Never So Few

This is a typical "Rat Pack" (minus Deano, Joey and Sammy) theatrical romp; big on action and small on fact based substance, but entertaining nonetheless.

The big surprise is Steve McQueen, appearing in one of his first major films. Up to this point, he has come to prominence in the TV series Wanted, Dead or Alive, but has yet to make the jump to film star. "Never So Few" is his springboard. A spat between Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. gets McQueen the supporting role that launches his movie career under the direction of John Sturges (who later directs The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape).

McQueen plays Corporal Bill Ringa (Why'd they pick that name...a pseudonym for "Ringer" maybe?), a self promoting "SGT. Bilko" type con man making a few fast bucks "in the rear with the gear" of the CBI. When Ringa is assigned as OSS Capt. Tom Reynold's (Frank Sinatra) jeep driver, during the latter's visit to the rear area headquarters, he impresses the officer with his unorthodox approach to selling illegal whiskey and fighting with MPs (anyone that hates MPs has got my vote). Reynolds gets Ringa transferred to his outfit and the two go about smashing the Japanese and renegade Chinese warlords.

McQueen shows the strong almost overpowering "2d in command" role he perfects in The Magnificent Seven a year later. His on-screen presence in these two films propels McQueen to leading man status thereafter.

Not a very historically accurate film, and some of the acting is overplayed, but McQueen is strong throughout and the film is fast paced and entertaining.

I have to sit on the fence teetering and tottering trying to imagine the slight built music crooner Frank Sinatra portraying a leader of a small band of U. S. soldiers infiltrating a Japanese stronghold with guns a blazing and tankards of firebombs billowing in the dark skies.

War is hell unless your name happens to be Captain Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) in which case you get to enjoy first rate dinners and mixed drinks at fabulous hotels and view a naked Carla Vesari (Gina Lollobrigida) taking a bubble bath. Most shockingly, good old blue eyes restrains himself from jumping in that bubble bath with the Italian sexpot Gina Lollobrigida, and abruptly walks out of the luxurious hotels bathroom that is bigger than most families entire homes.

So, I must admit this Worl War II genre film was grossly exaggerating what war in the 1940s appeared t be like. Of course when the Chinese soldiers try to take advantage of a few dead American soldiers by looting, the courageous Captain Tom Reynolds places protocols aside and come hell or high water he seeks revenge alongside a small band of American soldiers.

Hoo rah! The war will be won with good old blue eyes leading the charge. I give the film a passable 6 out of 10 IMDb rating.

World War II along the Burma Road becomes a Rat Pack romp (well, two of them anyway: Frank and Peter Lawford) with Steve McQueen filling in for Sammy Davis, Jr. (after "Smokey" was written out of the picture for incurring the Chairman's wrath). Gina Lollobrigida makes full use of her talent, inhaling and exhaling deliciously. Brian Donlevy as General Sloan is puffy and florid from too many years of real-life drinking and carousing. Frank's goatee (which thankfully he shaves off later) is the worst beard since Clark Gable's Parnell, and rotten camera work shows off that ugly forceps scar behind Frank's ear which better cameramen went out of their way to avoid. The novel by Tom Chamales touched off quite a stink in 1957, accusing General Chiang Kai-Chek's mercenary bandits (oops, I mean Chinese Nationalist soldiers) of murdering and robbing American GI's. The film touched off an even bigger stink. A good cast wasted on a thoroughly stupid script with lots of ring-a-ding boozing between noisy battle scenes. BOMB rating, but if Jay, Dave and Ted Koppel are all showing reruns and you just can't sleep . . .

An allied guerrilla unit led by Capt. Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) deals with the Japanese army and warlord controlled Chinese troops out in the Burma jungle.

"In the hills of North Burma, gateway to the vast prize of Asia, less than a thousand Kachin warriors, fighting under American and British leadership of the O.S.S., held back 40,000 Japanese in the critical, early years of World War II. It has been said NEVER have free men everywhere owed so much to SO FEW".

Killer Warrants and The Unprecedented War.

Directed by John Sturges and featuring Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Peter Lawford, Brian Donlevy, Gina Lollobrigida, Richard Johnson and Paul Henreid. Never So Few it's fair to say has a iffy reputation, originally conceived as a rat pack war film, it has some great strengths and some annoying weaknesses. The story itself is great, a part of the war that deserves to have been portrayed on the big screen, but why the makers didn't exorcise the whole romantic thread remains not just a mystery, but nearly a film killer.

As lovely as Miss Lollobrigida is, her whole character arc, and the relationship with Sinatra's stoic Reynolds, is surplus to requirements. It serves absolutely no purpose to defining other characters or for narrative invention. This strand of the story carries the film to over two hours in length, without this strand it's a film of 90 minutes focusing on the brave souls who fought in the Burmese conflict. Which is what it should have been.

When dealing with the conflicts, both outer and inner, the film does excite. The wily Sturges knows his way around an action scene and all the efforts here are gripping. Cast are fine and dandy, with McQueen dominating his scenes, Johnson the class act on show, while Sinatra, once he gets rid of the fake beard, shows his knack for tortured emotion to the point you just can't help but root for him even when he's being pig-headed (not a stretch for old blue eyes of course).

Tech credits are mixed, the studio sets are easily spotted, but conversely so are the real and pleasing location sequences filmed in Ceylon. The Panavision photography (William H. Daniels) is beautiful, a Metrocolor treat, but Hugo Friedhofer unusually turns in a lifeless musical score. All told it's not hard to see why it's a film that divides opinions, it's very episodic and that romance drags it something terrible. But still strong merits exist and it at least gets the core of the real story out in the public domain. 6/10

Never So Few (1959)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Set during WWII, Captain Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) is in the jungle of Burma where he must keep his men in order while making sure no sneak attacks happen. While on leave he strikes up a relationship with the beautiful Carla Vesari (Gina Lollobrigida) who might just be connected to a smuggler.

NEVER SO FEW is an entertaining movie to watch but at the same time, when it's over, you can help but be somewhat upset that the film isn't much better. After all, you've got a fantastic director in John Sturges and you've got an all-star cast with a fairly interesting story. So, what went wrong? Well, it's hard to make two types of movies and smash them into one, which is what happened here.

The problem with the movie is that the screenplay is incredibly uneven and I'd argue it's also out-of-focus. I say this because the film starts off on a very high note with the men in the jungle and all of this is entertaining. We then get some more entertaining stuff when we get back to civilian land and get to see Sinatra work his magic. The problem is that the love story is so forced and at times so silly that it really takes away from the war drama. A lot of war pictures are "male bonding movies" and Sturges would specialize this years later with THE GREAT ESCAPE. The problem with NEVER SO FEW is that the romance is pretty much in the center of the picture and really breaks any tension or drama in the war stuff.

With that said, there's no doubt that the terrific cast helps keep the movie entertaining. Sinatra is in good form as the tough Captain who does things his own way and stands up for what he believes. There's no doubt that Lollobrigida is easy on the eyes and especially during her bath scene. The supporting cast is wonderful and a lot of fun. Bronson is very good in his role as a Navajo solder. Steve McQueen is a lot of fun and even at this stage of his career that essence of cool comes across even with his scenes with Sinatra. We also get Peter Lawford, Richard Johnson, Paul Henreid, Whit Bissell, Dean Jones and Brian Donlevy among others.

NEVER SO FEW contains a lot of explosion and the action scenes are nicely directed. The court-like drama at the end isn't all that successful but the film still gives you plenty of entertaining but there's no doubt that it should have been better.