Too late the hero [Widescreen]

Robert Aldrich’s “Too late the hero” is a fine wartime drama set in WW II starring Cliff Robertson as Lt. Lawson, a US Navy interpreter who is ordered - against his own wishes - to join a British Commando unit in the South Pacific tasked with destroying a Japanese communications centre. Led by the incompetent Captain Hornsby (Denholm Elliott), the unit includes burnt-out soldiers - personified by the embittered, cynical Tosh Hearne (Michael Caine) - who want no part of the false glory inherent in this suicide mission for which they have been ‘volunteered’. The mission goes badly, with almost all of the men dying and the Japanese commander, Major Yamaguchi (Ken Takakura), taunting the survivors to give themselves up, working a psychological battle of wills against the allies as they turn on each other. Made in 1970 at a time when America was embroiled in Vietnam, “Too late the hero” is an intelligent, provocative and dramatic exploration of the nature of war and the role of the hero. Its portrayal of bloody and random killing and the manner in which men are reduced to their primal survival instincts during war is a milestone in the development of the war film. In addition, its avoidance of a standard caricatured portrayal of the Japanese is noteworthy. Filmed on location in the Philippines, “Too late the hero” is visually stunning, and boasts one of Michael Caine’s finest performances. Cast also includes Henry Fonda.