Merrill's Marauders

"How they fought those last 500 miles will remain forever in your memory!"

1962 1h 38m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 68

WarDramaAction

Synopsis

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Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill leads the 3,000 American volunteers of his 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), aka "Merrill's Marauders", behind Japanese lines across Burma to Myitkyina, pushing beyond their limits and fighting pitched battles at every strong-point.

“How they fought those last 500 miles will remain forever in your memory!”

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Cast

Jeff Chandler
Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill
Ty Hardin
2nd Lt. Lee Stockton
Peter Brown
Bullseye
Andrew Duggan
Capt. Abraham Lewis Kolodny, MD
Will Hutchins
Chowhound
Claude Akins
Sgt. Kolowicz
Luz Valdez
Burmese girl
John Hoyt
Gen. Joseph Stilwell

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Samuel Fuller
Writers: Samuel Fuller, Milton Sperling
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

64 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CRAFT

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Samuel Fuller, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Howard Jackson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jeff Chandler and Ty Hardin and Peter Brown carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "How they fought those last 500 miles will remain forever in your memory!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0056234 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Samuel Fuller directs. William H. Clothier behind the camera. Howard Jackson scores. Folmar Blangsted cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

164 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
3Directed by Samuel Fuller, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Howard Jackson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jeff Chandler and Ty Hardin and Peter Brown carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "How they fought those last 500 miles will remain forever in your memory!".
8IMDB entry: tt0056234 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 68 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original score: Howard Jackson
Editing: Folmar Blangsted
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Merrill's Marauders (1962)

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Samuel Fuller

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John Chard2014-02-25
★ 9/10
Battle for Burma. Merrill’s Marauders is directed by Samuel Fuller, who also co-adapts the screenplay with Milton Sperling from the book, The Marauders, written by Charlton Ogburn Jr. It stars Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Andrew Duggan, Claude Akins, Peter brown, Will Hutchins and John Hoyt. A Cinemascope/Technicolor production with music by Howard Jackson and cinematography by William H. Clothier. Cracker-jack war movie, packed to the rafters with blood, sweat and tears, and best of all, gritty realism. Story is about the warfare unit led by Frank Merrill (Chandler) during the Burmese campaign in 1944. Their mission was to destroy Japanese bases to avert the Japanese from making their way into India and onto a rendezvous with Hitler’s forces. Their efforts was a success but it came at great cost of lives. Fuller, an ex-soldier himself, isn’t interested in glorifying war for entertainment purpose, he wants to keep the focus on the men and what the mission does to them, both physically and mentally. The mission was only meant to be a short sharp shocker, but they keep getting “requested” to push on further beyond what was originally required, pushed to their limits by their leader who asked they follow his lead. In turn the men suffer through lack of food whilst some of them fall to typhus and malaria, inhospitable conditions take their toll, like trekking through miles and miles of swampy terrain, and of course they encounter the enemy on several nerve shredding occasions. As comrades fall and heart breaking letters are written to families, Fuller peppers the picture with haunting moments. A sweep of the aftermath of a battle finds dead bodies from both sides strewn about the place, the surviving Marauders too exhausted to lift themselves off the soil. A soldier breaking down crying, another willing to carry his donkey’s load so it want be shot for holding up the trek and on it goes, a whole ream of memorable instances designed to give us some idea of what the war is hell statement actually means. Filmed on location in the Philippines, it seems a little weird to say that the photography is beautiful given that so much emotional hardship and misery is being portrayed, but Clothier really brings everything to life with his superb use of colour, the great lensman the ideal fit for Fuller’s keen eye for lingering details. Performances are across the board on the good side of good, with Chandler - in what sadly would be his last film before his premature death aged 42 – turning in his best ever work. He puts his all into portraying Merrill, giving him great personality whilst hitting the mark for the various emotional beats required for a leader of men. A leader who himself carries a secret that he doesn’t want his men to know about. Stock footage usage from another movie and musical lifts from two more, hint at the economical restraints on the production, but neither affects the all round quality of the picture. Free of cliché’s or extraneous pap, this is one excellent – exciting - haunting war movie. 9/10

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