Tough, gritty war story of a ragtag American patrol in Korea that finds itself trapped in a Buddhist temple by a much larger Chinese force. Sam Fuller made this for cheapjack Lippert Pictures for little more than $100,000--the Chinese "tank" that attacks them was actually constructed out of plywood--but the low budget doesn't detract from it at all. From the opening sequence where Gene Evans' tough sergeant finds himself the only survivor of a POW massacre by Chinese troops, to the climactic battle in the Buddhist temple, the film is chock full of Fuller's bizarre little touches and great storytelling. Evans is first-rate, and there's a terrific performance by the great Richard Loo--the stereotypical oily Japanese villain (although he was actually Korean) in countless Hollywood World War II movies--as a laconic, war-weary Japanese-American soldier, the only veteran that Evans has in the patchwork patrol he puts together that he knows he can count on. Don't miss this one.
