Merrill’s Marauders

Merrill’s Marauders

1962. USA. Directed by Samuel Fuller. With Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Will Hutchins. Shot in the Philippines in color and CinemaScope, Fuller’s account of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)—known as “Merrill’s Marauders” after the unit’s commander, Brigadier General Frank D. Merill (Jeff Chandler)—covers the same territory as Raoul Walsh’s Operation Burma, as the 3,000-man division fights its way through the Southeast Asian theater of World War II. Though cut by Warner Bros. to blunt Fuller’s bleak, absurdist vision of warfare, the film still startles with its pessimism. 35mm. 98 min.