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Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . to literal hot dog. KING RAT is a gastronomical smörgåsbord of WWII P.O.W. fare, from bugs to yolks. A sense of dread pervades KING RAT for most of its two and a quarter hour running time, even though the camp's Japanese captors rarely are on-screen. A sizable cemetery is shown for prisoners who've previously been executed, starved to death, or died from disease, but only a few fatalities are implied during the final months of the war covered by this story. There are no killings on-camera. Essentially, KING RAT is a "chick flick" for men, as the entire show focuses on the emotional relationships that develop between men under duress. No females appear anywhere, unless you count hens and rats. KING RAT is "fair and balanced," as Fox News likes to say, since none of the Japanese atrocities covered by such films as THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI are depicted here. KING RAT is NOT John Wayne's type of war movie. It's more like THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, without the nude girls, profanity, and booze.

stancym-1 I just read all the reviews of King Rat which I first saw as a kid in 1967. It knocked me out then and it has knocked me out the few times I have seen it since. I decided to read the reviews before deciding whether or not to tape it tomorrow at 4 AM for yet another viewing. There is little to add to all that has already been said, except: James Fox made an incredible debut in his first film, The Servant, which is also WELL worth viewing--another outstanding British black-and-white film of the sixties. It was a real loss when he quit acting for so many years. Thankfully, he returned. Recently he was in an episode of an Inspector Lewis mystery on PBS, and his character was witty and "delicious" and he played the part to the hilt.Tom Courtenay is also a wonderful actor who has not been in nearly enough films. Perhaps I will look at his provost character in King Rat less sympathetically after reading all these reviews. I think it is just that I like Courtenay so much and he is such a good actor, I have to work to dislike his straight-laced, stubborn, rigid but highly ethical character in the film.George Segal was never so impressive again as he was in this film, although I did like him in Virginia Woolf and in A Touch of Class. He just never seemed quite like a true movie star to me. Didn't "blow my skirt up" as they say.....It's definitely a classic film about how the will to survive while not going mad will bring out the basest and most selfish aspects of mankind. I don't know if a lot of other women enjoy World War 2 films and POW films, but I do. With or without "romanticized patriotism," which this film certainly avoids! This is a must-see film and the entire cast is superb as is the script and direction. Like other reviewers, I wish this film were better known.

fokker55 I saw this movie when I was 10 years old or so when it was first released in '65 or '66. I remember George Segal's clean, well-fed and dressed performance in a role that, as an mid-boomer American, I resented in the looong (134 min.) black and white movie. Except for vague memories re the eggs, watch and of course, the rat victuals, all else blur with the passage of time. As I usually avoid TV's pan/scan, edited for content and time version of movies, I haven't seen it since. I read Cleavall's novel probably 20+ years later as a battered ppbk. Now, twenty years still later, the two have merged in my noodle-based, imperfect, personal RAM/ROM storage system. So I have it coming from Netflix this week and look forward to seeing which memories were from which source.In the meantime, here's a poser for you fans of the written word: I seem to recall early in the novel, a character remarked while swatting at an omnipresent fly using a plant fiber or hair swishing swatter, that he didn't try to kill the fly, he wanted to injure it could share the suffering of the prisoners did while the ants devoured it.Also in the novel, someone advised that to avoid dysentery, when defecating, use your left hand to wipe because you used your right hand to eat with.But then again, there may have been an Arabic source for this little truism.

John von K My wife - who wasn't even born when King Rat was released - fell in love with George Segal as we watched this film last night. This film really does stand the test of time. Apart from Mr Segal there is wonderful naturalistic work from James Fox and Tom Courtney, fully rounded cameos from Denham Elliot, James Donald and John Mills but for me the treat was the performance of Patrick O'Neal as Max. This American actor was never again put to such use on screen. John Barry's music is spare and works to. It's moving, frightening and dryly amusing. Fans of the novel will not be disappointed in Bryan Forbes adaptation or his sharp, unfussy and unsentimental direction.