Never So Few (1959)

Director: John Sturges

Writers: Millard Kaufman, Tom T. Chamales

Composer: Hugo Friedhofer

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Steve McQueen, Richard Johnson, Paul Henreid, Brian Donlevy, Dean Jones, Charles Bronson, Philip Ahn, Robert Bray, Kipp Hamilton, John Hoyt, Whit Bissell, Richard Lupino, Aki Aleong, James Hong, Mako, William Smith, George Takei

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Kiss by kiss the time ran out and never so few were the moments left for love!

Plot: Captain Tom Reynolds and his band of skilled O.S.S. operatives are in WWII Burma to train the Kachin natives in modern warfare. But jungle combat, particularly against a Japanese army as familiar with the terrain as the Kachin, is more grueling than Reynolds had reckoned. Some respite is found in the arms of beautiful Carla, but after Chinese rebels cross the border to loot and murder American soldiers, Reynolds abandons all notions of "military protocol" and seeks requital.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

#30 on Project: Badass Charles Bronson

BRONSON'S AGE: 38
LEVEL OF BADASSICITY (10 being the highest): 8

After watching this I got the impression this picture was just an excuse for Sinatra to get into Gina Lollobrigida's knickers...oh, and to kill Japs, play action hero and to give the (future) Red Chinese the old what fer.  Sinatra does it all.  Look at that impressive cast!  Then add John Sturges in the director's seat!  Then watch in amazement how much time they spend making it so Sinatra can get some Italian hottie tail!  I liked the action/war stuff and the morality issues were a nice touch (except for the fact that Sinatra doesn't obey orders and often reacts by killing people and justifying it later) but there's far too much time spent on the romance.  I wanted to spend time with cats like McQueen and Bronson.  George Takei is easy to spot as is James Hong but you'll have to look closely at the tall Indian MP that McQueen beats up to see that it's the awesome William Smith.  Mako's in there somewhere but I couldn't find him.  He's in the same scenes with Takei but what I recognize him in is more than twenty years later.  Overall it's disappointing with the extraordinary amount of time getting Sinatra laid but I did enjoy it.  The Warner Bros. DVD comes with the trailer for the film and that's it. 

Charles Bronson was pure manliness and he could've tackled the Japs all on his own if the screenwriters hadn't been forced to suck Sinatra's dick enough that Bronson's role had been pared down to a few short scenes.  I guess with Sinatra's ties to the Mafia Bronson, although perfectly capable of taking them on and destroying their entire organization, didn't want to break a sweat.  And since his character gets killed, that allowed him time to nail Lollobrigida (with Sinatra watching!!!) just to prove to Frank that you can't fuck with Bronson.  One way or another, he's going to take what's yours.  What a guy!