Back Door to Hell ** (1964, Jimmie Rodgers, Jack Nicholson, John Hackett) – Classic Movie Review 7,847

The 1964 black and white Back Door to Hell is a youthful partnership of director Monte Hellman and star Jack Nicholson in a war film about a World War Two Philippines mission by three US soldiers to destroy a Japanese communications centre.

The 1964 black and white American-Filipino movie Back Door to Hell is a youthful partnership of director Monte Hellman and star Jack Nicholson in a war film about a World War Two Philippines reconnaissance mission by three US soldiers who grab a Japanese position for its transmitter. Their mission is to destroy a Japanese communications centre to pave the way for General MacArthur’s return to the Philippines.

Back Door to Hell is obviously cheaply made, but it is an interesting cult item, shot together by Hellman on location in the Philippines with Flight to Fury, making it look authentic. It also stars Jimmie Rodgers, John Hackett, Annabelle Huggins, Conrad Maga and Johnny Monteiro.

John Hackett wrote the screenplay on the ship from the US to the Philippines while Jack Nicholson was writing the script for Flight to Fury. 

Jack Nicholson’s screenplay for 1963 American action film Thunder Island had impressed Robert Lippert, so gave Nicholson and his friends Monte Hellman and John Hackett $160,000 and $400 a week salary to make two films on location in the Philippines. The three men travelled for 28 days by ship via Hawaii, Hong Kong and Japan with Hellman’s wife and child. It was a working trip. The three men working on the screenplays on the voyage.

Back Door to Hell is directed by Monte Hellman, runs 75 minutes or 69 minutes, is produced by Lippert Pictures and Medallion Films, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Richard A Guttman and John Hackett, based on a story by Richard A Guttman, is shot in black and white by Nonong Rasca [Mars Rasca], is produced by Fred Roos, and is scored by Mike Velarde.

Hellman (born 12 July 1932) and Nicholson also filmed two existential Westerns in Utah together: The Shooting (1966) and Ride in the Whirlwind (1966).

American pop singer Jimmie Rodgers (September 18, 1933 – January 18, 2021) had a brief movie career with lead performances in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1961) and Back Door to Hell.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,847

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