Too Late the Hero

In the spring of 1942, in Southwest Pacific, Captain John G. Nolan (Henry Fonda) postpones the leave of the volunteer Lieutenant Sam Lawson (Cliff Robertson) and gives an assignment in New Hebrides Island with the British troops based on the required profile – fluency in Japanese and good shape. When Lt. Lawson arrives in the base, the commander explains that the island is divided in the British and Japanese sectors and he should go with a group of soldiers behind the Japanese lines to destroy their radio and transmit a false message to the Japanese forces. Captain Hornsby (Denholm Elliott) is assigned to lead the group, but during the tense mission, he has friction with Private Tosh Hearne (Michael Caine). When things go wrong, the soldiers have to fight to survive while exposing their weakness in character.

"Too Late the Hero" is a realistic and original war movie with human and cynical characters in the jungle of an island in Pacific. Michael Caine plays a rude and insubordinate cockney soldier that is only interested in surviving. Most of the soldiers are cowards that fight only to save their lives and not for patriotism or idealism. The hero of the title is actually an anti-hero that redeems himself in the end. The dialogs are cynical and Tosh has the best lines, like for example, when he proposes to Lawson to go North; or when he talks about the hole where he lives in his hometown in a total lack of perspective. My only remark is the long running time that could be a little shorter. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Assim Nascem os Heróis" ("This Way the Heroes Are Born")

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.

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.

This taut war film is set during spring 1942 WWII, a superior officer(Henry Fonda) assigns a reluctant American lieutenant (Clift Robertson) a dangerous mission in island of New Hebridas . At the island of Pacific , British military rule over the South region, while Japanese govern the North part . The goal of US Navy turns out to be the occupying the Japanese zone . For getting the objective is necessary destroying a radio station from Japanese . The lieutenant goes to the regiment commanded by a colonel (Harry Andrews) joining forces for participate the suicidal mission . It's formed a commando under orders a captain (Denholm Elliott) and a motley gang of soldiers released after fall of Singapur , as a tough sergeant (Percy Herbert who was actually a prisoner of the Japanese Army in The Second World War) , a mad soldier (Ian Bannen), a despicable private (Ronald Frazer) , among them.

This exciting war movie contains thrills , noisy action , rousing adventure , tension , lots of violence and twists and turns . Well made plot is based on a story by Robert Sherman and the same director Robert Aldrich . The powerful Aldrich camera crams in as much shock impact as possible . The picture kept afloat by the skills of their all-star cast formed by largely British actors . Michael Caine as a cynical soldier sustains and compels interest by careful concentration on his acting with cockney accent . Clift Robertson as lieutenant avoiding patriotism , gives a good performance , as always . There're strong portrayals by Ronald Fraser as a rogue private and Ken Takakura as Japanese officer . Thrilling and suspenseful musical score by musician Gerard Fried, Stanley Kubrik's usual . Nice cinematography by Joseph Biroc reflecting appropriately the lush jungle . Tense and brilliant direction by Robert Aldrich , a warlike (Dirty Dozen,Attack) and Western (Ulzana's raid , Apache , Veracruz) expert . It's a must see and a standout in its genre .

This movie is a personal one for me. I was a high school student at George Dewey H.S., Subic Bay, Philippines from 1968-70. My buddies and I were extras in the movie when it was made out there. We would cut classes and our principal would come out to the movie set to take our names down. We got in trouble when we got back, but this was a once in a lifetime deal. We were paid $12 a day. It was cheaper to use off-duty sailors and marines as well as the high school guys as extras than to pay for extras to be flown in from the U.S. We picked up buses from various parts of the base early in the morning and were taken to the naval magazine where the movie was being filmed. We were out from 6:00 A.M. to about 4:00 P.M. I remember the prop people built this fantastic set with huts and a fake stone church that was used as the Colonel's headquarters. It was nicer than the huts the Filipino people lived in and they wanted to keep them after the movie was finished. They had to be torn down though because of insurance purposes. They had brought these British Army uniforms for us to wear but they were new and looked too good so they ran over them with trucks to give them a rough look. To this day I remember many wild times on the set. Once when Cliff Robertson arrived at the base and was in the Colonel's headquarters, the director Mr. Aldridge yelled at myself and a buddy because we were playing our acoustic guitars too loudly on top of the fake stone church and it could be heard during the scene. I guess Hendrix music was not around in WW2. Another time between takes, Michael Caine and his buddies were on the steps of a building and he started to sing "Hey Jude" by the Beatles. Everyone sang along. It was great and to this day whenever I hear that song it takes me back to that great time! (that was 37 years ago) One of the side actors brought along his girlfriend and she ran around on the beach in her bikini. That was indeed a great sight as sailors, marines and high school kids took breaks from the set to hang out on the beach. I remember meeting the British actor with the broken nose who was in "Flight of the Phoenix" with Jimmy Stewart. He was in the movie and seemed to be a nice guy. A Philippine patrol boat parked at the beach dock. They were kind enough to let us dive off their boat into the water during lunch breaks. Some of the guys earned $18 a day by lying in an open field being dead bodies. These were the soldiers from the movie who were shot by the Japanese snipers. There was a fire on the set one day and shooting had to be stopped. They repaired the set and the movie went on. Parts of the movie were shot near our base hospital on the mountain at Cubi Point in the jungle. These were the scenes where the commando team was in the jungle on the mission. The movie people would party at the Officer's Club at Cubi. It was not well received by all the officers. The movie guys had long hair and dressed very casually, and the marine fighter pilots did not care for this group. I did not hear of any fights though. My buddy next door to our quarters had Michael Caine and some others over for a home cooked dinner. It was well received. It was a great time to be in the Philippines back in those days. After we finished our tour out there we went back to a naval base at Pax River, Maryland. I went up to New York to visit my aunt and she took me to see the movie. It was pretty good. I especially enjoyed it since I could see all my buddies walking around in the background with rifles or just hanging out. It was a great movie and I must say it was filmed in the real jungle setting with snakes and all. No Hollywood back-set here!