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March or Die (1977) More at IMDbPro »

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16 reviews in total

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18 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Underrated, 27 September 2003

Author: ereinion from Lemuria

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I found this film underrated both by critics and specially audience.I mean,its the only film where you get the chance of seeing Gene Hackman and Terence Hill sharing the screen,not to mention Catherine Deneuve as lovely as always.Hackman's role is interesting and he never once fails in bringing it to life.Its touching,specially in the end where he dies.

Hill does his best part ever without a doubt.I was surprised to see him pull off such a good role.A fine supporting cast includes Max Von Sydow and Ian Holm,as well as giant Jack O'Halloran in a memorable role as the Russian soldier Ivan.Anyway,i think the audience failed to see the real value here,as it often happens.It is a story of the Legion and its soldiers,but not just that.It includes strong issues such as imperialism,religious fanatism and the harsh army discipline,with a good love story thrown in.I dont know what else can you possibly want?

A solid 8.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Great cast AND really good movie, 2 November 2000

Author: sm.starman from Montréal, Québec

MARCH OR DIE has one impressive cast: Gene Hackman, Terence Hill (in one of his rare movie that you can take seriously), Catherine Deneuve, Max von Sydow, Ian Holm...

Great script that has everything well balanced: humor, action, suspense, drama. It will please those who like good war movies, those who like historical movies, and those who like just plain good movies!

This is the ultimate movie about one of the ultimate elite troop in history: the Légion Étrangère.

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Unheard of, Underrated, Very Enjoyable., 5 July 2004
Author: ColonelFaulkner

I watched this movie today for the first time after stumbling across it on the IMDb a few weeks back.

I'm a big Gene Hackman fan and a war film fan so I didn't think I could go wrong purchasing this sight unseen.

Without detailing the plot too much, it is fair to say that this is standard Legionnaire in North Africa fare and not a lot different from Films like Beau Geste and the Van Damme Legionnaire film (which would seem to be a vastly inferior remake of this film).

The film starts at a slow pace. In some of the early bits the acting is a bit wooden and the film also gives the appearance of being made for TV (it gets much better).

Unfortunately the picture was a little bit grainy and I doubt it is a big enough film for any kind or restoration to ever be done on it.

Through reading the boards for this film it seems that there have been some cuts made to the Region 2 DVD and this may explain why the film seemed a bit slow to develop.

I was particularly impressed with the locations and sets used.

Hackman also started slowly but got better as the movie went along and he really hit his straps later in the film. Terence Hill was very good in a sort of role I haven't seen him in before.

The film takes the time to highlight the stereotypical harsh living conditions endured by the men in the Legion and also the strict discipline imposed on them, many of whom come from ill-disciplined backgrounds.

The injection of a love story into some war films (like Enemy at the Gates or Pearl Harbor) detracts from the overall quality of the film and seems to be done to create a wider audience appeal. In this film that is certainly not the case and the romance between Hill and Catherine Deneuve's characters seems to complement the rest of the film nicely.

There is only one real battle scene which comes towards the end of the film but it was worth the wait. Prior to this there are a couple of other tense scenes involving the Legionnaires and the Arabs.

The final battle can only be described as epic. It was one of the better large scale battle scenes I have seen in a movie (no CGI when this was made).

The film was not without some faults (I may be mistaken but my understanding has always been that while men of many nationalities serve in the Foreign Legion, the officers are all French) but it is certainly underrated.

Much better then some recent Hollywood fare we have been served up such as We Were Soldiers (also reviewed by me) and Windtalkers

I give it 7 out of 10.

Well worth seeing if you like a good war film.

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8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
More Like March and Die, 18 August 2005

Author: Bogmeister from United States

This is THE French Foreign Legion movie, mainly because there aren't very many of them. Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in a sort of remake in '98 ("Legionnaire"). This features a truly international cast. The lead American is Gene Hackman, as the major commander of the outpost. Terence Hill is best known for his "Trinity" character in spaghetti western comedies from Italy. He plays a new recruit, an acrobatic thief who quickly becomes an unofficial hero among the men. Von Sydow is the Swedish member, who made his name in Ingmar Bergman films; he plays an archaeologist here. Deneuve, as a visiting daughter of a deceased associate of Von Sydow's, is the famous French actress. Ian Holm is British, but plays the Arab leader. Also on hand is Jack O'Halloran, ex-boxer, as a giant ex-bodyguard for the swept away Russian aristocracy. He appeared in "Superman" the following year.

