King Rat (1965)

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Writers:

James Clavell (novel)
Bryan Forbes (written for the screen by)

Release Date:

27 October 1965 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

He entered WWII a soldier... and left a King.

Plot:

The Japanese prisoner-of-war camp Changi in Singapore, which houses Allied POWs, is a living hell. The...

Plot Keywords:

Deep Focus | All Male Cast | Japan | Prisoner Of War | WWII

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

George Segal	...	Corporal King: The American Hut
Tom Courtenay	...	Lt. Robin Grey: The Provost Staff
James Fox	...	Peter Marlowe: Hut 16
Patrick O'Neal	...	Top Sgt. Max: The American Hut
Denholm Elliott	...	Lt. G.D. Larkin: Hut 16
James Donald	...	Dr. Kennedy: The Hospital Staff
Todd Armstrong	...	Tex: The American Hut
John Mills	...	Col. George Smedley-Taylor: The Senior Officers
Gerald Sim	...	Lt. Col. Jones: The Senior Officers
Leonard Rossiter	...	Maj. McCoy: Hut 16
John Standing	...	Capt. Daven: Hut 16
Alan Webb	...	Col. Brant: The Senior Officers
John Ronane	...	Capt. Hawkins: Hut 16
Sammy Reese	...	Kurt: The American Hut
Michael Lees	...	Stevens: The Hospital Staff
Wright King	...	Maj. Brough: Hut 16
Hamilton Dyce	...	Chaplain Drinkwater: Hut 16
Joe Turkel	...	Dino: The American Hut (as Joseph Turkel)
John Merivale	...	Col. Foster: The Senior Officers
Geoffrey Bayldon	...	Squadron Leader Vexley: Hut 16
Reg Lye	...	Tinker Bell: The Australians
Arthur Malet	...	Sgt. Blakeley: The Australians
Hedley Mattingly	...	Dr. Prudhomme: The Hospital Staff
Dale Ishimoto	...	Yoshima: The Japanese
John Levingston	...	Myner: Hut 16
Teru Shimada	...	The Japanese General: The Japanese
Richard Dawson	...	Capt. Weaver: The Paratrooper
Michael Stroka	...	Miller: The American Hut
William Fawcett	...	Steinmetz: The American Hut
Roy Duane	...	Peterson: The Provost Staff
John Orchard	...	Pte. Gurble: The Australians
Larry Conroy	...	Townsend: The Australians
John Warburton	...	The Commandant: The Senior Officers
David Haviland	...	Masters: The Provost Staff
Anthony Faramus	...	Prisoner
Dick Johnson	...	Pop: The American Hut
John Barclay	...	Lt. Spence: Hut 16
Edward Ashley	...	Prouty: The Australians
David Frankham	...	Cox: Hut 16
Louis Neervort	...	Torusumi: The Japanese
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Pelling	...	Maj. Barry
Brian Gaffikin	...	Prisoner in hut (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson	...	1st Sergeant Camp Liberator (uncredited)

Directed by
Bryan Forbes

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
James Clavell		novel
Bryan Forbes		written for the screen by

Produced by
Marvin Miller	....	associate producer
James Woolf	....	producer

Original Music by
John Barry

Cinematography by
Burnett Guffey		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Walter Thompson

Production Design by
Robert Emmet Smith		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Robert Emmet Smith		(as Robert Smith)

Set Decoration by
Frank Tuttle

Costume Design by
Ed Ware		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Ben Lane	....	makeup supervisor
Joe DiBella	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Russell Saunders	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Roy Baker	....	dubbing editor
John Cox	....	sound
James Z. Flaster	....	sound
Charles J. Rice	....	sound supervisor

Special Effects by
John Burke	....	special effects (uncredited)
Gerald Endler	....	mechanical effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Orrison	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Andrew J. McIntyre	....	camera operator (as Andy McIntyre)

Music Department
John Barry	....	conductor

Other crew
Marie Kenney	....	script girl

Production Companies

• Coleytown (as A Coleytown Production)
• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1967) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Norway:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #20928) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Company:

Coleytown

Trivia:

In Interviews Bryan Forbes has said he had to fight the Screen Actors Guild over the most of the 15 British Equity members he wanted to cast. The Screen Actors Guild wanted British SAG members most who were fairly elderly most not suitable for the film.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Just before the camp is liberated we can hear an airplane fly over and it is definitely a propeller operated plane, however, the scene displays a jet flying over complete with vapor trails.

Quotes:

Cpl. King: [to Marlowe] You know, before this, everybody had it made but me. The closest I ever got was to read it out of magazines. I used to watch those real fancy dolls getting out of the big cars going to eat the big dinner. And they're always with pigs. You know, real pigs. Fat old guys; but they had it made.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Nugget (2002)

Clavell's most researched work

I saw "King Rat" on television shortly before going to Vietnam. A few months later I was reading the James Clavell novel while serving on DaNang Air Base with air force communications intelligence. It struck me that this book and this movie, which was "researched" by James Clavell when he was a POW in a camp near Singapore during World War II, have the real feel of what it is to be surrounded by enemy forces one almost never sees while being kept isolated on a hot, humid, dusty encampment It's an environment that brings out the best and the worst in mankind. The novel, the movie, and my own war zone experience also point out that adapting to a war zone and mastering the skills that enable one to survive and even prosper there do not necessarily mean that the individual will subsequently be adaptable to "civilization" when he returns to it. The novel, the movie, and my own experiences also raise the questions that are raised in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" (and even in "Rambo" for that matter): Which is more of a challenge and which is the "real" life: adapting to the war zone as a youth or the expectations by "civilization" that you readjust to life back in "the world" as if nothing had happened?