Fixed Bayonets ! - Sam Fuller film receives UK TV premiere after 63 years
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I thought this was worthy of a separate thread as it wasn't listed in the TV premieres thread below. The Film Four announcer just mentioned in passing before the 1705 screening on 12/05/2014 that Samuel Fuller's 2nd film, Fixed Bayonets ! starring Richard Basehart was receiving its Film Four (and one would assume UK TV) premiere. It wasn't listed as such in my TV guide and I guess it wasn't in the Radio Times for this week either.
Quite an intense drama about a platoon of soldiers holding the line while the rest of the troops made a tactical retreat, it dealt was the pressures of war as Basehart saw the burden of command come ever nearer as his three superiors were picked off one by one during the course of the film. Perhaps the intensity of this typical Fuller work was seen as too much for UK TV audiences in the past - there was an excruciatingly tense scene as a soldier picked his way through a minefield to rescue his colleague (who happened to have the map of the mines that had been laid !) Also talk of a soldier's ear being blown off...
The film is also notable for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance of James Dean (as Doggie) in one of his early roles.
It's being screened again on Friday 16th May 2014 at 1100 and is well worth a watch - and it was sourced from a beautiful print too...
So, were Film Four right - has this film taken 63 years to reach UK screens?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_Bayonets!
Quite an intense drama about a platoon of soldiers holding the line while the rest of the troops made a tactical retreat, it dealt was the pressures of war as Basehart saw the burden of command come ever nearer as his three superiors were picked off one by one during the course of the film. Perhaps the intensity of this typical Fuller work was seen as too much for UK TV audiences in the past - there was an excruciatingly tense scene as a soldier picked his way through a minefield to rescue his colleague (who happened to have the map of the mines that had been laid !) Also talk of a soldier's ear being blown off...
The film is also notable for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance of James Dean (as Doggie) in one of his early roles.
It's being screened again on Friday 16th May 2014 at 1100 and is well worth a watch - and it was sourced from a beautiful print too...
So, were Film Four right - has this film taken 63 years to reach UK screens?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_Bayonets!
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But I vaguely recall this film, and I certainly never rented it.