Grade: B+
Synopsis: An American Corporal (George Segal) wheels and deals his way to an easier life for himself and his friends inside a Japanese POW camp in Singapore.
King Rat is, in many ways, the film that Stalag 17 should have been. It’s a powerful, gritty, thought-provoking look at the lengths men will go to in order to survive, as well as a microcosmic look at the capitalist versus socialist economic model.
On the one hand, you have the titular character, played by George Segal, who embodies the capitalist spirit. Rising from a lowly corporal to become the de-facto king of the camp through wit and ingenuity, he rewards those around him based on merit and ability, regardless of rank or station. He also lives a life of relative luxury, while those around him struggle for the bare necessities of survival.
Opposite him, there’s the Provost, played by Tom Courtenay. Courtenay is the embodiment of socialism, demanding equal rewards and supplies for everyone, regardless of merit or rank. He despises Segal’s character with an almost fanatical zeal, but can’t get the better of him because Segal’s character has everyone in his pocket.
On this level, King Rat is the most successful and the most thought provoking. The only problem is that they exhaust this metaphor well before the film’s 134-minute running time expires. That’s not to say the film is too short, but rather that it’s too short as is. A three-hour version featuring a bigger payoff for some of the film’s side plots involving animals would have played better, as would a shorter, 1 hour 45 minute version that greatly reduced them, but writer/director Bryan Forbes (who adapted from James Clavell’s novel) tries for the best of both worlds but doesn’t quite succeed, resulting in a very good, but not perfect effort that’s nonetheless worth a look.
