Review of Back Door to Hell (1964) by Max M — 12 Oct 2009

Early film from director Monte Hellman (Cockfighter, Two-Lane Blacktop and producer of Reservoir Dogs) about a trio of American soldiers (Jimmie Rogers, John Hackett and Jack Nicholson) sent to the Philippines during WWII to attack a Japanese base, with the aid of the Philippino resistance, in order to prepare for an American invasion.

Interesting story peppered with some decent anti-war ruminations, that is ultimately hampered by the lack of a decent running time (the film is a scant 1 hour and 9 minutes). The audience has barely enough time to really get to know any of the characters and the action scenes are rather poorly staged.

Hellman is normally a very strong director but he is a bit too cerebral for what should have been a straight-up WWII action picture. His subdued style was much better suited for his later pictures such as the offbeat westerns The Shooting and Ride the Whirlwind, both of which also starred Nicholson (who also wrote the later) and the brilliant films Cockfighter and Two-Lane Blacktop.

Coming out of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking (his first film was the Corman-produced, The Beast From Haunted Cave), Hellman knew how to maximize a location. Shooting on location in the Philippines he managed to make two movies for the price of one - this one and Flight to Fury, about a search for a lost treasure which also starred and was co-written by Jack Nicholson (the two would make five pictures total together) - for producer Fred Roos, who would go on to produce The Godfather films for another Corman alumn, writer/director Francis Ford Coppola.