Merrill's Marauders

Another enjoyable movie. Good overview that's close enough to history.

For me personally this is the greatest war movie of all time. Watched it many times in TV format but this wide screen format is really fantastic.

Merrill's Marauders is an excellent WWII movie dealing with a topic often ignored in war movies covering the Pacific Theater. In 1944, the 5307th Composite Unit, Merrill's Marauders, 3,000 seasoned jungle fighters, march into Burma with the objective of the supply depot at Walawbum and the airfield at Myitkyina. The Marauders must march across hundreds of miles of dense jungle, pushing themselves to their mental and physical limits, battling Japanese troops all the way. Like most Fuller movies, Marauders has plenty of great action scenes as the 5307th trudges across Burma. Along with the excellent battle scenes, Fuller includes several very powerful and moving scenes, specifically when the Marauders are resting in a Burmese village and are approached by the villagers. At a compact 99 minutes, Merrill's Marauders is a quick-paced, action-packed, exciting war movie from Samuel Fuller.Jeff Chandler gives one of his best performances as Brigadier General Frank Merrill, the commander of the 5307th who must push his men to their absolute limit, physically and mentally. Unfortunately, Chandler died before the film was released in theaters. Ty Hardin matches Chandler with his performance as Lt. Lee Stockton, Merrill's long-time friend and leader of the 5307th's scout platoon. Andrew Duggan plays Captain Kolodny, the doctor accompanying the unit. Stockton's platoon includes Peter Brown as Bullseye, the platoon's sharpshooter, Claude Akins as Kolowicz, the tough sergeant, Will Hutchins as Chowhound, Charles Briggs as Muley, the mule-packer, and Pancho Magalona as Taggy, the Filipino scout. Unfortunately, there is no DVD release of Merrill's Marauders, although this is one film that definitely deserves a release. The VHS copy is of decent quality in pan-n-scan. The VHS copies are getting harder to find, so if you locate one, pick it up. Overall, Merrill's Marauders is an exciting, moving look at the invasion of Burma that has been unfairly looked over since its release. Well worth it if you can find a copy.

I knew one of the original Merrill's Marauders. He was in my Arizona National Guard Infantry Company. He was an E-8 Platoon Sgt. We got a new Lt. over his Platoon and he decided that he was too old and got him discharged. The next month the Lt. was gone and he was back. The Co. told us that he had called a couple of 4 Star Generals still on active duty that he had know while in the Marauders and they called our State Adj. General! I guess knowing a couple of 4 Star Generals out ranks a 2 Lt.! He did have some great stories!

Excellent movie about WW2 (true story)!

Great WW 2 movie ! Watch every memorial day !

Although dated it remains one of my favorite war drama genre movies. Jeff Chandler and several of the other actors in the film portrayed the characters, whether based on the true story of what transpired, did an outstanding performance to reflect the sacrifice these soldiers truly made. Maybe one day, are you listening Mr. Hanks and Mr. Spielberg, a new version of this mission will be filmed. It would be great to have this story told in the serial format as depicted in Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

One of my favorite movies