JohnHowardReid A tiresome "tribute" to the Air/Sea Rescue Service with all the expected platitudes dutifully delivered. The script construction is rather odd. As might be expected, there's a framing story about an Air/Sea rescue. This story runs far too long for the limited amount of interest it generates. One of the problems is that we don't know the people who are being rescued at all. Although the screenplay tries to work up a bit of interest and sympathy per medium of a young Japanese boy, this is so transparent a device (and it is too clumsily handled in dialogue, acting and direction) that it just doesn't work. Within this framing story are set three long flashbacks: Widmark has one about his lost love, and Brynner has one about his lost love. Between these two, there's another which starts off with Widmark, then diverts to Chakiris and his first encounter with Widmark! At least he lovely Daniele Gaubert prevents the film from generating total torpor – despite its moderately sized budget, location lensing and fair special effects. The movie has also two distinct photographic styles which provide some technical interest in deciding whether the atmospheric lighting is the work of Burnett Guffey and the bland material is Joseph MacDonald's contribution – or vice versa!

Robert J. Maxwell It's a routine story of three men in the Air Force Air Rescue Service in the post-war years. It reminded me of "Pearl Harbor" a bit. You may remember that epic CGI action sequences at the beginning and a super duper action scene at the end, with an extended black hole in the middle that dealt with a covert romantic triangle.Okay. Take that endless middle section, full of torment and opposite allegiances, like Buridan's ass that starved to death between two bales of hay because he couldn't make up his mind. Now chop that long middle part into three or four shorter parts and interpolate them at regular periods throughout the film. These are the back stories of the three men aboard a Grumman flying boat on a rescue mission in the North China Sea. And -- boy, are they dull.George Chakiris, the young pilot, is haunted by the memory of his rescue chopper causing an avalanche in the Alps and killing those he'd intended to rescue. Well, that's not a love story but you get the general picture. Chakiris is haunted by guilt and is uncertain about his flying skills. The second story belongs to Richard Widmark, the colonel in charge. He was a commercial pilot in World War II, captured along with his wife by the Japanese in the Filippines. She was denied medicine by her captors and she and her baby died in child birth. Widmark still hates Japs. "These things run deep," he mutters.Then we get Yul Brynner's tragedy. A paratrooper in North Africa, he falls for a lovely Arab girl but her family forbids the affair to continue. Brynner races to her house, shouts up at her window that he'll be back some day and they will be married. Then he must zoom off in a Jeep and join the others on the demolition team. But his girl defies her family and runs after the jeep. She finally catches up with them just after Brynner has lighted the fuses that will blow a brick bridge to smithereens. By happenstance -- or Kismet in her case -- she comes to a halt just under the bridge, flings her arms open wide, and shouts, "MICHEL", to Brynner. Boom. She disappears in a puff of smoke like a stage magician.If you think all this misery is too much, you still have to suffer through the chief action of the film, of which we get glimpses from time to time. Widmark, Brynner, and Chakiris are still flying that Grumman through a powerful storm to rescue a raft filled with Japanese.Will Widmark hesitate to try a landing in an impossibly heavy and confused sea? Will Brynner talk him into it? Will Widmark finally yield? Does he successfully land the plane? Does he break his arm in doing so? Must Chakiris then take over the controls and get the overloaded flying boat skillfully off the sea and into the air? Are all the crises resolved at the end? You'll have to watch it to find out.I wish it were possible to say that the action scenes -- the flying through the storm, the scenes on the raft in the tossing swells, the Japanese bombing of the Filippines, the plowing of the Grumman through the whipped-up sea, were exciting but they're really not. The airplanes are clearly models and not done very well. The raft scenes were shot in the studio tank. The special effects are hardly an improvement on director Michael Anderson's much superior "The Dam Busters", made in 1955.I hate to sound sour about this but the performances seem lazy or inept as well. Of course it's difficult for any actor to overcome a stilted script. But to see a mature Yul Brynner stumbling around with a cane, trying to speak English to a young woman who speaks only Arabic and French, and to hear him using slang words like "crazy," as if he were fifteen years old, is almost grotesque. And here he is with the other members of the combat engineers fighting a delaying action and he and the rest wear the spiffiest, cleanest, most finely pressed uniforms known to man or beast. Their helmets are as glossy as their boots. Chakiris, a good dancer, was never much of an actor, and this is one of Widmark's most lackadaisical performances.See it if you must but it's not very good.

thinker1691 It is said, during the worse disasters, we see ordinary people, exhibiting extraordinary heroics. Basically that's the core of this film entitled " Flight From Ashiya. " The men of the Air Rescue Service are given a ceremonial tribute and for the most part it's about them. Three men and their lives are personified each offering a segway into their background. The first is Glenn Stevenson (Richard Widmark) the experienced commander who's lingering demons are a deep reminder that his personal bigotry is not only a hindrance to his job, but is itself more of a danger than the black ocean he willingly faces. Next is his second in command, Lt. John Gregg (George Chakiris) who's memories of a mountain accident have become a major obstacle to his courage. Fearing he caused the death of stranded villagers, he doubts he will ever overcome it. The last member of the crew is Tsgt. Mike Takashima. (Yul Brynner) Reaching into his past, he recalls vividly a tragic accident in which a lost love reminds him of his shortcomings and vulnerability. Together the crew receives a summons to fly into raging Pacific storm at night to risk life and limb and rescue a raft load of Japanese survivors on the verge of drowning. The film is a stark reminder of what these courageous men face in their tireless efforts to save lives. Excellent acting from Widmark, Brynner and Chakiris make this a worthy tribute to the profession. Unfortunately the clumsy use of miniatures and models diminishes the visual power of this fine movie. Nevertheless, actual locations and backdrops add to the touching story and contribute to it's success. ****

Poseidon-3 This is, despite a fairly epic attempt at storytelling and a heavyweight cast, a snoozefest. The pacing is very dry and ultimately predictable and the storyline is trite, contrived and pat. Widmark, Chakiris and Brynner are on a rescue mission and as their plane approaches it's destination, each of them has a flashback to another dramatic time for them. Chakiris' is the most believable as he recalls a tragic rescue attempt of some villagers caught in an icy mountain range. Widmark recalls meeting a photojournalist (Knight) and falling in love against a war-torn backdrop. Brynner remembers meeting a foreign girl (Gaubert) who he can only communicate with visually since they don't speak each others' language. Parker gets the film's most pointless & thankless role as a woman who pines for Brynner back at the base. The film ranges from stodgy to overwrought with many unintentionally amusing moments and some really ripe dialogue. Made at a time when studios were still getting used to a little more freedom with immorality, it wants desperately to be cutting edge and racy, yet is hopelessly old-fashioned and silly. There is NO attempt at period flavor. Knight's story is set in 1941, yet her hair and clothing are early sixties (she even wears a skirt almost identical to Parker's, whose story takes place in 1964!) Her awesome mane of hair could easily have been styled into a neato '40's 'do, but alas, no one did. Widmark and Knight's story tries to cram a two-hour-movie's worth of clichés and dramatics into about 20 minutes. They literally fall hopelessly in love after one plane ride! The same can be said of Brynner's affair. He gives his seat to a girl on a bus and then can't live without her. This whole section of the film is ludicrous, but Gaubert is quite lovely. The ending of this sequence is surreal and jaw-dropping! It must be seen to be believed and is almost worth sitting through the film for. There are worse ways to spend two hours, but this is hardly rewarding entertainment. There is also a hilarious before and after narration by a man who sounds like he did voice-over for army recruitment shorts.