For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Movies Directed by the Main Actor/Actress, here’s a review of None But the Brave (1965) by Ryan of Ten Stars or Less.
Thanks again to Ryan of Ten Stars or Less for choosing this month’s genre.
Next month’s genre has been chosen by J-Dub of Dubsism and we will be reviewing our favorite Films About Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals.
Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Nov by sending them to medical@movierob.net
Try to think out of the box!
Let’s see what Ryan thought of this movie:
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When it was time to watch and review a movie where the main star was also the director, I didn’t want to go for those cliche movie choices from Ben Affleck, Woody Allen, or Denzel Washington. I dug deep through several lists on the internet to find a movie that not many people have heard of, or if they did, they probably never watched. I stumbled across a war movie entitled None But the Brave, directed by and starring Frank Sinatra. When we examine Sinatra’s film career, None But the Brave is the only motion picture he directed, and after watching this anti-climatic war drama, I can see why. Whether he never wanted to get behind the lens again or Hollywood never wanted to give him another crack at it, Sinatra’s one and only directed film was a bomb. I had little to no expectations about the film, which started on the Japanese side of the story. Through subtitles, we understand how life has been on this tiny Pacific island and what these stranded guys do with their time. Shortly after, a firefight occurs between some planes in the sky before one crash lands on the island. A group of American soldiers, with Sinatra in tow as the chief medic, walk away from the crash and set up camp on another side of the island. Unbeknownst to either party on the island, these two groups are enemies and should be eliminated because a war rages on. After a brief battle over a boat, which goes up in flames, the two conflicting parties agree to coexist with a bunch of rules. Given the limited space and resources on the island, the Americans reach out for help and break the truce by demanding their friends’ surrender. Of course, this move leads to bloodshed and most characters dying. By the time the credits roll, there’s only a handful of survivors who shrug off the mess on the island as just another day in the war. I was slightly interested initially, but when the Americans crashed, and their characters were introduced, my interest grew. I enjoyed the banter between the characters, and Sinatra was pretty funny with his medical assessments. After the boat battle, I lost interest as the two sides came to peace terms. Sadly, the Americans try to show their power in a situation they should have been grateful to be in, and it sets up the final conflict to end the movie. It was stupid and pointless to end their truce when they could have been easily killed upon arrival. Watching the film and not living out the situation kind of puts a damper on the American soldiers’ reputation as ruthless thugs who think they control everything. I don’t mean to knock on Sinatra, but he probably did the best he could with what he was given. This was a terrible story and didn’t have a compelling angle to care about. I’ve seen many war theme films in my day, and even though I was not a fan of 1917, it was leaps and bound better than None But the Brave. There will be more films, some out there even worse than this one; however, I hope I never stumble across them. If anyone is a fan of this movie, I’d love to meet them to get their insight into what I didn’t understand or appreciate about this throwaway World War II story. 1/10
MovieRob 