As most people know, the Legion was composed of men who no longer had a place anywhere else in the world. They're all on the run from something or someone, and it's spelled out here, more than once. The time is just after World War I; the place is Morocco. The picture doesn't skimp on detailing this atmosphere; there was obviously a lot of money well spent on getting it right, though Hackman always seems a bit out of place (I believe Legion commanders had to be French, but you can do much worse than Hackman). If anything, it dwells a bit too much on detail and the first hour is tedious. The pic still didn't explain for me the purpose of having the men trudge endlessly in the desert sands, except maybe to weed out weaklings. There's a touching subplot involving a sad sack legionnaire whom Hill is unable to save despite continual effort. Mostly, the story revolves around the hardship involved, accompanied by a required sadism on the part of commanders, to get by day to day in the Legion.

It all points to a thrilling battle in the final act, when the Arab leader sends his hordes against the vastly outnumbered legionnaires, who seem stuck in a 'fight to the last man' scenario. The plot has Hackman under orders to provide guard at an excavation site, giving Holm an excuse to unite the tribes in a bloody attack. It's eye-opening to hear the Arab leader speak of resisting all foreigners and realize nothing much has changed even as I type this. But the final battle is spectacular, reminiscent of "Zulu." Though outnumbered about 20 to 1, the Legion makes effective use of rapid-fire weapons. Photographed on a great location, there are some startling images of numerous bodies littering the sands. I acquired an R2 DVD, which is the best way of viewing this film at this point.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Love and War in a French Colonized Morocco, 22 November 2008
Author: Senyales from Fraggle Rock

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.

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
i liked it much!, 25 December 2005

Author: asinyne from United States

This is a very unusual film in some ways, and very interesting. Gene Hackman is good, and Terence Hill is excellent in a different part for him. Hill almost seems to be acting as Steve Mcqueen. Whatever his technique, its effective. There is one thing that sets this film apart from every other movie out there, it has one of the all time great battles. Yes, it has to be one of the best ever filmed, a thing of true beauty. Violent, gritty, and very realistic. You can feel the desperation as the legionaires frantically play out their own version of Custer's Last Stand. Truthfully, the big climatic battle scene could stand alone as a good film. If you like Hackman or Hill/Mcqueen don't miss this one. Papillion joins the Foreign Legion...very cool!!!!! Loved it

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10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
a great movie about the French Foreign Legion in the desert, 13 July 2000

Author: Thunderbolt from Kentucky

This movie was a very good effort, full of great detail and authentic props. Gene Hackman is the leader of this group of men in the French foreign legion assigned to protect men that are digging up artifacts in Morocco. The natives aren't to happy with this and in the end one of the greater combat scenes on film unfolds.If you like seeing good battles and fights against arabs in the desert, you'll like this one.

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
March or Die, 9 November 2004
Author: endlessrain from Jakarta

is this film a classic? It surely has certain elements that could make

it one. Catherine Deneuve at her best, at the very pinnacle of her

beauty; Max Von Sydow as an archeologist who convinces the French gov't to resume digging in ruins in morocco, in an area containing unruly and savage Berber tribes that have slaughtered all comers; Gene Hackman as the legionnaire captain who has to break his promise to those very tribes that they would never venture into the area again; the guy who played Jaws in James Bond as a Russian 'volunteer' to the legion, sporting a beard that any Taliban would be envious of; some unknown as Marco, a riviera jewel thief, also 'volunteered' into the legion and a cast of doomed conscripts.

The whole film plays out like a funeral procession. the captain

(Hackman) keeps spouting his bile at the gov't, the authorities, the academics, etc. who have condoned this suicide mission, knowing full well they are throwing away men's lives for nothing. He keeps raving in fact even as the Arab tribes are massing and charging toward them.

As in any classic French foreign legion film, the doomed legionnaires are holed up in the ruins of an old castle, hopelessly outnumbered with no escape. if the Arabs don't kill them, the desert will. If the desert

doesn't kill them, the legion will kill them as deserters. There is no

salvation. Only death with honor.

