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5.8/10
3.4K
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During WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma.During WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma.During WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma.
Henry Amargo
- Scout
- (uncredited)
Rayford Barnes
- Soldier in Helicopter
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSteve McQueen's role was originally going to be played by Sammy Davis Jr.. A feud had broken out between Davis and Frank Sinatra after Davis had claimed in a radio interview that he was a greater singer than Sinatra. Sinatra demanded he be dropped from the cast, and McQueen got the part. McQueen was mainly noted at the time for the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958) and the horror movie The Blob (1958). Never So Few (1959) marked his introduction to working with director John Sturges, who went on to cast McQueen in his breakout role the following year, as second lead in The Magnificent Seven (1960), and later as the motorcycle-jumping lead in the classic The Great Escape (1963).
- GoofsAt the beginning of this WWII film, supplies are parachuted to the troops. On several of the boxes, USAF was stenciled on the boxes. The United States Air Force was not named until 1947 and the stencil should have read USAAF (United States Army Air Force).
- Quotes
Capt. Tom Reynolds: You know, the movies have got it all wrong, a cigarette tastes lousy when you're wounded.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Wogan: Episode #9.61 (1989)
Featured review
Based on Real-life story of OSS Detachment 101
Although the profile mentions that Sinatra's character and his fellow agents are members of the OSS, this could use some elaboration. This movie is clearly an attempt to dramatize certain portions of OSS Detachment 101's exploits in the CBI during WWII. This is the only film I've ever seen that deals with a story involving the OSS that is based on any sort of factual series of events. Detachment 101, formed very early in WWII as an OSS Operations Group (OG), was responsible for hamstringing Japanese operations in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater along with the Kachin Rangers, native people whom they had trained and equipped and a host of other Allied special operations type units, many of which contributed to the lineages of later special ops units, especially in the US (Merrill's Marauders = 75th Ranger Regiment and Det. 101 being the root of lineages of both CIA covert operations units and Army Special Forces).
The story which most clearly sticks out here is the episode involving the discovery of warrants issued by the Chinese Nationalist government authorizing local bandit warlords to confiscate goods from anyone, including Allied forces. Although not quite right in the movie, these bandits attacked a group of Kachins, which brought the attention of US OSS agents. These agents, with their Kachin Rangers, attacked across the Chinese border, discovered the warrants and almost caused a major diplomatic incident between the US and Chinese governments, especially after the OSS agents turned a blind eye to the execution of the Chinese bandits by Kachin Rangers.
All in all, not a spectacular film and the love interest aspect a little odd in the middle of a war-zone, but still notable as the only film dealing with the subject of OSS OGs in a semi-factual way.
The story which most clearly sticks out here is the episode involving the discovery of warrants issued by the Chinese Nationalist government authorizing local bandit warlords to confiscate goods from anyone, including Allied forces. Although not quite right in the movie, these bandits attacked a group of Kachins, which brought the attention of US OSS agents. These agents, with their Kachin Rangers, attacked across the Chinese border, discovered the warrants and almost caused a major diplomatic incident between the US and Chinese governments, especially after the OSS agents turned a blind eye to the execution of the Chinese bandits by Kachin Rangers.
All in all, not a spectacular film and the love interest aspect a little odd in the middle of a war-zone, but still notable as the only film dealing with the subject of OSS OGs in a semi-factual way.
helpful•429
- ladybegood64
- Mar 25, 2004
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $3,480,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 5 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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