Return from the River Kwai

This definitive 'non-fictional' account of the rescue of Allied troops from a Japanese PoW camp features an unspectacular line-up of actors whose sole point of reference is the implicit understanding that they've all had better parts. Leading our heroes is well-known American fighter pilot Christopher Penn, followed hotly by Edward Fox, commander of the Brit contingent of the prisoners, the Australian Commander Nick Tate, and Colonel Denholm Elliott, who makes a virtue of playing the fall guy in life's rich tapestry of war films. Pitted against these awesome odds are evil Lieutenant Tanaka (played with traditional sadistic relish by George Takei) whose plan is to ship the PoWs to various Japanese car factories, and a thinly disguised Hirohito-style Major Harada (Nakadai). A tacky lager lout view of war.