In fact, there is little suspense in the film, as everyone involved

considers the mission absolutely hopeless. And they are right: they

are all gunned down or hacked apart by the desert marauders. The director has a strange sense of cruelty, methodically showing them getting it, one by one.

It's a weird sort of film that relishes and wallows in pure

nihilism. One is left wondering, 'what was the point?'.

I guess that was the idea. I kept waiting for a Hollywood ending, a

speck of optimism on the horizon, a sudden miraculous twist, but as the

credits rolled to a sonorous drum beat i realized, 'Hmmm... this is it, I guess'.

The gloom and doom telegraphed from the very beginning

played out step by step with no surprises or hitches. Sort of a

strange exercise in film-making, if you ask me.

Didn't Gene Hackman comment on this baby, "March or Die: the audience marched in and this film died"?

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4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
La Legion not so Etranger; Solid Action film., 19 October 2005

Author: jsparacino from Utica, IL United States

Forgotten film by Gene Hackman. This was the truest depiction based on the histories of the Legion of the so called "Beau Geste" period. The book didn't have as happy an ending but both are satisfying. The film has some interesting moments in its final battle scene where the Legionaires are running around using Lewis Light Machine guns as Tommy Guns. Catherine DeNeuve was reduced to window dressing unfortunately. And surprise of surprises; Ian Holm,who is so English, plays the Berber Leader, El Krim. Morocco is a long way from the Shire. Terence Stamp is surprising as a blond gypsy who rises to the military way of life after avoiding all discipline and authority.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Ambitious attempt to resurrect an old-fashioned genre, killed by leaden pacing and a sub-par Hackman performance., 23 May 2007

Author: Jonathon Dabell (barnaby.rudge@hotmail.co.uk) from Wakefield, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

You can tell a Lew Grade production a mile off – distinctly British in style; epic in conception; peopled by international all-star casts; usually set in exotic climes. It's a formula that Grade and his company ITC employed throughout the 70s into the early 80s, resulting in titles like The Eagle Has Landed, Firepower, and Raise The Titanic! In 1977 Grade produced March Or Die, a remarkably old-fashioned Foreign Legion adventure that models all the characteristics mentioned above. Directed by the usually dependable Dick Richards – who helmed the acclaimed Farewell My Lovely just a couple years earlier - March Or Die is an unfortunate disappointment.

A company of Foreign Legionnaires led by the harsh disciplinarian General Foster (Gene Hackman) is sent to Morocco shortly after World War 1. Their mission is to protect an archaeological party fronted by the dedicated Francois Marneau (Max Von Sydow). The archaeologists are carrying out an excavation at the ancient city of Erfoud, but fear an attack from Arab tribesmen following the decimation of an earlier archaeological group. Foster is not happy with the assignment – he does not consider historical artifacts worthy of his men risking their lives. This creates ongoing tension between himself and Marneau, who believes that the legionnaires should sacrifice their lives to make the excavation possible. The problems heighten when a beautiful woman named Simone Picard (Catherine Deneuve) tags along with the legionnaires. She is hoping to find out what happened to her father, a historian abducted by the Arabs when they wiped out the first archaeological team. Her presence arouses desires amongst the legionnaires, none more so than gypsy thief Marco Segrain (Terence Hill), a charming and courageous rogue who initially shows indifference towards his legionnaire colleagues but gradually grows in stature. Things climax with a huge battle at Erfoud, with swarms of united Arab tribes charging against the handful of legionnaires as they desperately try to defend their lives.

On paper the star duo of Gene Hackman and Terence Hill seem a mismatch – Hackman is the heavyweight Oscar-winning character actor, Hill the handsome but limited Italian heart-throb from numerous low budget spaghetti westerns. One expects Hackman to act his counterpart off the screen. Yet, bizarrely, it is Hackman who gives the weak and uninvolving performance, while Hill raises his game to surprisingly high levels. The film is attractively shot on desert locations, but the pacing is awfully slow and few of the characters are worth caring for. Maurice Jarre's music is uncommonly flat too – very disappointing from the guy who gave us the Lawrence Of Arabia score. It is remarkable that anyone had the nerve to try an old-fashioned adventure of this type in the 70s (it was a genre that peaked in the 30s, and had been all but forgotten during the intervening decades). Sadly, the gamble doesn't really pay off – this homage to the legionnaire flicks of old becomes more of a plod than a march.

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