SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Kodie Bird
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Phillipa
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
bkoganbing
A rather trashy early account of the Vietnam War when it was the French still
fighting it is Five Gates To Hell. It's as if someone got all those yellow peril warnings out to create this film.If you believe this the Vietminh were really interested in our women folk for sex.
Well proportioned females weren't all that prevalent among their own women.Neville Brand plays a Vietminh guerrilla leader who kidnaps a hospital staff to
treat a local Vietminh leader, doctors and nurses. The patient dies and the
hospital staff effects an escape, the doctors die but the women wind up defending French colonialism and the virtue of white womanhood with the
exception of nurse Nobu McCarthy.A number of reviewers have already commented on Nancy Kulp, better known
as Ms. Jane Hathaway of the Beverly Hillbillies lobbing handgrenades like she
Nolan Ryan on the pitcher's mound.As if this oriental depravity isn't enough these people are even raping nuns among the nurses.Pure unadulterated trash.
cchristi2
I haven't seen this film since the early seventies, and I can remember it being a shocker to my teenage sensibilities. ( I think I had just been allowed to wear white lipstick, shades of Yardley!) But it held my attention, and I can remember seeing Nancy Culp (Yikes, Miss Jane, what are you doing with a grenade?) in a role 180 degrees from the office of the Commerce Bank and Mr. Drysdale. I remember the role of the nun being virtuous, but stoic in the face of war, and that Neville Brand was riveting as the main character. I wish this were available on DVD. The writing and the story were gripping, and Clavell never disappoints...
reelguy2
George Bernard Shaw once referred to Puccini's Tosca as that "shabby little shocker." That's an apt description for this Vietnam war film written and directed by James Clavell. Every manner of atrocity is committed in this unredeemable mess: garroting, rape, human boiling, crucifixion, pick-ax murder, and of course point blank shooting. Sure, it's a bloody war, but Clavell goes for the obvious sensational effect, without meaningful human values, much in the same way we've seen more recently in slasher pics.Clavell manages to elicit terrible performances from his usually-commendable team of actors. Patricia Owens as a cynical nurse and Shirley Knight as a sanctimonious nun win the awards for bad acting against fierce competition. And for all the murders he commits, the usually tough Neville Brand is surprisingly innocuous, although it doesn't help that he's forced to play a Vietnamese leader. Greta Chi gives the best performance; doesn't that say it all?There's some consolation at the end of the film when the women take arms against their captors. It's rather cathartic, I have to admit. But for sheer unpleasantness for most of its running time, this is a movie to avoid.
masibley
The day I was watching this movie, I went into labour with my second son, who has now passed away., therefore this particular movie has stuck itself into my memory, and when a friend told me today of this website, I had to see if it was listed....and it was.I never actually saw the entire movie, and would now love to purchase it if at all possible.Thank you. Mary Anne Sibley