Too Late The Hero - Production

Production

In actuality, the Japanese never were in the New Hebrides in World War II; the American forces arrived in May 1942. The bulk of the film was made on Boracay Island in the Philippines with the opening and closing segments filmed outside the Subic Bay Naval Base using sailors and American civilians as extras. by the same crew and using many of the same sets of Jack Starrett's The Losers. Robert Aldrich recalled that the production company ABC Films, wanted another version of his The Dirty Dozen and that Too Late the Hero, a property that could use the some of the same elements, had been languishing in studio drawers for over a decade. The idea of the film came from an unpublished novel called Don't Die Mad by Robert Sherman who had worked on several films with Aldrich.

The attitudes depicted in the World War II film made during the Vietnam War era reflected the 1960s, with one character talking about "long haired conscientious objectors". The poster advertising the film showed a fallen soldier dressed in a 1960's American uniform and holding an M16 rifle.

Aldrich was requested to film two separate endings for the American and British audiences, one with Robertson surviving.

ABC Pictures first release was Charly, for which Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor. However Aldrich would not let Robertson leave the Philippine set to attend the ceremony. Aldrich said he wanted "anyone but Cliff Robertson" for the lead role but he was overruled by the studio.