Never So Few is a 1959 film directed by John Sturges.
It's a World War II movie about special operations behind enemy (Japanese) lines in Burma. Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) is an OSS agent (the OSS being the forerunners of the CIA) leading a squad of Kachin fighters in northern Burma. The men operate in difficult conditions, with major supply difficulties (unreliable parachutes only) and without a doctor for the unit.
Tom goes on leave in Calcutta, where he meets a gorgeous Italian woman named Carla (Gina Lollobrigida). Carla, the kept woman of vaguely disreputable merchant Nikko Regas (Paul Henreid), seems intrigued by Tom but rebuffs his advances. There's still a war to fight, though, and back with his unit, Tom deals with problems like a traitor in the regiment and, even worse, attacks from renegade Chinese.
The cast of this film includes, in addition to the above, a bunch of up-and-comers who went on to become bigger stars. Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson appear as, respectively, Tom's aide Cpl. Bill Ringa and Sgt. John Danforth the Navajo "code talker". Future Disney stalwart Dean Jones plays Sgt. Jim Norby, the radar operator. And if that isn't enough for future stars, James Hong plays a Chinese general and both Mako and George Takei have bit parts as injured soldiers in the hospital.
Tropes:
- America Won World War II: Burma, almost entirely a British/Commonwealth theater of operations, and most of the leaders are Americans. Justified in that this specific story is inspired by a real American/Kachin OSS unit.
- Bathtub Scene: Tom goes looking for Carla, and she calls him in. He is taken aback when he opens a door and finds himself in her opulent bathroom, with Carla naked and taking a bath in a tub. Carla takes delight in teasing him, forcing a flustered Tom to engage in small talk before he leaves the room.
- Berserk Button: Sgt. Danforth the Navajo gets very pissed when Norby calls him "Hiawatha".
- Binocular Shot: The standard figure-8 binocular view for both Danny and Tom as they get within sight of the camp of Chinese renegades.
- The Chains of Commanding: Everyone is shocked at Tom's Mercy Kill of a mortally wounded soldier. Sgt. Norby asks why didn't Tom have Nautaung, the senior Kachin in the unit, do it. Tom answers "Because it's my job, that's why."
- Communications Officer: Sgt. Danforth the Navajo "code talker" who is responsible for over-the-air communication with Allied command back in Calcutta.
- Establishing Character Moment: The crates of parachuted supplies hit the ground. Sgt. Danforth opens one, pulls out a bottle of liquor, and screams with joy "This is it!". His CO Cpt. Reynolds then barks at him to start stowing the gear, marking Cpt. Reynolds as no-nonsense.
- A Father to His Men: Tom looks after his men. When a hospital diet of unfamiliar foods starts giving his men the runs, Tom leads a march into the head doctor's office (George Takei trailing right behind) and demands the Kachin get more of their traditional foods to eat.
- Feet-First Introduction: Tom punches Danny in the nightclub—they weren't even really fighting, just horsing around, but they both hit the floor. Tom looks up to see high heels and smooth, lovely calves, and meets Carla.
- Field Promotion: Tom, thinking that he's going to face court martial for making an incursion into China and attacking the Chinese bandits, and killing the prisoners, gives Bill a "field commission" to 2nd Lieutenant and puts him in charge of the unit.
- The Film of the Book: Adapted from a 1957 novel of the same name by real-life WW2/OSS veteran Tom T. Chamales.
- High-Class Glass: Tom's co-commander of the unit, Capt. Danny De Mortimer, is a British officer with a monocle, and the plummy RP accent to match. When challenged about it, Danny says that in fact he has an eye injury, and he does indeed have an ugly scar above and below the eye with the monocle.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Danny gets sweaty while out on an excursion with Tom and Carla, and says that he feels "a little clammy." It's an attack of malaria, and moments later he keels over.
- Leave No Survivors: A Not Quite Dead Chinese bandit kills Danny. Tom, who has gotten an order to release all the Chinese bandits and send an official apology to the Chinese government for his border incursion, instead orders Bill to execute all of them.
- Match Cut: A shot of Tom and Carla embracing and kissing in the military hospital cuts to them doing the same in her hotel suite.
- Meet Cute: Tom meets Carla while he's sprawled out on the floor of a nightclub after punching Danny.
- Mercy Kill: Tom has a man, shot in the stomach, who is doomed to die without a doctor and doomed to die slowly and painfully over 12 hours or so since the unit is out of morphine. Tom shoots him, over the protests of his co-commander Cpt. De Mortimer.
- Military Moonshiner: Bill offers Tom a flask of some noxious gin. When Tom asks how he got it, Bill reveals that he himself makes, bottles, and sells it.
- Mood Whiplash: The return of Bill and Danny from leave, bringing Dr. Travis, causes the regiment to throw a feast. There's roast peacock and music and jokes. Then out of nowhere the Japanese appear and attack the camp.
- The Natives Are Restless: Inverted; the disturbing presence of a good-looking native woman leads to Danforth getting territorial and challenging Tom to a fight. Tom blows him off, saying "The whites are sure restless tonight."
- La Résistance: The Kachin, the native people of northern Burma, organized into a behind-the-lines guerilla force under OSS leadership.
- Plot Hole: Apparently Tom's unit in the jungle has access to an airstrip, because an airplane flies him and Donny into friendly territory, from whence they travel to Calcutta to meet Carla and Bill. But if they can leave the bush via an airplane, why do men and supplies have to parachute back in?
- Sinister Switchblade: Bill flicks out a scary switchblade while facing off with an Indian MP. Subverted when Bill uses the knife to slash the rope holding a rolled-up carpet. The carpet falls on the MP which allows Bill to win the fight.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the source novel Tom dies but in the film he lives and seems fated for a future with Carla.
- Title Drop: The opening titles say "It has been said that NEVER have free men everywhere owed so much to SO FEW." This is of course a paraphrase of a famous Winston Churchill quote.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: There was a real OSS unit
, involving OSS officers leading Kachin natives, that did in fact operate behind Japanese lines in Burma. - Video Credits: All of the main players except for top-billed Sinatra and Lollobrigida are accompanied by video clips over the opening credits.
