Battle at Bloody Beach (1961)

 

                I’ve looking over my list of movies I have watched and not reviewed.  There are quite a few, so it’s time to knock some reviews off.  The B-movies will be short reviews, because that is all they deserve.  I’m starting with one that stars Audie Murphy.  For Baby Boomer men, he is a part of our childhood.  Murphy finished WWII as the most decorated American soldier.  He went to Hollywood and with the help of Jimmy Cagney, he became an actor.  He made a lot of westerns and eventually starred as himself in “To Hell and Back”.  It was a huge hit, but he remained a second tier actor.  “Battle at Bloody Beach” was a typical low budget affair for him.  It’s doubtful he enjoyed making it. 

 

                Murphy plays Craig Benson.  Benson is a civilian who is tasked with hooking up with Filipino guerrillas in the occupied Philippines.  He has weapons for them.  He has an ulterior motive and that is to find his wife Ruth (Dolores Mitchell).  They were separated when the Japanese invaded.  The guerrilla band he meets is led by a shady American named M’Keever (William Mims).  His unit is more thieves than warriors.  M’Keever wants those weapons.  And so does a rival band of legit guerrillas led by Julio (Alejandro Rey).  Guess who is with him.  Ruth is now a guerrilla.  Before you get done shaking your head over the swelling harp music, Ruth proclaims that she is “not the same girl you married.”  She side-eyes Julio.  Awkward!  Perhaps battle with the Japanese will solve this love triangle by killing one third of it.  You know that battle is coming since it’s the title of the movie.

 

                “Battle at Bloody Beach” must have played in drive-in theaters.  It is typical of that kind of war movie.  It is a clinic on bad acting.  Not Audie, of course.  The rest of the cast is low rent, but we do get Ivan Dixon (of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame) in a minor role.  Dolores Michaels looks worthy of a row.  Her relationship with Craig is odd as she is not shamed by her adultery with a hunky Filipino and she and Craig drip hatred.  Their relationship is predictable unless you think Audie Murphy is going to end the film as a pathetic cuckold.

 

                We are promised a battle and we get a hip-shooting finale. Japanese are slaughtered as they attack the Alamo (a beached ship).  The mortar bombardment is decent as even low budget films can do bombardment better than bullets.  There’s no blood, no holes, no wounded.  This is 1961, after all. 

 

                With all that said, the movie is not terrible.  It is not campy.  The dialogue doesn’t elicit many groans and the action is crowd pleasing.  Of course, if you did see it at a drive-in, you may not have been watching when the movie got to the bullet-slinging.  You had better things to do, right?  And only 1 hour and 25 minutes to do them.  But there was probably another feature coming up.

 

GRADE  =  C