sfdphd
This film shows the masculine drive to compete and persevere in proving one's alpha status to the point of absurdity. They are willing to torture each other to boost their own egos. As a woman watching this film, the whole first part was a shining example of the worst of the male gender. Two women would more likely immediately recognize that since there's no one else there, they would benefit from collaborating and sharing resources. I'd like to see a female version of this film. There is no way that two females would keep up the hostility for as long as these two guys did. I suspect two women would either make friends quickly or if one of them remained hostile for awhile, the other would make a real effort to win her over and convince her to become friends as soon as possible. On the other hand, the best of mankind was also on display, in that they did eventually figure out how to work together despite the lack of communication. But again, I couldn't help imagining that two women would have quickly realized that they needed to teach each other to speak a bit of each other's language, and at the very least, said "my name is .........." which these guys apparently never got around to... This is a classic film which I recommend but could be put in a time capsule to show some of the reasons why the human species becomes extinct, which it probably will, given the inability of men to make peace and keep the peace....
moonspinner55
Fans of Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune failed to come out for this financially-unsuccessful but not uninteresting two-person island adventure story from director John Boorman. Filming in the scenic islands of Palau, Boorman dispenses with the preliminaries and gets right down to business. Two men during World War II are marooned on an island in the Pacific: Marvin, an American pilot, is pitted against Mifune, a Japanese naval captain. Neither of them speaks the other man's language. They torture each other for almost an hour before striking some kind of truce, the result being a raft made out of bamboo that carries them out passed the reef into open water. Screenwriters Alexander Jacobs and Eric Bercovici, working from producer Reuben Bercovitch's story, were not able to supply their actors with much verbal interaction, and yet Marvin and Mifune are entirely capable of creating sound characterizations by just their expressions and their actions (they do superlative work). Boorman doesn't get too heavy or contemplative (a plus with only two people on the screen), however he loses his assured footing in the final reel. The picture doesn't just go off the track, it literally explodes. No one who worked on this film could have been satisfied with the clumsy conclusion (reportedly, Boorman was shut out of the decision making by the producers). Still, the film's better moments of drama and humor and survival stay in the memory, and Conrad Hall's cinematography is wonderful. ** from ****
MartinHafer
When "Hell in the Pacific" debuted, it lost a buttload of money. And, after having just watched it, I can understand exactly why. It's slow beyond belief...and a great cure to insomnia!There really is no context for the film--you just have a Japanese soldier (Toshiro Mifune) and an American (Lee Marvin) stranded on an island during WWII. You later gather that Marvin's character must have been a pilot who was shot down...you know almost nothing about Mifune's. And, for much of the film, they torment and try to kill each other. Later, they call a truce and build a raft and leave. My wife kept saying "I hope they drown" during the raft sequence and I can't fault her. The film ran at a snail's pace and it mostly consisted of the two idiots yelling at each other in their native languages (oddly, they never figured to try to teach the other their language) and this made for a film that practically yelled "Turn me off" because it was so slow and unsatisfying.
ma-cortes
Nice and well executed film set during WWII,containing a brief anti-war declaration . It deals with an American pilot (Lee Marvin who sings a song) and a marooned Japanese navy officer (Toshiro Mifune , only speaking in his native language) are deserted on a tiny island in the Pacific , as they confront each other in a violent mini-war . There, they must cease their hostility and unite themselves if they want to survive until a disappointing and unexpected ending .Straightforward and gripping movie with magnificent acting by only two protagonists ,the dynamics Marvin and Mifune , fighting all by themselves , as playing American and Japanese soldiers coming to terms with each other on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean, both of them stranded together . However , the movie sometimes lapses into tedium and slowness , though contains striking images with moments of great power and wonderful scenarios . It's one of the sharpest and cleverest war film of the 60s masterfully and stylishly realized. The handsome cinematography by Conrad L. Hall does full justice to the varied settings on the Pacific ocean , bursting into the colour . Imaginative and haunting score by Lalo Schifrin.The motion picture is well directed by John Boorman . He's a real professional filmmaking from the 6os, though sparsely scattered and giving classics as ¨Point Blank¨ . His film are without exception among the most exciting visually in the modern cinema as he proved in ¨Deliverance¨ , ¨Excalibur¨,the best of them, , a rare Sci-Fi titled ¨Zardoz¨ , ¨Emerald forest¨ with a ecologist denounce included and of course ¨Hell in Pacific¨.
AD
