time, usually when Jody is all over David.

This was certainly a weird one from beginning to end.  As the blackmail turns into kidnapping and then a road trip across the border to Tijuana, the story just got more and more surreal in a way that only a B-movie could pull off.  It's bizarre, way out there, and never dull.  For that reason, I'll say it's worth a watch along with memorable performances from stars Ann-Margret and John Forsythe.  The MST3000 show is viewable at Youtube, starting HERE with the movie starting late in the first clip.

Kitten With a Whip (1964): ** 1/2 /****