King Rat (1965)

Absolutely Fantastic

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

King Rat might have lost its edge in recent times. 1 Because its an old film. 2 It was shot in Black and White. 3 There have been other films dealing with brutality in a prisoner of war camp such as Empire of the Sun.James Clavell whose novel this film is based on was a survivor of a Japanese prisoner of war camp. This film is about survival and the different things people do to survive even if it means throwing others under a train. Some might steal extra rations, you see Tom Courtenay's dismay when he finds out the officers using dodgy weights to steal food from the lower ranks.However the King Rat is the wheeler dealer George Segal who wants to make out of the war alive, well fed and well clothed. He cares for no one but himself. Well at least his close friends seem to be doing well even though a few turn their backs on him once the war ends and try to re-assert their authority. In a sense this was happening in the wider world during the war, in civilian life this was the age of the spiv, the black marketeers who were profiteering whereas others were on rations.James Fox upper crust air-force man is the only one that seems to have a genuine friendship Segal and even then you are unsure because Fox had information which he needs. Of course once the war ends Segal realises things will change, he is after all a lowly corporal and will end being ordinary and reviled by his comrades.Bryan Forbes wrote and directed the film with a touch of cynicism. Its well acted by Segal, Fox and Courtenay. Excellent support from some of the minor characters as well such as Denholm Elliott and John Mills.

Pretty much everything has been said in the other reviews. The only thing I can add is that the book SHOULD be read before watching the movie. I just watched the film on "AntennaTV". It ran for 3 hours(w/lots of commercials) and while it was a good adaptation of the book it didn't come close to the character/plot development needed to really appreciate the film. What struck me was the realization that if I hadn't read the book I would have been relatively clueless to a lot of what, and why, things were happening in the film. I don't fault the screenplay or the director. There was just so much going on that it would've been impossible to cover it in 130(?) minutes.It's been 25 years since I first read the book and, since then, I've probably read it more times than any other book I own.In short, read the book and then watch the film. You'll get sooooo much more out of it.

This gritty prisoner of war film follows the pattern of all James Clavells' novels.The only difference is that this story was lived by Clavell himself at Changi, A Japanese prisoner camp in the rain forests of Singapore during WWII. All of Clavells "Asian saga" stories feature a character who is trying to achieve a goal and enlists someone to help him in this.In King Rat the "king' Is helped by RAF pilot Peter Marlowe to sell a black market diamond to help provide for their safety to buy camp guard protection as the war ends.In Clavells'"Shogun" Toranaga wants to be the leader of feudal Japan and he is helped in this goal by the foreign Englishman Blackthorn. In his "Tai-Pan" story of the founding of Hong Kong as a English trading port with the Chinese, Dirk Struan is helped by his bastard son Gordon Chen.In "Gai-Jin" Yoshi tries to consolidate his power to bring Japan into the modern world with the help the Struans while in "Noble House" Clavell continues with Ian Dunross getting help from the American T.C. Cholock in 1960s Hong Kong. King Rat is just the first of these fascinating stories of charismatic leaders knowing how to use those around them to reach a goal. The movie, like the book, is grim and realistic but also engaging story of the relationship of two men living through extreme times.

I have no doubt that if William Holden's Sergeant Sefton from Stalag 17 ever met up with George Segal's Corporal King from King Rat, King would survive easily. He's got a much tougher chance for survival where he is in the Malayan jungle in a Japanese prisoner camp.Segal is quite the operator in fact had he been captured alone as William Holden did in that other famous POW part he played in The Bridge of the River Kwai, Segal would probably have swapped identities with an officer and he'd have made it work for him better than Holden did in his role. As it is he's doing a pretty good job of surviving, he's a street smart American kid from the slums for who this is just another jail and that's something he knows about.That doesn't sit well with King and country British officer Tom Courtenay who spends every minute trying to nail Segal on something, anything from collaboration to theft. Segal proves too cagey for him.In fact one way or another everyone does whatever he has to do to survive, something that Courtenay never learns. Even camp prisoner commander John Mills recognizes reality.The Japanese are rarely seen here, unlike in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Presumably these guys are so deep in the jungle they need very little guards. Living on subsistence diet, the mostly British prisoner population police themselves and not once is there an attempt at an escape.James Clavell who wrote the epic Shogun and Taipan about the Orient was a prisoner of war and wrote King Rat in collaboration with director Bryan Forbes who got great performances out of his mostly British cast. Two I didn't mention are James Fox who becomes Segal's interpreter and mistakes his usefulness for friendship and Patrick O'Neal who plays Segal's go-fer sycophant.King Rat got two Oscar nominations for Black and white cinematography and art&set design and lost both to Ship of Fools. It ranks up there with the two William Holden classics as among the best prisoner of war films done. Definitely catch this one when broadcast.