MERRILL'S MARAUDERS

US, 1962, 98 minutes, Colour.
Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Will Hutchins, Claude Akins.
Directed by Samuel Fuller.

Merrill's Marauders is a tough American war film, more typical of the 50's than the 60's when it was made. Set in Burma, it is a war mission film concentrating on the impossibility of the mission, the enormous capacities of endurance of some of the men and their heroism. Good when it stays with the problems of the Americans, weaker when it turns to heroics and the killing of hundreds of Japanese. The film is above average and raises the usual war questions.

1. When does the film become a better than average war film?

2. What does the film show of the limits of human endurance and the decisions that have to be made to keep exhausted men going?

3. Was the film a realistic presentation of war? Why?

4. In what lay the heroism of the men?

5. Were the military heroics overdone, especially in the killing of so many Japanese or was this realistic enough? Did the patriotism of the final sequence spoil the film?