Himmelfahrtskommando Okinawa

What do you know about psychological warfare? Not much I guess.

Well, this is a war movie with a major twist. It's much less about shelling the enemy or just drill some holes in him, but more about "really" to outsmart him.

An American officer, an Interpreter in Japanese, who's a real artist when it comes to avoid the battlefield, is about to get a long awaited leave when he suddenly is tasked to help a bunch of British raiders in their endeavor to capture and destroy a forward listening Japanese outpost.

Through thick and through thin (literally), men who hate each other as well as hating the American officer (played by Cliff Robertson) have to face a common enemy who masterfully hides in the Jungle.

One by one they get hunted down by the Japanese. Nevertheless, the mission succeeds, but now the remaining force has to return to base. Not an easy task, considering that the Japanese made prisoners and are using them as bait while they communicate with the only two remaining raiders (Robertson and Michael Caine). Through a microphone and various loudspeakers scattered throughout the Jungle and by performing a highly skillful and mind-shattering blackmail, they try to lure the two to surrender.

A well timed war drama, masterfully played by all the actors involved figuring Ian Bannen ("The Hill", "The Outrage" etc.), Harry Andrews ("The Hill", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Battle of Britain"), Denholm Elliot ("Raiders of the Lost Ark", "A Room with a View"), Ronald Fraser ("The Hill", "The Wild Geese") and Ken Takakura ("The Yakuza", "Antarctica", "Black Rain").

If you like two movies into one: a War Movie and a Suspense Thriller, then the price is really low.

The DVD edition is as one may expect from Anchor Bay. No extras included, except for the trailer, but the movie alone is, in my view, a tiny masterpiece and well worth the effort.

By the way, if you're looking for a similar movie, forget it. It's the only one in its genre. Think about it.

"Too Late the Hero" is an excellent WWII piece whose plot served as the basis for "Aliens" and "Southern Comfort" and is just as good as those other excellent movies: reluctant hero Cliff Robertson joins a motley group of soldiers (here British troops, including loud-mouthed Michael Caine and mad Ian Bannen) led by an incompetent officer, Denholm Elliot, and an experienced sergeant, Percy Herbert, who dies early on. Soon they are being stalked by a very ruthless enemy (Japanese troops led by Ken Takakura, whose role is, refreshingly, not a stereotype - coming across as a rather efficient officer) and shifty Ronald Fraser attempts to save his skin at the expense of the others. As this is Robert Aldrich there is a lot of brutal action, the characters have very few redeeming features but are excellently portrayed by Robertson and the excellent selection of British character actors, and are very anti-military! The climactic scene where the survivors race across open ground under fire from the Japanese is one of the best climaxes ever!

TOO LATE THE HERO is a top notch war film about a british unit plus one american who must destroy a japanese communications station on a island. The mission for all purposes is impossible. TOO LATE THE HERO is long in a few spots, yet the film overcomes this flaw and the pace flows smoothly again. The film has a gritty realism to it which is aided by the deep jungle locations the film was shot at. Fans of FARWELL TO THE KING will enjoy this film as well, as it is up the same alley as that Nick Nolte film. OOne thing I enjoyed about this film were the casualty levels on the japanese and allied sides; these were were very realistic.

TLTH is a solid war movie made in a time devoid of Tom Cruises, Di Crapios and other mattodamonic Bennaffleckians. Caine and Robertson look like men, not wimpy little effeminate preppies which we're served and rammed down our throats en masse nowadays. Michael Caine participated in the Korean war as a soldier, while Denholm Elliot spent several years as a Japanese P.O.W. in WW II; what's the toughest ordeal Casey Affleck ever had to go through? A broken nail? And it partially shows on screen, of course.

The main drawback is the length; I saw no reason for this plot to use up over 2 hours of screen time. A minor problem was the occasional mumbling.

One of the things I liked here is that there was a more realistic way of looking at World War II. In recent decades we've had U.S. liberals and other clueless Leftists tell us how "valid" and "noble" that war was, as opposed to other wars that came later, that were supposedly totally immoral, unclean, nasty and vile. However, there is no such thing as a "pure" or "sanitized" war. The lack of discipline, morality and even courage among some of the British troops in this film is a refreshing break from the kind of silly over-glorification of WW II - especially the way this stands in contrast to the over-vilification of wars fought by America in the decades after that.

Judging by Caine's memories (from his autobiography) related to filming TLTH, a documentary on the making of the film would have been fascinating to watch.

Film Makers in Hollywood weren`t allowed to make anti-vietnam war films in the late 60`s , early 70`s so they decided to make allegories instead. Famous examples are MASH and SOLDIER BLUE. What strikes me is that no one ever refers to this great war film as the definitive Hollywood proxy Nam statement.

The story is simple : Soldiers carry out dangerous mission. But these soldiers are badly led and totally reluctant to carry out their duty. They`d rather " frag " their commander and go home than earn medals . And war isn`t shown as a glorious thing , it`s brutal , dehumanising and most of all terrifying. Also watch out for the very humane portrayal of the enemy officer. Is it sympathy for the Japanese or the Vietnamese that he`s shown this way ?

I could point out all the things I love about this film but it`d take too long. The only two things I disliked about TOO LATE THE HERO was a couple of plot holes. First one`s the fact that the Japanese are good at stopping the enemy from escaping the jungle but are totally hopeless at letting them enter it in the first place ! A major strategic mistake I`d have thought. Secondly Lawson decides he wants to carry out his mission after all which turns him into a bit of a cliche. But don`t let that put you off. TOO LATE THE HERO is compelling , bloody and intelligent.