Thursday Minute
No. 155 | September 9, 2010

Once Is Enough

Our theme this week
Actors who have directed one film only

Featured this week (theme introduction)
Monday         —   Marlon Brando:  One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Tuesday         —   Gary Oldman:  Nil by Mouth (1997)
Wednesday    —   Morgan Freeman:  Bopha! (1993)

Frank Sinatra:  None But the Brave (1965)

“Nobody Ever Wins.”  Those words, rather than “The End,” appear just before the end credits.  It’s a war film with a message we never seem to learn.

It’s an anti-war film, and not one you’d expect to find from the middle of the 1960s.  Hardly the work of a young radical looking to make a point about the country’s involvement in Vietnam (Kent State, in fact, was still a few years off), None But the Brave is a story about World War II, directed by a guy from the generation who fought it. 

The action takes place on a small island in the Solomons.  A platoon of Japanese soldiers is stranded with no contact to the outside world.  Then a plane carrying American soldiers crashes nearby.   As the two sides learn of each other’s existence, they first have a skirmish, destroying a boat that may have saved them, then begin to cooperate, calling a truce.  The armistice offers an environment for survival.  It lasts only until the Americans establish radio communications with the Navy.  With help on the way, the Americans extend the Japanese the chance to surrender—an offer that’s refused.  Hostilities arise and after a final gun battle the point of the movie—the pointlessness of war—is vividly clear.

Frank Sinatra’s company made the film for Warner Bros, a co-production with Tokyo-based Toho Studios.  It was Sinatra’s only time in the director’s chair (though he had a hands-on role in making several other films without taking director’s credit).  Sinatra starred as well, as a pharmacist with the American platoon.  It’s hardly the most inspired of his performances—he could be quite good at times, though not here.  Among the other actors, the one that got the most attention was Sinatra’s son-in-law, singer Tommy Sands, who was panned for his over-the-top performance.  (Sands was married briefly to Nancy Sinatra and after the divorce, Frank was famously reported to have ruined his career.)

The production was not especially notable, effective at times, cheesy in parts.  What makes the film worth watching is the story, a timeless tale with some crisp writing.  None But the Brave might in fact be a good candidate for a remake.  Hollywood is obsessed with telling the same stories over and over.  Here’s one worth seeing again, where a new, updated production could actually offer an improvement.

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None But the Brave (1965)
Frank Sinatra, director
John Twist, Katsuya Susaki (screenplay), writers
Trailer

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Quote of note
Craddock:  Lieutenant Kuroki.  Our communications have been restored.  One of our destroyers is on her way to remove us from this island.  Captain Dennis has extended me permission to offer you terms.
Kuroki:  Surrender?
Craddock:  I’ll see you and your men receive good treatment.
Kuroki:  Prisoners of war?  No, thank you.  As you can see, I am moving my camp.
Craddock:  Yes, we looked for you there.
Kuroki:  That position was no longer defensible, since you know it so well.
Craddock:  We wouldn’t attack you, lieutenant.
Kuroki:  I would!  The truce is ended.  I belong to the Japanese army.  Until my country advises otherwise, I remain at war.
—Lieutenant Kuroki (Tatsuya Mihashi), Corporal Craddock (Sammy Jackson), None But the Brave (1965)

…58…59…60.

1. Brittney says:

   November 10, 2011 at 2:55 pm

   What can I say ol blue eyes was something but I bacame a Fred astaire fan