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The Long and the Short and the Tall

War · Comedy

The Long and the Short and the Tall

Raw emotions bared !

6.9(27) 2/28/1961 1h 50m
WarComedyDrama

Based on a play by Willis Hall. A troop of British soldiers are out in the jungle to record jungle noises and troop noises in the jungle so that the recordings can be played back by other troops to divert the enemy to their whereabouts. As they progress to what they think is closer to the base camp they find themselves farther and farther from radio range until the only channel they can get clearly is that of a Japanese broadcast. They now realize they are probably only 10 to 15 miles from a Japanese camp! The tension is added to by rowdy and openly admitted "non-hero" Private Bamforth who has nothing good to say about anyone and especially Corporal Johnstone (who holds an equal dislike for Bamforth). When a Japanese soldier is taken as their prisoner, the true colours of each man comes to the surface

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Top Cast

Laurence Harvey

Laurence Harvey

Pvt. 'Bammo' Bamforth

Richard Todd

Richard Todd

Sgt. 'Mitch' Mitchem

Richard Harris

Richard Harris

Cpl. Johnstone

David McCallum

David McCallum

Pvt. Sammy Whitaker

Ronald Fraser

Ronald Fraser

L / Cpl. Macleish

John Meillon

John Meillon

Pte. Smith

JR

John Rees

Pte. Evans

Kenji Takaki

Kenji Takaki

Tojo

Directed by

Leslie Norman

Production

Reviews

drystyx

10/10

4/18/2023

Powerful war drama. This film is IMO, the greatest war film ever made, and maybe the greatest film. Seven UK soldiers in WW2 find themselves in a predicament they didn't expect. They were supposed to run a "test" so to speak, and not see real action. That's why four of the seven are not trained properly for the action they later find. The other three are more professional, but misfits. The characters are quite credible. There is more than what one sees on the surface. The leader, played by Richard Todd, seems calm and cool, but we learned he lost an earlier troop of three men who died under his command. That's the real story, but it takes a few viewings to figure it out. His second in command, played by Richard Harris, is a bully. The third professional soldier, played by Ronald

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