Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

As a unit of World War II American soldiers makes a daylight landing on the beach of a Pacific island, they are quickly over matched by Japanese troops. They are all killed, except for a pair of survivors, Moe Malamen and Ken. The pair has been left for dead. Moe has faked his death while Ken has been critically wounded, a mortar fragment in his back. Ken is now moaning in the shallow water. Moe puts him over his shoulders and heads into the jungle where they stumble upon a cave in which to hide.In the cave the pair gets acquainted and contemplates their circumstances. Moe then sets out to find food and water and finds the Japanese encampment. Upon Moe's return, he examines Ken's wound and both men realize that Ken's situation is dire. That night Moe goes to the Japanese camp to steal the things necessary to help Ken but is discovered, and must knockout a guard before he can escape with the supplies. But before he leaves, he heads to another tent in the camp and takes a photo from the wall. Back at the tent, Moe operates on Ken with crude tools with the hope that it will work. The following morning, Ken appears to be in better shape and is very thankful for Moe's efforts and guts. Moe counters by saying "Some guts? What kind of guts does it take to stay alive?" Later Moe says "Everything I do for you I do for selfish reasons." A day or two later the men head to the far side of the island to swim and fish in a lagoon but are interrupted by a Japanese guard. The guard discovers one of the GI's shirts, a fight ensues and Moe kills the guard and responds with remorse. Moe buries the body and the pair heads back to the cave where Moe gets drunk to sarcastically "celebrate" his first kill. As the two contemplate the act of killing, Ken attempts to rationalize Moe's killing but Moe will hear none of it. Moe wonders who the Japanese soldier was, what his life was like, and gets drunk. The following morning the two are almost spotted by a Japanese patrol at the front of the cave but remain undiscovered. Moe later heads out to get some fish but is tailed by a Japanese soldier. As Moe approaches the cave Ken sees the Japanese soldier and kills him by throwing his bayonet into the soldier. Moe then heads out to bury the body but is discovered by two more Japanese soldiers and is pinned down with rifle fire. Moe picks up the Japanese soldier's rifle to return fire and kills one of the two soldiers. After running out of bullets, Moe surprises the remaining Japanese soldier and kills the him with a shovel. Upon returning to the cave, Ken continues to console Moe with a line from Saroyan's "The Time of Your Life", "Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret." Feeling brave, Ken suggests a dawn raid on the Japanese camp and Moe agrees to a Sunday morning attack. To there surprise, all the Japanese soldiers are lined up with their leader shouting at them. Then to their astonishment, all the Japanese soldiers shoot themselves. Ken and Moe wonder if the war has come to an end. Sometime later while Moe is burying the squad of dead Japanese soldiers, Ken is attacked by yet another unexpected Japanese soldier and strangles him to death. Moe and Ken move to the camp.After seven months of waiting and bickering, the stress begins to wear on Moe and Ken. A toucan named Uncle Morris becomes a distraction but they wonder if they will ever be found. Indignant at Ken's continued paraplegic condition, they begin to argue more intensely, and the threats and insults begin. Ken grows weary of his existence, his burden. Influenced by Moe's insults, Ken tries to commit suicide but fails. Both men are in utter despair, missing the lives at home in America. Finally on a bright, sunny day, Moe spots a group of three ships off the coast. Moe wonders if they are Allied ships or Japanese. In a moment of uncertainty, he decides they are enemy ships and heads back to Ken. In a moment of irony, Moe tells Ken that there are planes and ships on the other side of the island but Ken doesn't believe it. That night Ken hears something outside their hut. Moe heads outside to see a goat at the edge of the camp. Back in the hut, they wonder where the goat came from and conclude that the goat is a gift from God, from heaven. As they go for a walk, they encounter a herd of goats at the beach and still wonder where they came from. Moe tells a story of war and how the people left over turned over the world to the children who abolished war and turned the whole world into a circus, the Pacific a zoo, an asylum for goats. As Ken consoles Moe, they understand that the goats can't hurt them. The following morning they awake on the beach to find American soldiers tending to the goats and are saved, just in time before the island is used as a nuclear test sight.

I definitely liked this film more than the other reviewers. Yeah, the battle at the beginning was badly staged and kind of goofy. If the marines fought anything like those guys we would have never won any war period. Afterwards though I really enjoyed what essentially became a tale of survival on a deserted island. Think Castaway here. One of the soldiers is badly injured and depends on the other for almost every single thing he needs. This puts a lot of stress on Moe who is pretty darn high strung anyhow. Basically you have one physically incomplete person and one mentally incomplete person somehow struggling through all their issues while wondering if they're ever gonna see civilization again or simply die in the middle of nowhere.This is more of a psychological film as opposed to the typical war film. Yeah, there is lots of fighting and killing but what happens internally to the two stranded GIs is what the movie is all about. I found that it kept my interest very well indeed and wish I could have given it a 7 and a half. The actor playing Moe was really good and his face is pretty recognizable. He played lots of heavies and gangsters back in the sixties.

Two soldiers are stranded on a pacific island with the Japanese all around them.Talky war film will either strike you as great drama or bore you to tears. I kind of like it but I also can find it s a chore to get through. I have this as a double feature tape from Sinister Cinema where its paired with Ski Troop Attack. Depending on my mood after the first film the lack of activity in this film has been known to put me to sleep. Other times I'm fine. I know that's not a sterling recommendation but it's the best I can do.Your mileage will probably vary as well.

Before you balk at a 7 of 10 rating I'm giving this, it is in proportion to the films budget which is mid 60's drive in movie, indi production, very low money. It is on the 50 Movie Pack Combat Classics collection through Amazon, I highly recommend it for the price of what one or two movies alone go for. If your a Roger Corman fan you will enjoy this movie. I'm not a big fan of Corman's stuff but I keep watching it. I like hopeless situation movies usually post atomic war stuff, and this has a bit of that taste. I found it at first fun to watch seeing the dramatized invasion (you have to use suspension of belief in this movie which I did), but then the situation of two GI's (one wounded and para-pelagic) on an island abandoned with a squad of Japanese was something I never saw before so I got into it. It then turned into a drama of men going insane and of course what would a war movie be without a little racial bigotry thrown in for even more easy drama. I was hoping the ending would turn out different in a bad way, it would have been a very Cormanesque twist like he did in that cave man movie I think titled teenage caveman. Anyway for a really low budget forgotten drive in war flick it's a good one to catch, 7 of 10. It does seem a lot longer then 68 minutes though. Corman is uncredited as a soldier in this one as well so you see some versions packaged with his face on the cover but as far as I can tell on IMDb he is an uncredited actor only, maybe he made this under a different name?