Friday, May 19, 2017

Movie Review: Never So Few


I can't say I've seen every American war movie ever made, but I'd like to think I've seen a hefty chunk of them.

Several weeks ago, I stumbled across this DVD Triple Feature.


I've seen Objective, Burma!, and Go for Broke! once or twice, decades ago.  But at least I vaguely remember them.

I may do reviews of these two films, but for now, I want to focus on the on I've never even heard of until I bought the DVD:  Never So Few.

The movie is about a team of OSS (Office of Strategic Services) operatives and the Kachin natives they lead against the Japanese in Burma (now Myanmar).

A friend and I were surprised at how good this movie was.  True, this may be because it was "new" to us, but it didn't diminish our enjoyment.  Although, like most (all?) movie critics felt at the time of the film's release, I felt the romantic sub-plot between Frank Sinatra and Gina Lollobrigida was an unnecessary drag to the action.

As a gamer, I find this movie fascinating because it could lend itself well for a multi-player wargame, campaign, or even a role-playing game (RPG).

In the middle of the Burmese jungle you have--

--OSS operatives and their Kachin allies

--Japanese invaders

--at least one Chinese warlord and his minions

--a merchant with possible shady connections, and

--his femme fatale girlfriend

 I don't have any World War II miniatures, so maybe some other gamer will be inspired to conjure up a campaign based on this 4-star movie.

(Painting by Stuart Brown, found on Pintrest)

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