Once Before I Die

1966 "When the heat of the jungle and the hell of war cross paths"
3.9| 1h37m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 December 1966 Released
Producted By: Seven Arts Productions
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Stranded behind enemy lines when the Japanese attack the Philippines in late 1941, Lt. Bailey must lead a group of soldiers and their families to safety and the streets of Manila. During the perilous trek, Alex befriends a virginal young soldier whose only desire is to have sex once before he dies.

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Reviews

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!
Micitype Pretty Good
LouHomey From my favorite movies..
Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** It's December 1941 and the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor with the Philippines their next target on the agenda that has a unit of US Army cavalrymen playing a game of polo caught with their pants down and strafed by Japanese Zero fighter planes. It the man is charge Maj. Bailey, John Derek, who's job it is to get his unit back to Manila and join the US/Filipino troops there to fight the soon to be invading Japanese who are planning an assault landing there.The movie soon degenerates like the US positions on the Islands into total chaos with the outnumbered US troopers slowly picked off and wiped out by the advancing Japanese military. With their commander and chief Maj.Bailey blowing himself up with a loose hand grenade while looking for a puppy that got itself lost in the fighting.It's Bailey's girlfriend Alex, Ursual Andress, who now takes center stage in trying to find a way out of this mess with the few US troops still left alive. It's the crazed eyes Lt. "Blood & Guts" Custer, Played by a clean shaven and skin head looking Richard Jaeckel, who eventually leads the remainder of the US unit into a Japanese trap. That by him staging a hopeless and suicide assault on the far more superior in both men and equipment Japanese that leaves Alex as the only survivor. Alex for her part showed her kind feelings for humanity or mankind by offering her womanly pleasures to 22 year old virgin US soldier Rpd Lauren just before, with a big smile on his face, the Japanese troops gunned him down.***SPOILERS****Not much to see with the exception of actress-boy is she hot-Ursula Andress who gives her all, off camera, for her fellow man as well as country in the fight against the Japanese Empire. It's while the film was being made that Ursula and her husband John Derek called it quits that gave the film an extra reason for watching it. It also explains why John Derke was killed off so soon in the movie in him not just leaving his wife Ursula but the rotten script that he was handed.
drystyx This is actually two plots as I remember it.I saw it in the days of antenna TV, when we were lucky if we could make out faces. Antenna TV was why it was necessary to make TV shows and movies (which would eventually go to TV) with very different looking actors, unless it was a plot device to cause confusion.It had a style to it. And I didn't become annoyed by the Ursula character, probably because while the title suggested her character was the forefront, she was actually just the backdrop.Her story about the soldier who may die a virgin, and other soldiers who are constantly near her, is the weaker story here, and is downplayed, despite the title.The strong story, which really became the forefront story, was the one about the loose cannon soldier.The loose cannon soldier dominates the story, especially in a scene where he gives an account of how he destroyed an enemy unit, and is ridiculed by those he gives the account to, until he shows them the proof.It probably would have been a much better film without Ursula in it, although she is talented, and does her best. The fact is that her part is just not really a part of the story here.
Claudio Carvalho One of the Worst Movie EverThe unique point that worth in this movie is the astonishing beauty of Ursula Andress. She plays Alex, a dumb blonde in Manila, 1941, shortly after the Japanese attack to Pearl Harbor. Her character is so shallow and stupid that impress, the same way the countless closes of her gorgeous face. But this movie is so cheesy, with such an awful director, horrible story and screenplay, ridiculous dialogs and ham actors, which even Ursula Andress performance and beauty is unable to save. A film to be forgotten, and I am going to get rid of it from my collection. My vote is two.Title (Brazil): `Chamas da Paixão' (`Flames of Passion')
frankfob John Derek has never made a good movie in his life. He's been IN some good ones, but he's never MADE a good one, and there's no better example of his almost complete lack of talent as a filmmaker than this. He takes a potentially interesting story--the guerrilla war waged against the Japanese after their takeover of the Philippines in World War II--and for some reason turns it into a game of who's going to nail Ursula Andress before the Japanese kill everybody. Derek apparently thought that the sight of Andress, his wife (or girlfriend, or whatever she was) at that time, in various stages of undress was enough to draw people into the theaters (it wasn't). Because of that, he obviously paid no attention whatsoever to minor things like having a coherent script, directing the other actors, maintaining a semblance of continuity--trivial matters like that. The only saving grace (professionally, that is) is Richard Jaeckel's performance as a soldier eventually driven insane by the fighting. Jaeckel was always one of the most watchable actors around; he had that cockiness and explosive quality that Cagney had, and no matter how lousy the movie was (like this one), he always pulled it up a couple of notches. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have been able to pull this thing up with a crane. Its infuriating pretentiousness is its main undoing. The dialogue is so Ed Woods-ian in its rambling, nonsensical "what-the-HELL-are-they-talking-about?" absurdity that you finally find yourself wishing that the Japanese would come in, whack everybody and put the cast--and the audience--out of their misery. An absolutely painful experience that makes you wonder, "How in God's name did he get anyone to put up the money to make this thing?" Skip it.