Rating: 
Summary: Marvin and Mifune at their crappy best.
Review: Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune are at their best in a two-man story of an American and Japanese pilot marooned on a small island in the Pacific, their battles are smaller but still mirror the conflicts of the bigger war they are missing. The ending is a little plain, ending on a strange note, but definitly worth the money
Rating:
Summary: Ain't it fun to shoot at people when you're not sleeping?!
Review: Lee Marvin... a war veteran for real, so when Boorman decided to make him an even bigger star than he already was, he knew he was dealing with iconic material that needed to contrast with an equally fiery temper of a quite different kind. So he put another icon from the east opposite him, the king of the Samurai films, and made his first subversive feature. Hey, where else do you get to see Lee Marvin take a leak on Toshiro Mifune's head? Not in any other American cinema of the period, that's for sure!This should've been the war movie to end all war movies, because it just lays the whole absurdity out in such a hilarious laboratory test of extremes, no one who sees it ever forgets its almost "Naked and the Dead" type absurdist, thoroughly anti-war point of view, which is effective ONLY BECAUSE it makes the existence of evil an undeniable fact that needs to be checked and transcended by humans ALL THE TIME. Fans of idiotic, pointless 'WAR' dramas that senimentalize the 'mettle-testing' horrifically absurd experience called by that neanderthal-grunt-friendly three letter word into some kind of 'heroism' to justify the 'freedom-saving' lunacy for the poor dupes who went through it (the fantastically crafted but artistically mediocre "Saving Private Ryan," for one) need not apply, but anyone else looking for confrontational cinema in the humans-shooting-projectiles-at-other-humans-wearing-different-clothes genre would do well to start with "Hell in the Pacific," then move on to Anthony Mann's "Men in War," Sam Fuller's "Steel Helmet," and Bertrand Tavernier's "Capitaine Conan." Peace Out Y'all, and remember to solve all your peace-time problems with a gun, as Tony Soprano would.
Rating: 
Summary: Incomplete, murky, May-04 version from MGM
Review: MGM cut the heart out of this excellent intense movie, when it excised the scenes of "training" Lee Marvin by Toshiro Mifune in the art of sword/staff fighting, and the scenes of hand to hand combat in/around the abandoned freighter. Further, the video quality is so dark one can sometimes barely follow the action.
Rating:
Summary: With little-to-no dialogue, this film is one to watch
Review: My fiance got me the DVD as a present to me on his birthday. It sat for a month and then we finally watched it together. I was amazed that there was no dialogue... really. Very little. And when we were watching the DVD, we did not choose the option for subtitles and only realized that option after we'd seen the film. Overall it is a film to watch -- really watch. After you see it once without the subtitles, watch it again with them. Makes it a totally different experience. The acting and directing is incredible and one is left wondering, what the screenplay of this film actually looked like. Not too many special features but there is an alternate ending that is interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Survival Nightmare
Review: Similiarities to the Enemy Mine movie could be made here. Perhaps the Enemy Mine writer got the idea from this story. Two men stranded on a Island rather than a planet in this case. As WWII rages a Japanese and American soldier are stranded on the same small island. They try to kill each other at first. As time goes by they realize their very survival depends on a truce. Eventually they work together and build a raft. After days on the Pacific Ocean they find another larger group of islands. The uneasy truce becomes shaky again when they find remnants of Japanese and American occupation of the main island. Up to this point an excellent movie. In fact I was say close to flawless movie since the acting, sets, scenery, music, directing and all the rest are incredible. SPOILER ALERT: Now the reason I didn't give it four or five stars is because they kill them off with a single stray artillery shell in the original ending. You will be enthralled with the wonderful acting and really care for these two characters. Then to suddenly watch their lifes snuffed out just so some writer or director could make their point that war is bad didn't impress me. If someone didn't think we get that point long before the ending of this movie, tney don't give much credit to the audience. Why they didn't use the alternate ending with the soldiers walking off their separate ways is beyond me. Be sure to look at the alternat ending and see if you agree this should have been the original ending. Still well worth owning.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect casting and no unnecessary dialogue!
