Les maraudeurs attaquent

Merrill's Marauders isn't the best WWII film by a long shot. However, it does have several things going for it. Director Sam Fuller had plenty of army infantry service under his belt from his own WWII experiences. That in itself makes it difficult to argue with his portrayal of the trials of Merrill's foot soldiers. I notice this movie turns on the breaking point of the Marauders, especially how these American infantrymen transcended it in order to win. this is a hallmark of the special forces tradition, but I think Fuller is less interested in the origins of the US special forces than in defining the qualities of physical and mental fortitude necessary for successful soldiers. There is more than the stoicism of normal Hollywood heroes here, these characters do reach the end of their ropes, but fall in for another fight, time and again. The other noticeable production element is the apparent use of active duty personnel as extras. This shows in scenes like the assault on Wallabum, with the men charging in squad rushes (one of the best battle scenes of the movie). Other parts of that same battle scene, and others, aren't so impressive, but This flick isn't about the action. It is Fuller's biggest war production, if not quite his best, and while it may not be his best film, a close viewing may redeem the effort.

Post Battle Of Britain there were two campaigns of the second world war that were almost exclusively British led and British fought . One was the North African campaign and the other was the Burma campaign , and unlike the inaccurate American flag waver OBJECTIVE BURMA the production team of MERRIL`S MARAUDERS have taken the time and effort to point out the British contribution of the campaign . A British patrol is spotted " A five hundred mile hike and the eighteeneth Japanese imperial army are waiting for them , I`m glad I ain`t in that British Army - Amen to that " and later General Stilwell points out " That the British have been fighting alone here for three years " , so a big thank you to Sam Fuller and co for pointing out a few truths that American didn`t win the war single handed . If only Spielberg , Hanks and Ambrose had done the same with BAND OF BROTHERS

"This is not the best war movie I've ever seen, but it is certainly not the worst. (I prefer Sam Fuller's The Big Red One myself.) It certainly uses most of the movie clichés of the day.

For me, the film is a sentimental favorite more than anything else. My father served with the Marauders in Company "L" and we always enjoyed watching it together.

Probably the best thing which I could say about it is how Fuller sets the emotional tone of the life of the soldiers. Watch this movie if you want to see what it was like to fight in the jungles of Burma without enough food or rest."

Though a war movie, "Merrill's Marauders" makes its deepest impressions in the scenes between the battles.

As a unit of exhausted American soldiers claw their way along a rocky slope, one falls to a screaming death. The others pause a moment to watch, then resume climbing.

At one village, a boy gives a crusty sergeant played by Claude Akins a bowl of rice. The sergeant tries to smile, only to break down instead.

"When you lead, you have to hurt people," General Merrill (Jeff Chandler) tells his prize officer "Stock" (Ty Hardin). "The enemy, and sometimes your own."

Sam Fuller was a war vet as well as a director. In making his war films, he struggled to keep it real while at the same time delivering popular entertainment. "Merrill's Marauders" leans too much in the latter direction, with hokey battle scenes and gung-ho narration. But Chandler and Hardin provide sympathetic rooting interests. The cinematography by William Clothier captures riverine landscapes in all their harsh and wild beauty.

The real story of the 5307th Composite Unit and its role in retaking Burma provides a solid backdrop for Fuller's cold view of war and its human toll. Of the 3,000 troops that started out, only 100 remained standing at the end, typhus and Japanese taking equal measure of the rest. Merrill's decision to press forward ("If they've got a single ounce of strength left, they can fight!") is portrayed as a cruel necessity, this much softened from the real GI take on Merrill's boss, Vinegar Joe Stilwell. Stilwell was roundly hated by the Marauders for pushing his boys too hard.

This is something we don't see here. Cooperation with the U.S. military required some futzing on Fuller's part, which he did in hopes of following it with a pet project regarding his own World War II experience that would only emerge 18 years later: "The Big Red One".

The battle scenes feel forced and phony. Fuller himself would complain nobody dies in war as neatly as in movies, and you see that a lot here. A perversely favorite moment for me is when a soldier named "Bullseye" shoots a Japanese soldier off of a watchtower. The soldier starts to fall, then pauses, grabs a baluster, and performs a neat tuck-and-roll in the direction of an offscreen mat.

The one battle scene that works, even with the inane fanfare scoring that is this film's single worst element, is a fight through a maze-like warren of train-support blocks at the railhead town of Shaduzup. Japanese and American soldiers appear and fall in random, endless waves. I don't think soldiers in World War II really called each other "knothead", but moments like those at Shaduzup really connect and help to pull this film over the finish line - however raggedly.

Though probably a bit too rah-rah for Fuller's fans, "Merrill's Marauders" packs a punch and some moments of affecting surprise.

The fact that the film has no discernable introduction is entirely in keeping with Sam Fuller's B Movie style direction. It jumps straight into the action, with Merrill's army platoon stationed somewhere in the middle of the Burmese jungle. While it was quite hard to suddenly have to familiarise oneself with about 20 different characters, and determine the complicated relationships between them, it allowed for an epic war movie to be refreshingly condensed to a bite-sized 95 minutes.

Merrill, his respected lieutenant, Stockton, and the rest of the boys spend the majority of the film in a sweat-drenched feverish confusion, which is so convincing, that you wonder what the director had to do to in order to produce such a performance from his actors. I have never seen so much agony and despair on the screen, as Merrill's men struggle through the seemingly endless swamps and mountains. Fuller adds to the attention by way of silent close-ups and good use of the location which suggests that anything might be around the corner, and it usually is.

The film truly shows the horrors of war and the effects on the minds of the people who fought it. If there is a fault, it comes in the form of a patriotic voice-over commentary which bookends the film at the start and the finish. Otherwise, this makes for thrillingly uncomfortable yet exhilarating viewing.