In Robert Aldrich's pulsating World War II thriller, Lawson (Cliff Robertson), an American naval officer specializing in Asiatic languages, is sent to the Pacific theater to assist a group of British soldiers (Michael Caine, Denholm Elliott, and Harry Andrews) in a seemingly simple mission--knock out the enemy's key transmitter. But the allied soldiers soon realize they are up against unsurpassable odds and that hopes of survival are sliver thin.