Review: This is absolutely my favorite WWII film. It encapsulates the truth of war; man against man, and that only possible as long as they leave unexamined their humanity. The closed universe of the island, their eventual realization that no man is same, and all of this played in their silent faces makes this a compelling and brilliant film.
Rating:
Summary: Island life
Review: This is in my top 10 of all time.
I watched this movie - heres what blew me away.
1. minimal use of soundtrack - breathing of the actors is enough to convey thirst, fear, hate - I cant tell you how much I appreciated the nuances - something lost in todays movies - which is why this stands from the pack 2. minimal script - words fail to tell the story 3. cinematography - artistically right on 4. character studies - of characters that are believable and interesting. I did not find find Marvins character to be any less so than Mifunes. Marvin played the stereotype well and so did Mifune. Characteristics are nuanced as well. 5. alternative ending was very satisfying - in reality the alternative ending would have been more likely.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Enemies
Review: This review refers to the Anchor Bay DVD "Hell in the Pacific"... You won't find a big ensemble cast in this World War II film from 1968. Only 2 actors tell the story, and they don't even speak the same langauge. But they don't need to, these two actors are Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. They portray enemies, one American, one Japanese, marooned on an island in the midst of the war. They are so brillant in their portrayals, that actions really do speak louder than words. You won't even miss the fact that there are no subtitles when Mifune is speaking. His every expression, lets us know exactly what he is thinking.
Add to this the artful direction of John Boorman, who brought us such exquiste films as "Excalibur", the wonderful music of Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible), and the expert eye of Cinematographer Conrad Hall(Butch Cassidy, American Beauty) and you're in for a real cinematic treat. When a disciplined Japanese Naval Officer discovers he is not alone on the small Island in the Pacific, he immediatly goes into high gear to protect and defend his territory. But he has met his match in the very undisciplined American Marine that has been washed ashore. And so it begins...these two do everything they can to capture, torture, and generally make life miserable for each other(and at times is on the comical side). The need for human contact though, becomes apparent and they stop short at killing each other, and actually form an attachment to each other. The ending is a bit of a shocker, but there is also an alternate ending included with this DVD. Anchor Bay as usual has really made this 35 year old film a pleasure to watch. You have the choice of widescreen(2.35:1) or full format(by the way, my DVD was mismarked as to which side was widescreen, so don't panic if this happens, just flip it over). Excellent picture, vibrant colors and the sound in Dolby Dig Stereo is clear as a bell. And don't forget to check out the alternate ending. A great buy for fans of war movies, Marvin and Mifune, and anyone who appreciates artful film making. Enjoy....Laurie
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Enemies
Review: This review refers to the Anchor Bay DVD "Hell in the Pacific"... You won't find a big ensemble cast in this World War II film from 1968. Only 2 actors tell the story, and they don't even speak the same langauge. But they don't need to, these two actors are Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. They portray enemies, one American, one Japanese, marooned on an island in the midst of the war. They are so brillant in their portrayals, that actions really do speak louder than words. You won't even miss the fact that there are no subtitles when Mifune is speaking. His every expression, lets us know exactly what he is thinking.
Add to this the artful direction of John Boorman, who brought us such exquiste films as "Excalibur", the wonderful music of Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible), and the expert eye of Cinematographer Conrad Hall(Butch Cassidy, American Beauty) and you're in for a real cinematic treat. When a disciplined Japanese Naval Officer discovers he is not alone on the small Island in the Pacific, he immediatly goes into high gear to protect and defend his territory. But he has met his match in the very undisciplined American Marine that has been washed ashore. And so it begins...these two do everything they can to capture, torture, and generally make life miserable for each other(and at times is on the comical side). The need for human contact though, becomes apparent and they stop short at killing each other, and actually form an attachment to each other. The ending is a bit of a shocker, but there is also an alternate ending included with this DVD. Anchor Bay as usual has really made this 35 year old film a pleasure to watch. You have the choice of widescreen(2.35:1) or full format(by the way, my DVD was mismarked as to which side was widescreen, so don't panic if this happens, just flip it over). Excellent picture, vibrant colors and the sound in Dolby Dig Stereo is clear as a bell. And don't forget to check out the alternate ending. A great buy for fans of war movies, Marvin and Mifune, and anyone who appreciates artful film making. Enjoy....Laurie
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