Don Movie Reviews

The psychotic kiler. The young heiress. The kidnapping that becomes a love story.

This violent, over-the-top Robert ("DIRTY DOZEN") Aldrich directed thriller is a remake of the 1948 British film "NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH" which was in turn adapted from the once banned-as-pornographic novel of the same name.

It's the 1920s. Kim Darby is the beautiful young heiress Barbara Blandish who is kidnaped by the brutal Grissom gang. Their plan is simple and savage: keep the ransom and kill the hostage. Unfortunately (for the gang) dimwit Slim Grissom (Scott Wilson) falls in love with Barbara. And the even more unfortunate Barbara is forced into a relationship -- as the poster says -- of "violence and desire."

Finally, when the police close in and the gang comes apart, the question becomes: Who will survive the final frenzy of love and bullets?

Tony Musante, Ralph Waite, Robert Lansing and Connie Stevens co-star in this still shocking, extremely vicious gangster thriller. The tense screenplay is by Leon Griffiths and the edgy, very 70s score is by Gerald Fried.

Those who knew director Aldrich, who was also responsible for "KISS ME DEADLY" and "THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE," say this film was intended as a black comedy and was a reflection of his bizarre, almost sadistic, sense of humor. He said, "if it makes you laugh or cringe or both is more about who you are..." ...

Another superb DVD has just been released by Anchor Bay : Robert Aldrich's THE GRISSOM GANG, adapted from James Hadley Chase's "No Orchids for Miss Blandish". Excellent movie but only the choice between the standard and the widescreen version and a scene access as bonus features. Extra meager. Sound and images more than OK for me.

Robert Aldrich is more known as a successful director of action movies like THE DIRTY DOZEN than as a sensitive observer of psychological dramas but with THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE, released in 1968 and THE GRISSOM GANG, Big Bob showed that a golden heart was beating under his elephant skin.

Don't get me wrong ! THE GRISSOM GANG is also a gangster movies loaded with machine guns duels and vicious killings but what's more interesting is the description of the relationship between Slim, the psychotic killer, and Barbara Blandish, the spoiled heiress. This unusual couple has to face a collection of secondary characters one will not forget so easily. For instance, Ma Grissom, played by Irene Dailey, a criminal genius and an overprotective mother, or Eddie - Tony Musante - Hagan, the archetype of the gangster of the 30's, so seductive but ready to kill anything that moves, even women, if necessary.

In the good guys section of the movie, there is someone who, in spite of his millions, could have been part of the Grissom gang : Wesley Addy, Barbara's father and often present in Aldrich's films, his attitude is one of the most disturbing seen in a movie.

All in all, an excellent addition to your library.

A DVD zone Bonnie and Clyde.

Adapted from the 1939 novel "No Orchids for Miss Blandish", Robert Aldrich's 1971 gangster flick is violent and punishing in it's nature. Set in the poor and barren Mid-Western region of the US during the Depression, the film immerses the viewer in a world of poverty, greed & lust.

Kim Darby plays snotty society girl Barbara Blandish, the product of her boorish and society climbing parents who is kidnapped by a group of petty thugs....however they in turn are ambushed by a more professional crew of hoodlums. Irene Dailey plays Ma Grissom, the cold blooded leader of the small time gang....Scot Wilson is the simple-minded and lovestruck thug, Slim Grissom....Connie Stevens portrays the air headed blonde gangster moll, Anna....and Tony Musante is the oily and vicious, Eddie Hagan.

Whilst definitely not a gangster classic, "The Grissom Gang" is an over looked addition to the genre that's not without it's redeeming qualities. Aldrich had a flair for directing hard edged films that explored the more violent side, and the underbelly of human nature....and this film does all that !!

George Peppard plays a character named Tuxan, who is responsible for uncovering the break in and theft of highly classified information at a government facility called Groundstar. He uses any and all means necessary to do this, including hidden cameras, hidden microphones, and 24 hour surveillance. He has complete control most of the time, and absolute authority to find the information he needs in order to protect the United States against foreign interests that may try to undermine the government by stealing precious secrets.

That being said, this movie plays out like a cheesy 70's TV melodrama. I tried hard to like this movie, but it was a hard sell. The movie starts out with multiple explosions at some facility, and one character managing to make it out before the whole place goes up. We see this character running down a corridor, being chased by other individuals, and then the picture freezes at a dramatic moment to allow for a credit to be displayed on the screen. This happens about four or five more times, and becomes quite tiresome, but if I recall, this was a device used quite a bit in the 70's, on movie but more so on TV. This movie really has a 'TV' feel to it, so I am wondering if the director was primarily a TV director...well, I was right. The director is Lamont Johnson, and he has an extensive career directing TV, and it shows here. Anyway, one character escapes before the whole place goes blammo, and it's Michael Sarrazin playing Welles. This is one of those actors who you may not recognize the name, but you'd probably recognize his face. He was fairly popular in the late 60's through the 70's. This slender, dark haired actor seemed to be on the verge of becoming a major star, but has since been relegated to mostly TV roles.

Well, he escapes, and we find out later that he was the only survivor of the explosion. His face badly damaged from the explosions, he manages to make it to the house of Nicole, played by Christine Belford, and actress with a solid television background and a few parts in some features films. The role I remember her from was the over protective mother to Arnie Cunningham in John Carpenter/Stephen King's killer car classic 'Christine' from 1983.

Well, we soon find out that that Welles, the soul survivor of the explosions, was also the one who caused the explosions. Apparently he used false credentials to get his position within the ultra top secret facility, then stole vital information, and caused the destruction of the facility to cover his escape. He remembers none of this, as he has lost his memory along with his face in the incident. We learn all this information from Tuxan, who is now investigating the situation.

There is a conspiracy, and it does follow though. The rest of the movie has Welles trying to put the pieces back together, recall what happened, if he could have killed those people and done the things Tuxan says he did. Nicole provides a haven for Welles, and seems sympathetic to his plight.

The most memorable line comes from Tuxan (what kind of name is that?) and is in response to Nicole berating him for invading her privacy by having hidden cameras and microphones in her house. He says something like 'murders are planned in private, assassinations are planned in private' etc. I don't remember the exact line, but it showed a great deal of the motivation behind the character.

The movie plays out, the conspiracy unfolds, and we are treated to a shocking ending. Well, not so shocking, really, but whatever. It was kind of hard to swallow, though. My main problem with this movie is I never really felt the tension that should have been there and the acting seemed kind of wooden. I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, but I had a hard time buying off on this one. The thing to keep in mind before you buy this movie is that it looks like a TV show. This was made in 1972, and prior to that, George Peppard had a somewhat promising movie career with Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), How the West Was Won (1962), and The Blue Max (1966) to name a few. Then around 1971, the movie roles seemed to dry up and he went into TV. He did make a number of movie after 1971, Damnation Alley (1977), Battle Beyond the Stars (1977), but none seemed to really have the prestige of previous movie roles. The same could be said for Michael Sarrazin. And the other main character, played by Christine Belford was primarily a TV actress. Given the director's history in TV, this all adds up to making this look like a high budget TV movie. I think once some directors immerses themselves in a particular medium, it's difficult to expand beyond the boundaries proscribed by that medium, and it shows here. I felt like the director was trying to exceed his grasp, and couldn't quite do it. Not a bad movie, for TV, but not a great movie for the big screen. I'd say 3 stars for a TV movie, 2½ stars for a theatrical release.

George Peppard plays a ruthless, national security agent named Tucson. You would not want to run into him...unfortunately (maybe) Michael Sarrazin does as the brutalized betayer of the high level space project: GROUNDSTAR. The movie's pace is excellent as the law-unto-himself agent persues corruption into the highest levels of the government (Shades of China-gate!!!). Peppard is fascinating to watch as the thoroughly unlikeable hero who brings down the "conspirators" in an ironic but belevable climax. "He should have run faster," Tucson observes to a sympathetic medic regarding an explosion-mangled-into-unrecognizability victim. See the film, but stay out of the way of TUCSON...

A good film, Peppard as Tuxan in a role that would resemble 2 of his roles on TV (Thomas Banacek that year, and Hannibal Smith of The A Team, 10 years later). The ending is that of a classic suspense film. The DVD version by the way is cheaper than most stores are offering the VHS copy (if you can find it) so get it while you can. Note Christine Belford, the woman down the road who falls for Sarazin also starred in Banacek, coincidence?

