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To End All Wars

Duration:

125 min | USA:117 min | Germany:110 min (TV version) | UK:110 min (TV version)

Genres:

Action | Drama | War

IMDB rate:

7.1

Director:

David L. Cunningham

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Filming Locations: Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA

Cast

Actor

Character

Ciarán McMenamin

Capt. Ernest 'Ernie' Gordon

Robert Carlyle

Maj. Ian Campbell

Kiefer Sutherland

Lt. Jim 'Yankee' Reardon

Mark Strong

Dusty Miller

Yugo Saso

Takashi Nagase

Sakae Kimura

Sgt. Ito

James Cosmo

Lt. Col. Stuart McLean

Masayuki Yui

Capt. Noguchi

John Gregg

Camp Doctor Coates

Shû Nakajima

Nagatomo (as Shu Nakajima)

Greg Ellis

Sgt. Roger Primrose

Pip Torrens

Lt. Foxworth

James McCarthy

Norman

Brendan Cowell

Wallace Hamilton

Winton Nicholson

Duncan

Tracy Anderson

Crazy Man

Duff Armour

Jan

Robert Jobe

Lars

Jeremy Pippin

Young Dutch Soldier

Adam Sinclair

John

Christopher Gyre

Cockney

Sergio Jones

Irishman (as Sergio Alarcon)

Kelli Walchek

Scottish Mother

Jonathan Chapman

Server

Robert Lee

Captain Paratrooper

Richard Joseph Lafond Jr.

American Soldier (as Richard Lafond Jr.)

Ben Huddleston

Young Scot (as Benjamin A. Huddleston)

Daryl Bonilla

Young POW

Clyde Yamashita

Japanese NCO

Joji Yoshida

Guard #1

Koji Haga

Guard #2

Ernest Gordon

Himself (uncredited)

Masa Kanome

Soldier (uncredited)

Nick Meaney

(uncredited)

Takashi Nagase

Himself (uncredited)

Teddy Sears

Paratrooper

Did you know?

Trivia

The opening prologue states: "The following account is based on actual events during World War II, when 61,000 Allied POWs were forced to build the Thailand-Burma Railway."

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The film's dedication during the closing credits is to Captain Ernest 'Ernie' Gordon who is played by Ciarán McMenamin in the film. The dedication states that the film is made In Memory of Ernest Gordon, 31 May 1916 - 16 January 2002.

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According to the film's closing epilogue, after World War 2, Captain Ernest Gordon became Dean of the Chapel at Princeton University for twenty-six years (becoming the Reverend Ernest Gordon) whilst former Japanese Imperial Translator Takashi Nagase became a Buddhist monk. Moreover, fifty-five years after World War II, Gordon and former Nagase met at the Death Railway Cementery in Thailand, which is depicted in-part at the end of this film.

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Goofs

The real commander of the 2nd battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart, was not killed in a POW camp. He, and some others, managed to escape to India.

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At the end when the veterans are marching, a caption says they are from the 93rd Division of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It should say the 93rd Regiment.

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The American 'paratroopers' who liberate the POW camp all have large protective goggles on their helmets. However, such goggles were usually worn only by special troops such as bazooka teams and tank crews.

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Quotes

Dr. Coates: [examining newly arrived POWs] Relish your health now, gentlemen: it's the last you'll see of it.

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Ernest Gordon: When you surrender in war, you're stripped of your dignity as a soldier. And all you've got left is your fellow comrades, many of whom you've just met.

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Primrose: [to new arrivals] Officers, try to keep your shirt *on*. It'll distinguish you from the grunts, which is about the *only* thing that's keeping us from degenerating into a bloody anarchy.

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