Sanford Peth

Like New Year’s Eve 1999 after a lot of expectations. There was nothing. I seldom go to the theater anymore. One because the cost should include popcorn, soda and someone to rub your feet. I find that a half hour long commercial promotional for up coming events annoying. However this time it turned out to be better than the main event. This did not take much. The humor was not just subtle it was non existent. People will go to a train wreck as a rule to see if anyone was hurt and find out What it carried of interest as cargo. No one in the passenger cars and box cars empty. Just a non event with a bunch of people trying half heartedly to get it back on the track. They should give up this train is going no where. People who found this entertaining most likely will be sitting in their back yard when they get old with a bottle of cheap wine watching their grass grow.

I actually read the book before I saw the movie. I know of no other movie that was as loyal to the book as this one. I was unable to put the book down. I was so impressed with the book I was apprehensive that Hollywood would find a way to ruin the story and characters I had come to know so well. It was perfect. A listers all and every character no matter how large or small a part was treated with respect by both the director and the actors. The photography and setting were given the same level of respect. A few years later I would serve in Vietnam and even though 50 years after the time setting for the story I recognized the similarities of the local people who were more interested in their crops than the politics of the day. Fifty plus years later it ranks in my top three movies. Papillon also starring Steve McQueen, and King Rat. I will not say which is number one as it would be hard to pick one over the other. The author having served in the area on a river boat in the 30s did a great job of creating a story around his experience.

Waste of film and time. No real plot or acting. Barely worth the time to write this.

I have frequently told friends and family about this movie that I first saw in the early 70s. Some how I have never been ever to find it. Once in a while I would see that I missed it on some obscure channel played late at night. A perfect study of how men from different walks of life deal with imprisonment in this awful place. Political power, military rank and wealth all stripped away and the one individual who manages to thrive is a man of low rank who grew up in hard times with out any of the three and was force to find away to survive in an environment equally hard. His street smarts give him the advantage to deal with and prosper in the camp. I can’t sufficient words other than I highly recommend you watch it if you can find and get the chance. It is intentionally in black and white, it adds to the bleakness of the camp. Five stars does not do it justice. As a Vietnam vet I have seen people faced with such impossible situations that most of us would have given up and just parished. Children born into the middle of a war and knew nothing else. I recall a brother and sister 8 and 10 living off anything they could beg for or find at our dump sight. Out of the entire year fifty plus years later it’s their faces I see clearly and will never forget. Three other movies I highly recommend are The Man Who Would be King. With Sean Connery and Michael Caine and The Sand Pebbles an endless cast of a listers at the time and lastly Papillon starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The original I did not watch the remake I don’t know why they would even think they could improve on perfection much like the remake of Moby Dick that fell short. My guess is that the producers dried up brains and lack of imagination think that modern special affects can improve a classic. I suggest they visit the library and read a few novels.