I was surprised to find so few and low rated reviews on this deeply compassionate film about World War II veterans who chose to continue risking their lives by saving lives of others. George Chakiris, Richard Widmark and Yul Brynner have each one their own story to tell of profound human interest, Chakiris battling with a constantly bad conscience for having failed in one rescue emergency operation during the war, Widmark constantly battling with his hatred of the Japanese because of what they did during the war with his love Shirley Knight as a casualty, and Yul Brynner, part Japanese, part Polish, recalling his crushing love affair in Tunisia with a moslem girl he wanted to marry. It's a great film for its very realistic pathos offering an alternative solution to the most common war trauma: not to be able to stop fighting, and usually resorting to drinking or drugs for a bad recompense; but these men channelled their persisting war energy into an Air Rescue Service, battling their guilt complexes and insufficiency traumas by saving and rescuing lives in desperate need. Most of the film is flashbacks from the war, but the situation is of timeless and universal interest.
