In case anyone who keeps saying this is a Vietnam tale grafted on to World War II, I would remind them that Too Late the Hero comes from the cynical hand of Robert Aldrich who was trying to create another Dirty Dozen for the Pacific Theater.
In a brief appearance at the beginning of the film Captain Henry Fonda sends Cliff Robertson for a little combat duty, not appreciated by a man who resolved to see no combat if possible. But his skills in the Japanese language are needed by our British allies who have retreated from Singapore to the New Hebrides Islands and this particular island they're sharing with the enemy.
These are the ones who barely got out ahead of the surrender and they're an undisciplined and surly lot as their commanding officer Harry Andrews discovers. But a dozen or so of them are picked to go on a hazardous mission to destroy a Japanese transmitter which is broadcasting the positions of the American Fleet.
Unlike The Dirty Dozen, the mission gets accomplished within the first half of the film. The real story is who survives the trip back and how. Robertson forms an alliance with cynical medic Michael Caine against the commander of the mission Denholm Elliott. They both for different reasons think Elliott is nuts. He is, but that's beside the point with these two.
Caine and Robertson make two fine leads and are well supported by the rest of the cast. For some reason though the story does not come to life in the same way The Dirty Dozen did. It's an average war film, nothing more.
In a brief appearance at the beginning of the film Captain Henry Fonda sends Cliff Robertson for a little combat duty, not appreciated by a man who resolved to see no combat if possible. But his skills in the Japanese language are needed by our British allies who have retreated from Singapore to the New Hebrides Islands and this particular island they're sharing with the enemy.
These are the ones who barely got out ahead of the surrender and they're an undisciplined and surly lot as their commanding officer Harry Andrews discovers. But a dozen or so of them are picked to go on a hazardous mission to destroy a Japanese transmitter which is broadcasting the positions of the American Fleet.
Unlike The Dirty Dozen, the mission gets accomplished within the first half of the film. The real story is who survives the trip back and how. Robertson forms an alliance with cynical medic Michael Caine against the commander of the mission Denholm Elliott. They both for different reasons think Elliott is nuts. He is, but that's beside the point with these two.
Caine and Robertson make two fine leads and are well supported by the rest of the cast. For some reason though the story does not come to life in the same way The Dirty Dozen did. It's an average war film, nothing more.