Never So Few
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| Never So Few | |
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 1967 re-release film poster |
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| Directed by | John Sturges |
| Produced by | John Sturges |
| Written by | Tom T. Chamales (book) Millard Kaufman (screenplay) |
| Starring | Frank Sinatra Gina Lollobrigida Peter Lawford Steve McQueen |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | December 7, 1959 |
| Running time | 124 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Never So Few is a 1959 film directed by John Sturges and starring Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen. The script was loosely based on an actual OSS Detachment 101 incident recorded in a 1957 novel by Tom T. Chamales.
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[edit] Plot
Shot on location in Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka, the film follows Captain Tom Reynolds (Sinatra) and his fellow OSS operatives, Captain Grey Travis (Lawford) and Corporal Bill Ringa (McQueen), leading Kachin natives in fighting the Japanese in Burma in World War II despite a lack of support from their commanders. Reynolds spends his infrequent leaves pursuing lovely Carla Vesari (Lollobrigida).
[edit] Cast
- Frank Sinatra as Captain Tom Reynolds
- Gina Lollobrigida as Carla Vesari
- Peter Lawford as Captain Grey Travis
- Steve McQueen as Corporal Bill Ringa
- Richard Johnson as Captain Danny De Mortimer
- Paul Henreid as Nikko Regas
- Brian Donlevy as General Sloan
- Dean Jones as Sergeant Jim Norby
- Charles Bronson as Sergeant John Danforth
- Philip Ahn as Nautaung, leader of the Kachin
- Robert Bray as Colonel Fred Parkson
[edit] A breakthrough for Steve McQueen
Rat Pack cohort Sammy Davis, Jr. was originally slated to play McQueen's role, but Sinatra yanked it away after Davis mildly criticized Sinatra during a radio interview. McQueen was mainly noted at the time for the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive (and the movie The Blob). Never So Few marked his introduction to working with director John Sturges, who went on to cast him in his first breakthrough role the following year, as second lead in The Magnificent Seven, and later in the even more career-crucial classic The Great Escape (1963).
On the original US one-sheet poster, only Sinatra and Lollobrigida were top billed, but in the 1967 re-release of the poster, McQueen was added to the top billing.
[edit] Critical reception
Opening to middling reviews, Never So Few was mostly praised for its action sequences, but criticized for a romantic sub-plot that bogged the film down. Newcomer McQueen garnered the bulk of the film's good notice. Variety commented that "Steve McQueen has a good part, and he delivers with impressive style."
[edit] External links
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