Never So Few

OSS captain Sinatra (plus facial hair in the opening scenes) finds himself leading a handful of Kachin guerillas against the invading Japanese in this slack, but not uninteresting WWII adventure from Tom T Chamales' novel, which loses impetus when it lingers over the officer's romance with La Lollo, mistress of oily war profiteer Henreid. Elsewhere, it's indicative of Cold War tensions that attention turns in the end to the Chinese forces offering illegal cross-border support to Burmese warlords who've attacked the Americans, weighing Sinatra's impulsive revenge attack against the formalities of international diplomacy. Sharp-witted army fixer McQueen exudes star potential, even though he was a late replacement when Sinatra fell out with Sammy Davis Jr. A lucky break for the youngster who went on to make The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape with Sturges.