george bernard shaw once refer to puccini tosca a that shabby little shocker . that an apt description for this vietnam war film write and direct by james clavell . every manner of atrocity be commit in this unredeemable mess represent garroting and rape and human boiling and crucifixion and pick ax murder and and of course point blank shooting . sure and it a bloody war and but clavell go for the obvious sensational effect and without meaningful human value and much in the same way we have see more recently in slasher pic . clavell manage to elicit terrible performance from his usually commendable team of actor . patricia owens a a cynical nurse and shirley knight a a sanctimonious nun win the award for bad act against fierce competition . and for all the murder he commit and the usually tough neville brand be surprisingly innocuous and although it doesn not help that he force to play a vietnamese leader . greta chi give the best performance while doesn not that say it all . there some consolation at the end of the film when the woman take arm against their captor . it rather cathartic and i have to admit . but for sheer unpleasantness for most of it running time and this be a movie to avoid .