Michael Parsons Movies

Filmed on location in the Philippines Robert Aldrich's Too Late the Hero is set in the last months of World War II. Lackadaisical navy lieutenant Cliff Robertson, who happens to speak fluent Japanese, is ordered to go on a suicide mission to wipe out an enemy observation post. Robertson's equally unwilling partners in this venture are British captain Denholm Elliot and pugnacious cockney private Michael Caine. All three men prove to have unsuspected reserves of courage when the going gets toughest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cornel Wilde produced, directed, and stars in this sincere, hard-edged look at World War II that doesn't flinch from the horrors of battle. The action takes place during a single American campaign to take an island held by the Japanese. Brief flashbacks to civilian life are the only escape from the gritty, dreary setting. The usual cliché characters are replaced by new ones, such as the captain (Wilde) who loves his wife but hates the war, the sergeant (Rip Torn) who gets sadistic pleasure out of battle, the minister's son (Patrick Wolfe) who keeps remembering the girl he left back home, and the Southern illiterate (Burr DeBenning) who finds a place for himself in the Marines. The screenplay (from a 1945 novel by Peter Bowman) avoids stereotypes yet doesn't make any of these men into fleshed-out characters. Still, the acting is solid and Wilde deserves commendation for taking a harsh, unromanticized look at the Big One, over thirty years before Steven Spielberg did it with Saving Private Ryan. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

In this WW II adventure set in the Philippines, Filipino guerrillas take on the last of the Japanese forces remaining on their islands. The Japanese have come to retrieve a gold bullion shipment and have taken over a convent. A rebel leader breaks into the convent and meets a beautiful American who is being protected by the nuns. Naturally they fall in love just before the final battle begins. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Fort Santiago in the Philippines, built in 1574, was called "Intramuros, the walled city of Manila." This action feature is centered around Intramuros and the events that occurred there in February of 1945. After Japanese troops were finally showing defeat in Manila, they retreated into the fortress with 10,000 Filipino captives. American Lieutenant Jim Sorenson (Jock Mahoney), whose wife is held inside the fort, is instructed to rescue the prisoners with his guerrilla forces. Lt. Sorenson finds help from a brave Filipino (Fernando Poe Jr.) who managed to escape the fortress himself. Intramuros/The Walls of Hell was a slightly different topic for Filipino director Eddie Romero, known more for his low-budget exploitation and horror pictures. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Surely Benjamin Appel's novel Fortress in the Rice was more interesting than its static film adaptation Cry of Battle. Van Heflin plays a crusty soldier of fortune fighting with the Philippine partisans during World War II. James MacArthur co-stars as the wealthy, aimless son of a businessman who joins the partisan cause for a lark. He is toughened up by Heflin and romanced by local girl Rita Moreno. Life's just full of surprises, isn't it? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi