Too Late the Hero (1970) on Netflix
An interpreter who has avoided combat, Lieutenant Sam Lawson is posted to a British commando unit in the New Hebrides. The unit must destroy a Japanese radio post before a convoy arrives.
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Trailer
Plot summary
In 1942, Lieutenant Sam Lawson works as a Japanese-language interpreter and has so far stayed out of combat. Captain John G. Nolan cancels his leave and assigns him to a British infantry commando unit stationed in the New Hebrides Islands. The British base lies in a wide open field, and beyond the trees sits an enemy post used for observation and radio messages. From the base, Lawson and the others watch a British patrol run from the trees and get shot down. Lawson's squad is ordered to wreck the Japanese radio transmitter so no warning can be sent about an American naval convoy due in three days. His job is to send a false all-clear message in Japanese at midnight. Captain Hornsby, described as foolhardy, leads the group.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Too Late the Hero (1970)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Cliff Robertson was filming Too Late the Hero when he learned he had won the Best Actor Oscar for Charly; he had not contractually secured time off to attend the ceremony, so Frank Sinatra accepted the award for him.
- Robert Aldrich said he wanted "anyone but Cliff Robertson" for the lead in Too Late the Hero, but the studio overruled him; Robertson signed to co-star in October 1968.
- Relations between director Robert Aldrich and star Cliff Robertson deteriorated so badly during Too Late the Hero that Aldrich reportedly left the film early, and Oscar Rudolph finished it.
- Robert Aldrich first wrote the story with Robert Sherman in 1959 and wanted Laurence Olivier and Trevor Howard to play the leads, while planning to scout locations in Burma.
- After all costs were deducted, Too Late the Hero had an overall loss of $6,765,000, making it one of the biggest money losers in the history of ABC Films.
SPOILER
Aldrich was asked to film two separate endings for American and British audiences, one of them letting Cliff Robertson's character survive.
