Hell In The Pacific

Stranded on a desert island with a man of another race, and a sworn enemy, has been a long-standing story, but this time the men are an American pilot (Lee Marvin) and a Japanese officer (Toshiro Mifune), thrown together during World War II. At first suspicious and hostile, they sabotage each other and express territorial markers like any animal. Being marooned for an indefinite amount of time, they find the other a useful means to keep their wits and values in tact. Their personal war devolves into a feud, and then a begrudging respect. Though they may want to kill each other, their admiration for survival (and inherent loneliness) makes them use the other as a sounding board on the will to live. Without a common language, or even attempt to speak meaningfully, they must throw in together and forge a raft to escape their “Hell in the Pacific.”