How could a full blooded action film made by the director of The Dirty Dozen only a few years after that movie and with two then popular actors (Cliff Robertson, fresh off Charly, and Michael Caine) lose so much money? There is action, spectacle, cynicism, plus a strong support cast. There's a memorable climax, too, where Caine and Robertson have to zig zag their way back to freedom past a bunch of machine-gunning Japanese. Surely a hit!The main problem I think is the tone: its so cynical and anti-war and why-do-we-have-to-fight... and it was fighting the Japanese in World War Two. That was a good war. Set it in Vietnam, or the Philippines War, or even Korea towards the end and all the attitudes would have made sense. (The Dirty Dozen was different because they were all on death row.) Also the ending is infuriating - they have to rush back to pass on the message before the boat sails... they rush back... don't pass on the message... why?... then the surviving character walks back into the fire zone! Huh? What? I think around this point in Hollywood filmmakers were too obsessed with making statements.
Still many positives: a tough male cast (who in Aldrich style spend more time fighting each other than the enemy), a rousing theme song, full on atmosphere.
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