Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

JohnHowardReid Dialogue supervisor: Robert Sherman. Producer: Robert Aldrich. Associate producer: Walter Blake. (Available on an excellent Fremantle DVD). An Associates and Aldrich/Palomar Production. U.S. release through Cinerama: July 1970. U.K. release through C.I.R.O.: 18 October 1970. Sydney opening at the Paris. 16,135 feet. 144 minutes. Cut by the distributor to 133 minutes in the U.S.A.SYNOPSIS: Mixing the time-honored clichés of the war film with a fashionable dash of cynicism, "Too Late the Hero" has Robert Aldrich stamped all over it. — Nigel Andrews in Monthly Film Bulletin.COMMENT: The main impediment to a favorable review of Robert Aldrich's film is its length. It could be trimmed by at least 30 minutes to advantage. I would start in on Ronald Foster's part, then I'd eliminate some of the close-ups and needlessly repeated reaction shots in individual scenes and trim the long sequence of the microphone pursuit which, despite Aldrich's commendable use of the sound track, goes on for far too long. Fortunately, the film comes to an exciting climax with its obstacle race across the plain, and some of the photography here is absolutely breathtaking. In fact, most of the film was obviously lensed on location. There is not even a single frame of stock footage - which is a pleasant and most agreeable surprise. But on the debit side, the story is uncomfortably akin to an earlier Aldrich war movie, "The Dirty Dozen", which has a more entertaining script and higher production values than this one. Also that film's cast was far more interesting. Despite his prominence in the credits, Henry Fonda makes only a fleeting appearance, and neither Cliff Robertson nor Michael Caine have a strong enough screen presence to overcome some of the weaknesses in their material — although they both make a game try. Admittedly, reliable old Harry Andrews is back as the British C.O., and the rest of the players are competent, but unfortunately lack the sort of sparkle the film needs.

AaronCapenBanner Robert Aldrich, who had done a fine job with other WWII films "The Flight Of The Phoenix" & "The Dirty Dozen" returns to the period with another success, the story of a American Soldier(played by Cliff Robertson) who is reluctantly transferred from a secure base, to a British unit, where they are sent to a Pacific Japanese held island, occupied by both allied and imperial forces. Their mission is to go into enemy territory to destroy a Japanese Radio outpost, but Robertson proves to be a most reluctant hero, much to the consternation of his unit, led by Michael Caine(fine performance once again) among other cast members including Ian Bannen & Harry Andrews.Nicely realized film creates an authentic period feel, especially the claustrophobic danger from the jungle, where enemy soldiers lurk. Builds to a memorable and fitting end, where the surviving men find redemption and escape, in this well done war story.

seyd1 Given the cast, this should have been way better. But the plot, and, more so, basic logic fail in scene after scene of this clunker, and it seems the cast may have realized saving the movie was beyond their capabilities given the truck-sized holes in the logic, so they gave up, went through the motions, got it done, collected their lunch money, and went home.Numerous folks have pointed out the lack of regard for basic military tactics, and those in particular for jungle warfare. But the disdain for giving any of the characters even rudimentary military common sense is an insult to the characters, and will be exasperating to the viewer, especially anyone with any military background, or any common sense for that matter, and bears some spotlighting: Half the movie is the misfit commando squad sneaking up to the Jap base, then trying to escape back down to the Brit base. So, while they're AWAKE, they're sneaking along in the jungle and alert (never mind the incorrect patrol techniques, smoking every half hour, etc). But a half dozen times in the movie, they get tired and literally crap out in the open -- no, don't bother to hide behind some bushes, or in the jungle. Just go to sleep right in the open, on the flipping jungle TRAIL. Oh, and DON'T have ANYONE stay up and stand watch -- let EVERYONE go to sleep right in the trail, or in the open clearing at the jungle temple, for hours. Such idiocy in a combat environment would warrant all the little misfits having their throats slit in their sleep, or getting perforated by one awake enemy soldier with a rifle waltzing into their sleepover party -- but no worries, it doesn't happen, because credibility isn't important here. In THIS movie, all the Japanese pursuers, famed/notorious for their jungle fighting, silence, and infiltration skills, always ensure they manage to make enough noise in the distance, so the good guys wake up in time and scurry for cover. It got to the point I was rooting for the Jap pursuers to take out some of these lazy sods. As one other person wrote, this movie devolved into just a sort of long episode of the Combat! TV series, though that usually had more regard for common sense and military credibility.There are several other ridiculous plot elements -- the stupid gauntlet situation of the Brit camp, the need for the US convoy to travel past that point of the island at that point in time, the elaborate stage management of the Jap loudspeaker brigade, bracketing the Brit refugees every day to scare them into surrender (hey, maybe those loudspeaker guys could, you know, FIND the heroes, and KILL them instead, and save all that tree climbing), the lack of the possibility that hey, the Japs might have -- gasp -- TWO transmitters on the island, and maybe ONE more at their HIDDEN air base. Yes, the movie pays lip service to these with some lame explanations voiced by the players, but they're paper thin, and just occasions for additional viewer wincing and head scratching. Not worth the time or effort required, but if you want to watch it, check your brains at the door.

inspectors71 If you like your war movies heavy on meaning and light on logic, there's Robert Aldrich's 1970 Too Late the Hero, a clunking mess of an "anti-Vietnam War" WWII-era film that gets bogged down right from the start with Aldrich pointing out the moral-equivalency of the Allies and the Imperial Japanese by falling into that hoary 60s cliché of making the fascists brilliant and their opponents (us) foolish and sadistic cowards.Shot in the Phillipines, TLTH is such an stupidly plotted and incompetently constructed pile of junk that it makes the war movie by Cornel Wilde (Beach Red, I think) look good in comparison.I taped Too Late the Hero off TCM a couple years ago, sat down to see if it was anywhere near the quality of The Dirty Dozen, and almost immediately realized that Aldrich's slow decline (with the exception of The Longest Yard) had begun.Skip it, unless you find watching an artist's career implode an entertainment in itself.