March or Die (1977)

Director:

Dick Richards

Writers:

David Zelag Goodman (story) and
Dick Richards (story) ...

Release Date:

8 September 1977 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War | Adventure | Romance

Tagline:

The Foreign Legion - they were the greatest fighting force of all time and they obeyed but one command - [March Or Die]

Plot:

Foreign Legion Major Foster (Hackman), an American haunted by his memories of the recently-ended Great War...

Plot Keywords:

Arab | Foreign Legion | Violence | 1910s | Bodyguard

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Maj. William Sherman Foster
Terence Hill	...	Marco Segrain
Catherine Deneuve	...	Simone Picard
Max von Sydow	...	François Marneau
Ian Holm	...	El Krim
Jack O'Halloran	...	Ivan
Rufus	...	Sgt. Triand
Marcel Bozzuffi	...	Lt. Fontaine
André Penvern	...	Top Hat
Paul Sherman	...	Fred Hastings
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Mean corporal
Marne Maitland	...	Leon
Luigi Bonos	...	Andre
Wolf Kahler	...	German #1
Matthias Hell	...	German #2

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 (1978) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Germany:12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Sir Lew Grade

Trivia:

Selected by Quentin Tarantino for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, Texas, 1996.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Legion uses French military equipment and customs. Yet in one scene, when the new recruits are awakened one morning, an American bugle call (reveille) is used.

Quotes:

Marco Segrain: [facing a line of new recruits and citing the late Major Foster] Some of will give up. Some of you will even try to run. I warn you, until now no one succeeded. When the Legion doesn't get you, the Arabs will. When the Arabs won't catch you, the desert will. And when the desert doesn't devour your measly corpses, then I will. I wouldn't know what's worse

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever Part 4 (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Le Boudin

Love and War in a French Colonized Morocco

Dick Richards's 'March or Die' is an interesting film set in Morocco during the French colonization. It nicely entangles the war drama and the love triangle. As the captain, we see a ruthless William but his feelings for Simone show a more human side. Marco is the clever thief and a skilled smooth talker with a good heart but he too has a vulnerable side. Simone is perhaps the most complex of characters as she is ambivalent concerning William and in love with Marco though she cannot bring herself to say it. The main characters are quite well fleshed out. The pacing is slow at times. The love sequences are well executed and it is very well underplayed. There is no sugar syrupy moment. The cinematography is okay. A wonderful Gene Hackman is both hateful and sympathetic. Terence Hill performs very naturally. Max Von Sydow is good but Ian Holm is unintentionally funny and it looks as if he's mocking a Moroccan tribes leader rather than playing it. A radiant Catherine Deneuve is sublime. Gosh, she looks so beautiful! The rest of the cast do well. The movie sort of has a dated feel to it but 'March or Die' is good enough watch for a Thursday night.