Young Guy Gabaldon (Richard Eyer, best known as the djinn in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad") is orphaned and taken in by the family of his friend George Matsui. Guy grows up to be Jeffrey Hunter, still living with George's family, now George Takei, when WWII breaks out. His adopted family is sent to Manzanar, but Hunter enlists and his Japanese language skills lead to him convincing hundreds of defeated Japanese soldiers to surrender during the Battle of Saipan.
This is a strange film. The first act plays out like a fairly sentimental family drama. The second act, after Hunter enlists, has Hunter, David Janssen and Vic Damone getting drunk and picking up women in Hawaii. There's an extremely long and raucous striptease sequence involving Patricia Owens, who promptly disappears from the film. The third act depicts the Battle of Saipan. It's long and startlingly brutal, and is the best part of the film. It's a decent film that would be greatly improved by dropping the fairly irrelevant middle act and bringing the run time down to an hour and a half.
This is a strange film. The first act plays out like a fairly sentimental family drama. The second act, after Hunter enlists, has Hunter, David Janssen and Vic Damone getting drunk and picking up women in Hawaii. There's an extremely long and raucous striptease sequence involving Patricia Owens, who promptly disappears from the film. The third act depicts the Battle of Saipan. It's long and startlingly brutal, and is the best part of the film. It's a decent film that would be greatly improved by dropping the fairly irrelevant middle act and bringing the run time down to an hour and a half.