(1951)
3
Aubry Anne D'Arminio
Fixed Bayonets is Samuel Fuller's first big-budget feature. 20th Century Fox executive Darryl F. Zanuck was oddly fond of the tough, grisly, raucous little Fuller and practically gave the director free reign on the set. Fuller built a 50-foot snowcapped mountain in the studio, slicked it with ice, and then slid his actors up and down the creation for days. He shook the Fox lot with marches, explosions, and firefights -- pushing every worker to his physical limit. In the end, Zanuck got a film that is every bit as aggressive and fascinating as his beloved director. Fixed Bayonets pulls no punches; it is quick, violent, and exhausts every cinematic apparatus: crane shots dart directly into close-ups of fighting soldiers, long takes track actors across the entire span of the set. Memorable images of Fuller's soldiers marching in puffy white parkas wholly capture the absurdity and strangeness of war. Yet, the film will not stand for sap or pity and quickly parlays every sad moment into a gruff joke. In a time when war movies had become maudlin and pathetic, Fixed Bayonets proved strikingly innovative. Darryl Zanuck made his money, and Samuel Fuller made one of his best films.
Fixed Bayonets on AllMovie
Fixed Bayonets (1951)
