Monday, August 2, 2021

The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)

A gritty war film. Mitchem (Richard Todd) is leading a British Army patrol in the Malayan jungle with the Japanese closing in. His motley group of men fulfil various British stereotypes including the anti-establishment cocky cockney Bamforth (Laurence Harvey) and the touchy, proud but conflicted Scotsman (Ronald Fraser). Mitchem's main problem seems to be with Corporal Johnson (Richard Harris) who questions his orders.

Holed up in a hut the men capture a Japanese soldier (Kenji Takaki), Bamforth forges a friendship with the man and ends up defending him when Mitchem decides the man must die, and Johnson shows a rather bloodthirsty desire to carry out that order. When it is established the Japanese are a lot closer than expected the patrol tries to retreat but is it too late?

Although studio based (with some stock footage of wild animals) the film makes the most of it's limited sets and budget to produce a realistic view of war, and it's effects on humanity. No daring chisel jawed heroes here, more like ordinary men hurled into extraordinary times and how the true man behind the facade emerges when the pressure is on.