A potentially very good film blemished by controversial military issues and a boring romance.
This review is for the 2005 Warner Brothers DVD.
Frank Sinatra stars as Tom Reynolds, an American Army Captain who leads a group of allied forces combined with the native tribesmen in Burma to fight the Japanese in WWII. The movie is mix of war situations in the Burmese jungles coupled with a romance involving a foreign woman (Gina Lollobrigida) he meets while on leave in India. There are some good things about this movie and some bad things. By far the best thing is some nice color footage of remote areas in Southeast Asia. There are only a few battle scenes but they work effectively in this story. There are also some notable (and young) actors in this film including Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Dean Jones and Peter Lawford.
Unfortunately, the film is marred by a number of problems. First, the Sinatra character, Tom Reynolds, is a renegade leader and does things like shoot his own wounded soldier to put him out of his misery and later does a multitude things worthy for court marshal. In addition, Reynolds consistently shows blatant disrespect with every superior officer he comes in contact with. But in a very heavy-handed way near the end of the movie, Reynold's actions along with his arrogant and condescending attitude are dealt with in a way that wasn't at all believable and at the same time very disturbing. If you are someone like me who respects the military and appreciates and understands the reason for rules and protocol, and know that rebellious people have no place in the armed forces, then you will certainly be bothered with the outcome of the movie. The other problem is this romance between Sinatra and Gina Lollobrigida. Without a doubt it, there was clearly too much time devoted to this relationship which was positively boring. The final problem was the dialogue among the soldiers. Most of it seemed to be just poor attempts at witty conversations. Overall, if you are a WWII film buff, you may find some redeeming qualities in this movie, but other than that, there just isn't that much there.
As for the DVD, the widescreen color presentation is very good but there are some tiny spots of film deterioration throughout the film. The audio is very good. The only DVD bonus is a trailer.
Movie: C-
DVD Quality: B
Good war, but a lousy romance
It never fails to amuse me why someone talks the producer into making war movies into romances. The vast majority that have romance in them have done poorly. In fact "From Here To Eternity", "Casablanca", and "To Have and Have Not" are the only ones I recall that did not fail. I say the producer because they pay the bills so everyone else just listens to what they want. I didn't read the book so I suppose the writer may have put it in the book. Whatever the case it should have been cut from the movie. This movie along with many others would have been stand out movies if not for romance with poor acting females. Perhaps that is why the term bombshell was used. Because they made the movie bomb. The movie is still worth seeing, just get yourself a snack during romance scenes or fast forward.
Compelling World War II Film
"Never So Few" is a film with kind of a split personality. When it concerns itself with battle sequences and the waging of the war it is interesting. Unfortunately, the film devotes too much time to a romantic subplot involving star Frank Sinatra and Gina Lollobrigida that is not only a distraction but goes nowhere. Lollobrigida is a stunner, but let's face it, her acting ability is the consistency of wood. What redeems the film is the main story involving the soldiers who fought on the Burmese front. The film also poses the question as to the nature of honor in the time of conflict. Is it more honorable to follow the book or when you take the law in your own hands when it is morally justified? Sinatra is solid as maverick Captain Tom Reynolds. Steve McQueen, in his first major motion picture(well, maybe "The Blob"), nearly steals the show as streetwise Cpl. Bill Ringa. Good supporting turns are on display here by Richard Johnson as Reynold's British subordinate, Charles Bronson as a Navajo code talker, and old hand Brian Donlevy as the General.
TONY ROME at the time of its release represented cutting edge "realism" that was disturbing, stimulating and refreshing. We don't see it as such now; but films in the 1960's were just beginning to bring sex more out in the open than had been before. As far as mass entertainment was concerned, sex was more suggested than shown in the previous history of movies. Think of the end of NORTH BY NORTHWEST. The culminating sex between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint was related by a visual of a speeding train running into a mountain tunnel. By the early 1960's, the James Bond movies were notorious for the "on screen sex". Only the hip went to see James Bond-the squares avoided them for fear of being labeled scum. Naturally, the "hip" numbers were never big enough to give James Bond movies... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Frank Sinatra - Jill St. John Director(s): Gordon Douglas DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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When it was released in 1968, Lady in Cement was the perfect movie for "The Man Who Reads Playboy." It was tailor-made for middle-aged martini-and-poker men who enjoyed Frank Sinatra in Tony Rome a year earlier, and this slapdash sequel finds Ol' Blue Eyes in sun-soaked Miami, where his treasure-hunting discovery of a naked blonde (the ill-fated lady in cement, found dead underwater) gets him tangled up with a massive thug (Dan Blocker), a retired Mafioso (Martin Gabel) with an over-ambitious son, an ultra-sexy heiress (Raquel Welch, in her sexpot prime at age 27), and a variety of Floridian lowlifes who lent the film its R-rated appeal for the cocktail crowd. With its disposable mystery, rampant homophobia, go-go club lechery, peekaboo nudity, bursts of red-blooded... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Frank Sinatra Director(s): Gordon Douglas DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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John Wayne personally produced many of his '50s films, which is why some of them have languished in corporate limbo following his death. The High and the Mighty was one of his most popular vehicles (no pun intended). This long, necessarily sedentary drama aboard an endangered airliner is a CinemaScope bridge between 1932's Grand Hotel and 1970s disaster movies. Despite Wayne's iconic presence as a pilot--now copilot--who survived the plane crash that wiped out his family, it's an ensemble movie with an impressive cast: Robert Stack sharing the cockpit, Oscar® nominees Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling, Laraine Day, Robert Newton, Paul Kelly, John Qualen, Regis Toomey, the ubiquitous Paul Fix, and director William A. Wellman's good-luck character actor Douglas Fowley.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Claire Trevor - Laraine Day Director(s): William A. Wellman DVD Release Date: Released the 02 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Frank Sinatra's 1968 film The Detective was a serious attempt at a social statement sandwiched between the chairman's two lighthearted detective films Tony Rome and Lady in Cement. Directed by Gordon Douglas (who also directed the Tony Rome films), the plot centers around Detective Joe Leland (Sinatra) and his investigation of the murder of a prominent businessman's gay son. The film was notable at the time for openly depicting the gay community; however, it still falls back on the same tired stereotypes. Rounding out the cast is Lee Remick as Sinatra's nympho-wife, Robert Duvall as a violent homophobic cop, and Jack "the Klugster" Klugman as Sinatra's only honest ally on the force. Off screen, the film was notable for causing the irreparable rift between Sinatra... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Frank Sinatra - Lee Remick Director(s): Gordon Douglas DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Although there are some that will say that this movie is too contrived and predictable, I will say to them that this is a perfect example of good movie making that seems to have slipped away.
You don't have overdone special effects or gratuitous sex and violence, but a very good script with quality actors doing a very good job.
Yes, you have insinuated sex, such as the scene between Ann-Margret and Steve McQueen, but there was absolutely no nudity. Kind of like when radio used to make you use your imagination, whereas television and movies these days seem to resemble "chewing gum for the brain."
I was a young boy when I first saw this moving in 1965, and I never appreciated what a true sex symbol Ann-Margret really was. Man that woman was smoking... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Steve McQueen - Edward G. Robinson - Ann-Margret Director(s): Norman Jewison DVD Release Date: Released the 31 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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