Never watched this movie all the way through. Just seen bits and pieces here and there. Watched half of it last night and will finish the rest tonight. Good flick, so far. Watching on amazon prime.

Tony.

Madness! Madness!

One of the best, from an era of classic epic war films.

Lawrence of Arabia should be next, especially if you also have never seen that. Also directed by David Lean, and it's an even bigger epic. (You can rent it for $4 through Amazon Prime.)

The end of the book is different than the movie.

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
The end of the book is different than the movie.

Unfortunately, an all too common practice in film-making. Frequently, a changed ending is the least of what Hollywood does to books they make into movies. Sometimes, the only thing a film has in common with a book upon which it is based is the title and the vaguest of details.

Be happy in your work!

I LOL'd when the Japanese officer said "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
I LOL'd when the Japanese officer said "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

IIRC, Saito tells Nicholson that he attended college in the United States.


**edit**

Just checked it. Saito tells Nicholson he spent three years in London and studied at "the London Polytechnic."

Finished watching it last night. It was a very good movie and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'll have to watch it again to see if I missed anything the first time.

In reality, I wonder how many POW's that escaped prison camps in WWII actually were asked to participate or lead missions back their captors.

Tony.

I always laughed at William Holden’s line in Stalag 17 about even if you did escape they’d send you to the pacific and you’d end up in a Japanese prison camp.

One of the great leadership lessons/dilemmas in movies.

Watched it again for the umpteenth time. I just imagine what it would have looked like from a fresh print on a great big ol' 1957 sized movie screen.

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
The end of the book is different than the movie.

I've never read the book. How did it end?

I remember watching this with my Father when I was a young boy. My Father really enjoyed watching this and so did I.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
One of the best, from an era of classic epic war films.

Lawrence of Arabia should be next, especially if you also have never seen that. Also directed by David Lean, and it's an even bigger epic. (You can rent it for $4 through Amazon Prime.)

And follow that up with Doctor Zhivago. An absolute masterpiece.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:

In reality, I wonder how many POW's that escaped prison camps in WWII actually were asked to participate or lead missions back their captors.

Tony.

This sort of thing happened quite a bit in the Philippines.
Several escaped from the death march or fled before the initial capture and there was an active Philippine resistance to support them. The best known are Wendel Fertig, Robert Lapham, and Russell Volckmann.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...s_in_the_Philippines

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
One of the best, from an era of classic epic war films.

Lawrence of Arabia should be next, especially if you also have never seen that. Also directed by David Lean, and it's an even bigger epic. (You can rent it for $4 through Amazon Prime.)

My all-time favorite movie. My father took my brother and me to see it in its original theater run. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it since.

Lawrence was a great film I saw it a few years ago for free when I had Comcast. I watched it a couple of times and really liked it. I don't know exactly what location it was filmed at, but the scenery took me back to the Jordanian mountains surrounding Petra and my time in Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait.

Tony.