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James Michener's novel about an American G.I. (Marlon Brando) who falls in love with a Japanese kabuki starlet (Miiko Taka) after the Korean War is both timeless and bizarre. Timeless because it has that Romeo and Juliet feeling of crossed cultures -- the love affair made difficult here due to military rules and societal pressures, not to mention the fact that Brando's character agrees with those rules and pressures to start with. It's bizarre because of Brando's histrionics (Referring to sake, he says nervously to his Japanese gal, 'We got rice back home but we just make rice pudding out of it, we don't drink it!'), Red Buttons in a serious role, and Ricardo Montalban playing a Japanese man (at least I think he's supposed to be Japanese). It's crazy. You won't know whether to laugh or cry, but you won't be able to look away.
