Product Details

• Actors: Richard Bakalyan, Tony Bill, Hisao Dazai, Brad Dexter, Jimmy Griffin
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: April 1, 1992
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630195999X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,314 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #62 in

  Video > Military & War > International

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Frank Sinatra had a strong movie career for years, but he only directed one film: None but the Brave, a 1965 anti-war picture that turns out to be much more interesting and compelling than its reputation would suggest. On a remote Pacific island, a plane carrying U.S. Marines crash-lands, setting up a tense stand-off with the overlooked Japanese contingent already there. The two sides mirror each other, and eventually a nervous truce takes place. There are many unexpected choices here, including Sinatra's casting of himself as merely part of the ensemble, a weary pharmacist's mate who--in the film's most riveting sequence--must perform an amputation. The movie's narrated by the Japanese commander (Tatsuya Mihashi), and the Japanese actually speak their own language (well, except for the narration) instead of accented Hollywood English. Sinatra's good in it, and so is TV star Clint Walker, a big he-man with a quite approach. (Tommy Sands, then Sinatra's son-in-law, gives a broad but amusing performance as a nerdy by-the-book officer.) The film bears the influence of Bridge on the River Kwai with a little Mister Roberts thrown in, but it has a bitterness about war that goes all the way through to the forceful final title, a reflection of Sinatra's liberal views at the time. Clint Eastwood got a lot of credit for making two films that showed WWII from the American and the Japanese sides, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, but in a way Sinatra had already done it, and in one movie. It's not a major film, but an honorable effort, and it predates the rash of anti-war counterculture movies by a few years. --Robert Horton

Product Description
American and Japanese soldiers, stranded on a tiny Pacific island during World War II, must make a temporary truce and cooperate to survive various tribulations. Told through the eyes of the American and Japanese unit commanders, who must deal with an atmosphere of growing distrust and tension between their men.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank Sinatra's None But The Brave, August 18, 2000

By	gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Again Frank Sinatra gives another fine performance (he has always been underrated as an actor in my opinion) and he even directed this film! This is an interesting W.W.II film set on an island in the Pacific where small bands of both American and Japanese forces are stranded. This film examines the human sacrifices made in war and questions if there is justification for those sacrifices examined through the camaraderie and reminisces of fellow combatants on both sides. Sinatra, as director, gives Clint Walker a chance to demonstrate his acting abilities in a fine dramatic performance. The stalwart cast also includes Tatsuya Mihashi, Tommy Sands, Tony Bill, Brad Dexter,Takeshi Kato and Sammy Jackson. Listen for an early score composed by John (Johnny) Williams. I always liked this one.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars None But The Brave, August 13, 2000

By	gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Again Frank Sinatra gives another fine performance (he has always been underrated as an actor in my opinion) and he even directed this film! This is an interesting W.W.II film set on an island in the Pacific where small bands of both American and Japanese forces are stranded. This film examines the human sacrifices made in war and questions if there is justification for those sacrifices examined through the camaraderie and reminisces of fellow combatants on both sides. I always liked this one. Listen for an early score composed by John (Johnny) Williams.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth it, May 16, 2000

By A Customer

Frankie works his magic once again in his rendition of a WWII story, None But the Brave. He made, however, not a 'bang it up, shoot it up, run run run' movie, but one that leaves the viewer pondering the meaning of war. Is it really worth it? The final message of the movie is spelled out in the end for those viewers who weren't willing to seek the deeper meaning for themselves. "Nobody ever wins". Nice going, Frankie, this one deserves more recognition than it's getting.