For only 10 dollars this movie is a must buy. Just to gaze upon the beauty of Tara (Debbie Rochon) is worth {it}.
So the deal is this - Tara is on deathrow awaitng execution. She has penned 3 horror stories that she claims spirits in the prison had told her. She then tells the executioner each of these tales of terror. All three stories are pretty good and funny if you have a slightly twisted sense of humor as I do.
I had never heard of Debbie Rochon before but she certainly cast a spell on me. She seems to be a good actress and is hot as the Texas sun. Her exchange with the executioner between stories 1 and 2 was classic.
The first story is pretty tame but the second has lots of foul language and the third has foul language and some nudity.
Debbie Rochon does NOT show skin but I've got a great imagination.
Bottom line is if you like horror movies this should be in your collection. You will watch it more than once.

This film is a trilogy of tales related by deathrow inmate Debbie Rochon to her executioner Gunnar Hansen (the original LeatherFace. All three stories are excellent, but I especially liked the last one involving a bizarre biker ritual to revive their dead protector played silently by J.J. North. Someone who looks as good as J.J. does not have to speak! The real star is Debbie Rochon. Her character drips violence and the ending will make you say wow. This film was originally shot in 1997. Troma was smart to pick it up. This pic went over big at the annual Chiller Theatre convention in NJ. Joe Bob Briggs loved it, and it will pave the way for Debbie Rochon to climb to the top of the scream queen list.

This anthology of stories feels like a collection of three Tales From The Crypt episodes.

The first story is a 'missing children' one. It revolves around the mother of the lost children and follows her interviews with the police and the time she spends with her boyfriend. After approximately two minutes into the story you pretty well know what the ending will be. It would have been nice if the ending wasn't so blantantly obvious. Pretty descent makeup effects though.

The second story is about a young married couple (stereotypical southern trailer trash). Because of how the characters are played you end up laughing at some of their 'southern' personalities. This one is the best of the trilogy. Heidi Mae is an abused housewife. I found myself cringing watching her husband beat the hell out of her. Man, do you ever sympathise with her character FAST. This one had better twists and turns in the story and just when you are thinking 'ah, this ending is as easy to guess as the last one' it smacks you in the face with something different.

The last story follows a biker gang on it's way to Mexico on a drug run. A superstitious bunch, they stop to pay their respects (in their 'special' way) to a former biker chick (J.J. North) who apparently looks after them from beyond the grave. This one had a larger cast than the others and they are perfect in their roles. The ending is pretty predictable though, but not as easily as the first story. It would have been nice to hear J.J. speak or something, perhaps a bigger role, because she looked hot!

All three of these stories are written by Tara (Debbie Rochon)while on death row. She reads these stories to her prison guard/executioner (Gunnar Hansen) while waiting to get taken away to die. They are basically the 'Cryptkeepers' of this anthology and help it flow from one story to the next. Debbie plays a perfect psychopath. She gets some great lines like 'They remember Poe, Lovecraft, and they'll remember Tara!' Her giggling at the end of the film will spook me for a long time. Gunnar's role was limited, but his line are pretty cool. His name-calling and put downs to Debbie were pretty funny (in sick sort of way I suppose).

The DVD contains a few trailers for Troma films. Other than that, there isn't anything else.

Overall a good anthology for Tales From The Crypt fan types who like indie films. Debbie Rochon fans will like this too.

After finally succumbing to the allure of a DVD player, I bought this film noir gem for a song. I had heard about it for years but
could never find it on VHS. A perfect bank robbery netting $1.2 million goes astray when framed patsy John Payne goes after the real criminals. He discovers that the crooks were masked from one another and only the mysterious "Mr. Big" knows who they are and where the money is. Can John Payne break up the perfect crime and end up with Colleen Gray?
(What do you think?)

Director Phil Karlson (whose best-known work is probably the 1972 crime drama "Walking Tall")switched from being a decent director of routine films to one of the most innovative and influential crime film directors of them all with a remarkable series of tough,distinctive thrillers beginning with this one in 1952 and going on to include "99 River Street" in 1953, "The Phenix City Story" in 1955, and "The Brothers Rico" in 1957. "Kansas City Confidential" follows the pulling off of a well-planned and executed robbery that's been carefully thought out by an embittered ex-police officer. He plans it so that Joe Rolfe(played by John Payne) will be framed for the robbery. Rolfe is a WWII veteran who has some problems with the law in his past. After being grilled and ultimately (and grudgingly) released by the police,he pursues the thieves to Mexico,looking for revenge. Payne is fine in a sharp turnaround from the lightweight roles he usually played in the 1940s. Preston Foster is also good as the mastermind of the robbery, as is Coleen Gray as his daughter, a bright,decent young woman. The best performances however,are those given by three of the greatest heavies in movie history: Jack Elam,Neville Brand,and Lee Van Cleef,in the roles of the thieves who pull off the robbery. Elam,who is first seen sweating heavily and rifling through an overflowing ashtray in a dingy hotel room,looking for a cigarette butt with a few puffs left on it,is particularly good, but Brand and Van Cleef ooze menace and bad blood in just about every scene they're in. The film is filled with close-ups,tough,terse dialogue, and brutal (at least for its time) violence. The payoff of the film goes kind of soft, after what's come before, but this is still a first-rate example of cold,tough 1950s film noir,from a real master of the genre.

A great, great noir film starring John Payne(HELL'S ISLAND, 99 RIVER STREET). But the cast doesn't stop there! It also stars Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and Neville Brand. This really is a gritty little crime caper flick. If you watch it, it will be difficult to ignore how the film might have influenced a guy like Quentin Tarantino in the conception of RESERVOIR DOGS. Great dvd!

After finally succumbing to the allure of a DVD player, I bought this film noir gem for a song. I had heard about it for years but
could never find it on VHS. A perfect bank robbery netting $1.2 million goes astray when framed patsy John Payne goes after the real criminals. He discovers that the crooks were masked from one another and only the mysterious "Mr. Big" knows who they are and where the money is. Can John Payne break up the perfect crime and end up with Colleen Gray?
(What do you think?)

Director Phil Karlson (whose best-known work is probably the 1972 crime drama "Walking Tall")switched from being a decent director of routine films to one of the most innovative and influential crime film directors of them all with a remarkable series of tough,distinctive thrillers beginning with this one in 1952 and going on to include "99 River Street" in 1953, "The Phenix City Story" in 1955, and "The Brothers Rico" in 1957. "Kansas City Confidential" follows the pulling off of a well-planned and executed robbery that's been carefully thought out by an embittered ex-police officer. He plans it so that Joe Rolfe(played by John Payne) will be framed for the robbery. Rolfe is a WWII veteran who has some problems with the law in his past. After being grilled and ultimately (and grudgingly) released by the police,he pursues the thieves to Mexico,looking for revenge. Payne is fine in a sharp turnaround from the lightweight roles he usually played in the 1940s. Preston Foster is also good as the mastermind of the robbery, as is Coleen Gray as his daughter, a bright,decent young woman. The best performances however,are those given by three of the greatest heavies in movie history: Jack Elam,Neville Brand,and Lee Van Cleef,in the roles of the thieves who pull off the robbery. Elam,who is first seen sweating heavily and rifling through an overflowing ashtray in a dingy hotel room,looking for a cigarette butt with a few puffs left on it,is particularly good, but Brand and Van Cleef ooze menace and bad blood in just about every scene they're in. The film is filled with close-ups,tough,terse dialogue, and brutal (at least for its time) violence. The payoff of the film goes kind of soft, after what's come before, but this is still a first-rate example of cold,tough 1950s film noir,from a real master of the genre.

A great, great noir film starring John Payne(HELL'S ISLAND, 99 RIVER STREET). But the cast doesn't stop there! It also stars Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and Neville Brand. This really is a gritty little crime caper flick. If you watch it, it will be difficult to ignore how the film might have influenced a guy like Quentin Tarantino in the conception of RESERVOIR DOGS. Great dvd!

After finally succumbing to the allure of a DVD player, I bought this film noir gem for a song. I had heard about it for years but
could never find it on VHS. A perfect bank robbery netting $1.2 million goes astray when framed patsy John Payne goes after the real criminals. He discovers that the crooks were masked from one another and only the mysterious "Mr. Big" knows who they are and where the money is. Can John Payne break up the perfect crime and end up with Colleen Gray?
(What do you think?)

Director Phil Karlson (whose best-known work is probably the 1972 crime drama "Walking Tall")switched from being a decent director of routine films to one of the most innovative and influential crime film directors of them all with a remarkable series of tough,distinctive thrillers beginning with this one in 1952 and going on to include "99 River Street" in 1953, "The Phenix City Story" in 1955, and "The Brothers Rico" in 1957. "Kansas City Confidential" follows the pulling off of a well-planned and executed robbery that's been carefully thought out by an embittered ex-police officer. He plans it so that Joe Rolfe(played by John Payne) will be framed for the robbery. Rolfe is a WWII veteran who has some problems with the law in his past. After being grilled and ultimately (and grudgingly) released by the police,he pursues the thieves to Mexico,looking for revenge. Payne is fine in a sharp turnaround from the lightweight roles he usually played in the 1940s. Preston Foster is also good as the mastermind of the robbery, as is Coleen Gray as his daughter, a bright,decent young woman. The best performances however,are those given by three of the greatest heavies in movie history: Jack Elam,Neville Brand,and Lee Van Cleef,in the roles of the thieves who pull off the robbery. Elam,who is first seen sweating heavily and rifling through an overflowing ashtray in a dingy hotel room,looking for a cigarette butt with a few puffs left on it,is particularly good, but Brand and Van Cleef ooze menace and bad blood in just about every scene they're in. The film is filled with close-ups,tough,terse dialogue, and brutal (at least for its time) violence. The payoff of the film goes kind of soft, after what's come before, but this is still a first-rate example of cold,tough 1950s film noir,from a real master of the genre.

A great, great noir film starring John Payne(HELL'S ISLAND, 99 RIVER STREET). But the cast doesn't stop there! It also stars Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and Neville Brand. This really is a gritty little crime caper flick. If you watch it, it will be difficult to ignore how the film might have influenced a guy like Quentin Tarantino in the conception of RESERVOIR DOGS. Great dvd!

This is one of the very few movies of dons that I like. It shows great fight scenes keeps the action pumping has good dialouge and the training sequnces really stick with you! It shows the true athletisism af the masters because dispite his performance in his other movies don is a phenominal fighter. this movie gives his name some meaning.

Don "the dragon " Wilson is a kick boxing legend. Winning 10 different world championships and proving his dragon style kung-fu was affective in the ring. Ring of Fire is one of my favorites. The plot is very well put together unlike some of Don's other films. Don only had one fight scene lasting a maximum 7 minutes. It has some great fights between what I like to call, "the asians" and the " white boys", Ring of Fire is a prety good martial arts/kick boxing film that gives you a action packed time!

After almost 12 years of looking hopelessly for this edition of Ring of Fire on VHS and DVD, and even asking people online and searching the web to see if someone taped a copy off of TV, the real deal is finally here on DVD! If you don't know what I'm talking about, there was about 4 minutes of sex and nudity cut out of all versions of this movie on VHS and DVD and was only shown on premium channels back around 1991 or 1992. After almost 12 years they finally decided to release it with the nudity. Even if you already own a previous edition on DVD or VHS this is still a MUST BUY for Maria Ford fans. You won't be disappointed and the movie's (finally) great now!!

This is one of the very few movies of dons that I like. It shows great fight scenes keeps the action pumping has good dialouge and the training sequnces really stick with you! It shows the true athletisism af the masters because dispite his performance in his other movies don is a phenominal fighter. this movie gives his name some meaning.

Don "the dragon " Wilson is a kick boxing legend. Winning 10 different world championships and proving his dragon style kung-fu was affective in the ring. Ring of Fire is one of my favorites. The plot is very well put together unlike some of Don's other films. Don only had one fight scene lasting a maximum 7 minutes. It has some great fights between what I like to call, "the asians" and the " white boys", Ring of Fire is a prety good martial arts/kick boxing film that gives you a action packed time!

After almost 12 years of looking hopelessly for this edition of Ring of Fire on VHS and DVD, and even asking people online and searching the web to see if someone taped a copy off of TV, the real deal is finally here on DVD! If you don't know what I'm talking about, there was about 4 minutes of sex and nudity cut out of all versions of this movie on VHS and DVD and was only shown on premium channels back around 1991 or 1992. After almost 12 years they finally decided to release it with the nudity. Even if you already own a previous edition on DVD or VHS this is still a MUST BUY for Maria Ford fans. You won't be disappointed and the movie's (finally) great now!!

Ok when i first bought this i was so excited because i'm a big Usher fan and i could not wait to see it. The bad thing about it was when i open the case and but the cd in the dvd player what came on instead of Usher was Pink (the singer). I guess whatever company that made this dvd mixed the cd up. I was to mad. I don't know how they could make this kind of mistake. On the dvd cd it even says Usher big in black but when i put it in the dvd player it's Pink the singer. If you have this dvd please tell me if your usher dvd does the same.

This latest DVD purchase from Amazon[.com] is a real 'keeper.' Neverhas USHER looked 'so good.' Notice I didn't write- sound 'sogood.' The rap (no pun intended) throughout music circles isthat this cat will probably try to ride his gorgeous bod & fancydance moves to the top 'cause he's a tad shy in the lyrics dept.The DVD contains three videos- one a remix of U GOT IT BAD whichis a colloge of vignettes from the original release with betterediting techniques. Within we are treated to his classic duet routine with the microphone stand. The package also contains a photo gallery of 8- count 'em 8 poses, two of which willhave practically all brothas & sistas drooling up a storm.Being the black muscle lover that I am, I was hoping to catchmore than passing glimpses of this dude's smoothly rippledtorso & the disc doesn't disappoint. His beautiful smile &perfectly toned washboard abs certainly do it for me & we allknow I'm not alone on that St. Whether he's sprawled shirt-less on his bed offering up lyrics or dishing them out while admiring his muscles in a bathroom mirror, USHER keeps usmezmorized. But as good as this gets in the sensual sense, myguess is that 'Usher Live' once it arrives will top it 'causehe'll probably let it all hang out, especially during the en-core numbers. Yes this fine lookin' rapper has it going on real good all over his body. I feel another rush comin' on just thinkin' bout it. Now if he could just slide a few decent lyrics into the picture...

Homer Simpson says "Ummmmm..... beer". I say "ummmmm.... Usher". I slobber as much as Homer too. Buy this DVD. Make Usher really, really popular so that he makes more videos that I can slobber over.

A pretty much unwatchable smorgasbord of prison camp cliches.

It's clear that someone watched Bridge Over the River Kwai a few dozen times, but managed to do so without learning anything from it. It wouldn't be quite so bad if the abuse of the women POW's by their Japanese captors (while undoubtedly reflecting reality, and probably underplaying it) hadn't been staged in such an exploitative way. Someone has shrewdly cloaked the film in lofty bookends (Susan Sarandon doing dramatized "congressional testimony") and given it an honorable-sounding title, but there's no denying that not far underneath the veneer of disingenuous respectfulness lies a "women-in-prison" movie.

The development of the cardboard characters (Sarandon is the "loyal earth mother" to daughter-figure Kristy McNichol's "sullen rebellious one with a heart of gold") intrudes only as frequently as absolutely necessary to get us as quickly as possible from one rape, beating, or humiliation to the next. (The highlight(?), I guess, being when McNichol and Sarandon are forced by the "evil guard" to repeatedly slap one another across the face -- I'm sure that happened all the time in WWII prison camps.)

Since it was made for TV, we have to get by without the nudity, shower scenes, and lesbian love scene normally found in this sort of adventure; I guess we'll have to wait for the director's cut.

The Japanese are played to caricature as either socially inept, ridiculously "honorable," or insanely and stupidly mean; it's an amalgam of stereotypes.

Both McNichol and Sarandon do the best they can with what they've been given and McNichol, particularly, triumphs repeatedly over the bad dialogue and murky photography; she's worth ten times whatever they paid her.

An awful movie, of interest only to fans of McNichol or Sarandon.

I am am glad she did. Not only should "women everywhere" be inspired by the valor the women potray in this movie, but men should be inspired as well. Based on a true story, this movie will truely entertain, and make you realize that not only men fight wars. (Plus it should get a few "good guy" points from your girlfriend!!)

I disagree on many points with the 1 star reviewer of this noble film about women and their valiant contributions as war nurses during WWII.

I believe this movie had strong performances and that it is a significant one in how few movies portray a women's experience and view of war. For this reason, trashing this movie isn't fair. Sure, it isn't a "great" war film and some of the portrayals of Japanese aren't realistic and even laughable. However, I have to say that this movie clearly stated in the beginning it was a fictional account and was created in order to show how valiant many women acted during war. The one star reviewer was unfair in their assessment of this movie as a result. Acting needs to be considered when making such a review and he did not factor that in fairly in their overall rating.

I treasure this movie, especially Kristy McNichol's performance. This movie is between a 3-5 depending on how one chooses to view it. I give it a 5 because of its unique message and content, and because the acting was superb. Anyone who gives it under 3 stars perhaps is more upset at how men are portrayed in this film -- not a typical depiction in a war movie. Men are sometimes humiliated, but really they only humiliate themselves.