You can find several movies with the same theme of "platoon must pretend to have greater numbers to fool the enemy", but you can only find a handful of movies about the Korean War that were made during the event itself. Fixed Bayonets! Starring Gene Evans and Richard Basehart, is one of them, but it's not the greatest war picture you'll see in your lifetime. It definitely feels like a B-picture, with the production values and screenplay telegraphing every plot point far in advance. However, during-war movies are worth appreciating because they capture the feeling of the war before its outcome was known. The aura of this movie is not victorious, but instead has the message of, "We're trying our best, folks, but we don't really know what we're doing." It's far different than the messages from WWII movies made from 1941-1945.
Gene is a burly, strong soldier who continually encourages Richard to get his feet wet in the art of killing. Richard is an officer school dropout who has managed to survive the war without killing a single enemy soldier. He can follow orders but can't give them, and his biggest fear is to someday be left in charge of the platoon. Gee, I wonder what will happen. . .
There are some moments that are entertaining, in the sense of capturing the war atmosphere. In one scene, all the men take off their shoes and massage each other's feet to prevent frostbite. In another, Gene points to something off camera and says, "That's Jonesy's ear," to remind them how serious the enemy fire is. There's a sequence during which they bury landmines in the snow, and then they forget where they put them and are tiptoeing around at night hoping not to get blown up. Had the cast been full of A-tier actors, like John Wayne in Gene's role and Kirk Douglas in Richard's part, the movie probably would have been classed up and been more successful. Try it out if you like, but the better Korean War movies are Retreat, Hell! And One Minute to Zero.
Gene is a burly, strong soldier who continually encourages Richard to get his feet wet in the art of killing. Richard is an officer school dropout who has managed to survive the war without killing a single enemy soldier. He can follow orders but can't give them, and his biggest fear is to someday be left in charge of the platoon. Gee, I wonder what will happen. . .
There are some moments that are entertaining, in the sense of capturing the war atmosphere. In one scene, all the men take off their shoes and massage each other's feet to prevent frostbite. In another, Gene points to something off camera and says, "That's Jonesy's ear," to remind them how serious the enemy fire is. There's a sequence during which they bury landmines in the snow, and then they forget where they put them and are tiptoeing around at night hoping not to get blown up. Had the cast been full of A-tier actors, like John Wayne in Gene's role and Kirk Douglas in Richard's part, the movie probably would have been classed up and been more successful. Try it out if you like, but the better Korean War movies are Retreat, Hell! And One Minute to Zero.