MARCH OR DIE

UK, 1977, 107 minutes, Colour.
Gene Hackman, Terence Hill (Mario Girotti), Catherine Deneuve, Max Von Sydow, Ian Holm, Rufus, Jack O'Halloran, Marcel Bozzuffi.
Directed by Dick Richards.

Beau Geste is the classic cinema image of the Foreign Legion: it was a rattling good story, blending heroics, action and mystery. This film has moments like this and some fine Moroccan visuals of the marching Legionnaires; however, much of the film is in darkness: Paris railway, Moroccan dives, nights before action. This slows down the action considerably, though the final battle is traditionally fierce. The attempts at interaction, themes of art/archaeology and the present, tribal unity are not so persuasive.

The international cast, harsh Commander Gene Hackman, doleful Catherine Deneuve, relentless Max Von Sydow and a restrained, genial hero in Terence Hill is better than the material. The film is one of Sir Lew Grade's many multi-starred entertainments like The Cassandra Crossing, Escape to Athena, Voyage of the Damned and even The Muppet Movie and Jesus of Nazareth. Direction is by Dick Richards who made such interesting films as The Culpepper Cattle Company, Rafferty and The Gold Dust Twins and Farewell My Lovely.

1. The tone of the title? The catchcall of the Foreign Legion? The indication of the atmosphere of the Foreign Legion? The popularity of this kind of film? The cinema traditions from Beau Geste etc.?

2. The conventions of this kind of adventure: the commander and his attitudes towards his men, to his mission, his heroism? The alternate hero and his lightheartedness, courage, daring, taking the place of the commander? The international archaeological explorers and their obsessive leader? The glamorous widow? The range of personnel in the Legion? Were they merely stock characters? How well characterised, explored?

3. The location photography, the atmosphere of France in the early 20th. century, the long opening at the railway station? The transition to Morocco? The restaurants and dives of Morocco? The desert, the encampment, the archaeological site? The musical score? Special effects? The vistas of the Foreign Legionaries in training, on the march, in battle?

4. The realism of the plot? The echoes of matinee material? The matinee emphasis or authentic plausibility? The plot sufficient for this kind of matinee material? The balance of realism and contrived conventions?

5. Gene Hackman's style as Major Foster? His American background? His work in Morocco prior to the war? His promise to the chieftain El Krim? The encounter with Marco The Gypsy? The relationship with Simone? His commission in the desert ? the searching for the treasure, France's financial needs, the shooting of Simone's father after he had been tortured, the encounters with El Krim, the discovery of the Angel of the Desert? His treatment of the men, the attack by E1 Krim? His death? A credible picture of a Foreign Legion leader?

6. The contrast with Marco ? his background as cat burglar, sense of humour, his behaviour on the train? In Morocco? His friendship with Simone, the growing love for her? The clashes with Foster? The importance of the marches and his strength, his saving Top Hat? His reaction to Top Hat's suicide? His participating in the battles? Simone's getting him a pass for home, his refusing, his taking Foster's place? (And the use of Terence Hill in the role with his Trinity background?)

7. Catherine Deneuve's enigmatic presence as Simone? Her relationship with her father, the encounters with Foster and the clashes? The other men? Leon and his using her? Her allowing herself to be used especially for Marco? Her relationship with Marco? Her departure? A strange and silent and glamorous heroine?

8. Francois Marneau and his archaeological skill, his obsessions? The work on the excavation site, his pressures, the discovery, his defeat?

9. The Arabs, especially El Krim and the promise Foster made about the excavations before the war, the confrontation, his attack, E1 Krim halting the attack and the message with Marco? The rights of the Arabs and the reasons for the clash with the Foreign Legion?

10. The personalities of the Legionnaires and their range, interaction? Sgt. Triand, Ivan, Fontaine, Top Hat?

11. Leon and his role in Morocco, his restaurant, his graft and double-dealing? His using of Simone?

12. The pace of the film? The long opening sequence? The valuable recreation of the period and atmosphere ? but the slow movement of the plot? The dark and night sequences of the opening part of the film? The movement into the desert, action? The battle sequences and the massacres? How satisfying an example of the Foreign Legion film?