Hell in the Pacific (1968)
Hell in the Pacific (1968), directed by John Boorman.
We get right to it with no backstory or preliminaries: a Japanese and American soldier, castaways on a small island, at first continue the war, then learn to cooperate and become partners in survival. Even buddies, for as long as it lasts.
It is rare to find such a concentration of talent, all personal favorites:
Stars: Lee Marvin and ToshirÅ Mifune (the only two people in the film).
Director: John Boorman.
Cinematographer: Conrad Hall.
Score: Lalo Schifrin.
It is a quirky treatment: both men are tough enough but neither is Sanjuro (Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962)) or Major Reisman (The Dirty Dozen (1967)). Their hide-and-raid warfare begins to resemble Tom & Jerry or Roadrunner cartoons, with Marvin giving an especially goofy interpretation.
Boorman's original ending was cut by the producer and replaced with an abrupt bit of stock footage for the theatrical release. When I first saw it I thought they must have run out of film and just quit the picture. The original final two minutes is much more in keeping with the tone of the film. Both versions are available on the Blu-ray.
What I learned from the Blu-ray commentary track:
Marvin and Mifune both served in the Pacific war.
They got on well together, getting stone drunk every night and then up at 7AM ready to work.
Marvin had a bad war and hated the glorification of violence. He hated The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Both Boorman and Marvin disliked the title. Boorman wanted The Enemy.
This was not Boorman's project. He did it for Marvin (they had worked on Point Blank (1967) together). Robert Aldrich turned down the picture.
The initial script had much more comedy. Boorman took most of it out and fought with Mifune over the new interpretation.
He had to deal with Mifune through an interpreter. Boorman: "Tell him he is being stupid". Interpreter: "I can't tell him that, he'll kill me". Boorman: "You're not saying it, I am". Interpreter whispers to Mifune, who hits him with his fist and lays him flat. Hearing the story, Akira Kurosawa laughed his ass off. "You don't direct Mifune; you point him like a missile".
In the theater, Mifune's Japanese was not subtitled in English. Boorman said he wanted the audience to understand one language or the other, but not both. (I think it is clear what Mifune is saying even for those who don't speak the language, but the subtitles on the Blu-ray are worth having: he first calls Marvin "Old Man" and then "White Beard" and gives his thoughts on raft design).
The producers wanted to fire Boorman but Mifune would not allow it. Even though they had fought it was a matter of honor: he's my director.
Filmed in the islands of Palau, which was unnecessarily strenuous. Boorman said he didn't think he'd get out of it alive. They could have gotten the same results in Hawaii. Maybe.
It was a flop at the box office.
Twenty years into the DVD era, after ten years with Blu-ray, we finally get a Warner Archive Blu-ray to replace the ancient and sad 4:3 letterboxed DVD. This has been on my want list for ages.
Image quality in bright scenes is fair, not great; dark scenes have a lot of noise.
The commentary track by two film scholars gives deep background on everyone involved, but not so much on the film itself.
Both theatrical and director's cuts are included, as are a good set of extras. The cuts are identical apart from those final two minutes.
