The film of Norman Mailer's best-seller starring AIdo Ray, Cliff Robertson and Raymond Massey

This was one of the first novels to shock the public with the raw imagery of men at war.
The film rights were snapped up by Howard Hughes-himself a larger-than-life character, eccentric millionaire, and the owner of RKO studios. Pundits reckoned the book was unfilmable, but after much delay it emerged as an intelligent if simplified version with fine performances from Ray Robertson and Massey as the three figures locked in conflict over their attitude to military authority. And the action scenes with the Panama jungle doubling for the Pacific island settings are vigorously handled by veteran director Raoul Walsh.