|
starring: George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox, Patrick O'Neal, Denholm Elliottdirected by: Bryan Forbes
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302797466
Format: Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 6302797462
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: June 24, 1994
Running Time: 134 minutes
Sales Rank: 26079
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: October 27, 1965
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
High on the list of best POW movies, King Rat bears some comparison to that compound over by the River Kwai... but this is an entirely more cynical exercise. In a Japanese prison camp, a brash American corporal (George Segal) runs a variety of money-making operations, much to the amazement of a young British officer (James Fox). Director Bryan Forbes, who adapted James Clavell's novel, follows different POWs through various strands of plot, each episode seemingly designed to highlight the dog-eat-dog nature of men held in close confinement. (In one pointedly black-comic sequence, it becomes man-eat-dog.) This was one of Segal's breakthrough roles, and his modern style fits the movie's anti-heroic, '60s approach. It was Oscar®-nominated for art direction and cinematography, which may sound odd for such a bleakly confined location, but the lucid starkness of the camp justifies the nods. The John Barry score, while apt, is similarly stark. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Survival under unthinkably brutal conditions
"King Rat" is a faithful rendition of James Clavell's fine novel of the same name. British soldiers (with a sprinkling of American Gis among them) in Singapore were ordered to surrender, and were placed by the Japanese in the Chinga prison camp. The Japanese completely disrespected the Geneva Convention, and conditions in the camp quickly deteriorated to a very low order of existence in which one's daily caloric intake was at a starvation level, sanitation was nonexistent, and the level of brutality ... Read More
Rating: - Classic POW film
This film made a tremendous impact on me when I saw it as a young adult. Many years later, I saw the film again, and it held up quite well. I would rank it with All Quiet on the Western Front as a war movie, although of a different sort. The impressive cast is superb in their roles, and George Segal is outstanding in the lead role of the opportunistic and roguish wheeler/dealer, especially since he was a comparative unknown at the time. In this movie, there are few uplifting lessons to be gleaned amidst ... Read More
Rating:  - Very good adaptation
After reading the wonderful and moving novel by James Clavell, and finding out there was a film based on it, I was intrigued by how someone managed to adapt this complex story for the screen. At first, I thought that the challenge was so daunting that the movie must fall way short of the mark. Luckily, I was mistaken, and even though the film cannot convey the depth the novel has, the final result is more than satisfactory. We definitely get a clear feel for what life in Changi, the POW camp in Singapore ... Read More
Rating: - Poor Sods
Good movie. Follows book very well. Amust see for George Segal fans.
Rating:  - you are loved whilel you're useful
This film isn't excellent but has quality although I think joints several aspects that are unpopular. Firstly, there are no women, as it happens in a Japanese prisoner camp of Singapore during WW II. Secondly, the plot shows many facets of human miseries and that don't taste much people. The bitter reality in effect, is about after three years of imprisonment, discipline is very relaxed in the camp and a behaviour not very ethic and excessively accommodating reigns there, officers having forgotten ... Read More
|
