Pueblo (1973 TV Movie) User Reviews (5)

Riveting and harrowing.

[steelerstwin · 10/10 · 17 October 2009]

This television movie is much like a stage play, videotaped for TV. It is absolutely riveting. I was a child at the time it originally aired and I knew nothing of the Pueblo incident, but I soon learned the entire, harrowing story, thanks in part to this excellent drama.

Hal Holbrook, normally very good in any role he tackles, is superb as Commander Lloyd Bucher. The story involves the illegal capture of the American spy ship U.S.S. Pueblo off the North Korean coast in January of 1968. After the capture the U.S. Navy tried to use Bucher as a scapegoat for surrendering without firing a shot, but his actions resulted in saving the lives of all but one of his crewmen. Holbrook is excellent as the tortured Bucher (both emotionally and physically) who has to struggle to keep him men alive and his dignity intact. Holbrook (just like the real Bucher) manages to do both.

I do not know who directed this stage-play picture, but it was wonderfully done. The grim torture scenes are not too explicit but there's always a gloomy, ominous air of fear in the flashback scenes. It really affected me as a kid and it has always stuck with me.

Holbrook does a great job in the court-room scenes and the viewer gets a tremendous feeling of empathy for him as he battles his injuries, his emotional hatred of the North Koreans and his own superior officers who are looking anywhere but at themselves for the blame.

There's a fine supporting cast including the always-reliable Ronny Cox.

Anyone who appreciates fine drama should see this. This harrowing story is even more poignant because it is true. We should not forget the heroes of the U.S.S. Pueblo... this film allows us the chance to always remember.

Amazing television docudrama

[climbingivy · 10/10 · 21 September 2009]

I watched this movie for the first time last night.I was glued to the movie from the very beginning to the very end.I know a little bit about the history of the 1967 seizure of the American naval vessel the U.S.S. Pueblo.I did not know about how our Navy soldiers were treated by the North Koreans,or for that matter how our own government,including the United States Navy itself,treated the men of the U.S.S. Pueblo.I can say this,the United States Navy treated our men very badly.The North Koreans treated our men the way that you would expect them to.The North Korens will never be able to justify their actions.What is really disturbing is North Korea never paid a price for what they did to our men.I am frankly amazed at how they got through their captivity that lasted for around a year.This movie is based on the investigation in 1969 that was conducted by the U.S. Congress about the incident and the facts that were exposed.Hal Holbrook was amazing as Captain Lloyd Bucher.I have always enjoyed Mr.Holbrook's work as a fine actor.This movie was his zenith.Pueblo was done as a sort of stage play.Unususal and compelling.I rated this movie a 10!I have this movie.

A terrific docu drama

[searchanddestroy-1 · 27 April 2014]

I am Lucky to have access to such rare stuff from the US or UK. I admit it. This TV show is absolutely terrific, outstanding at the most. Hal Hoolbrook gives here one of his best performances ever. I was glued to it from the beginning to the end. I have already seen such schemes, about US soldiers, air force pilots, prisoners by foreign and communists armies. All were very good too. I won't say much more to the other comments for this one.

I loved the scenes with the POW guys showing their finger up to their Korean guards. Very funny sequence, maybe the only one in this depressing and very hard to watch drama. This true TV masterpiece.

Performance of the year. Legend of a lifetime.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 11 August 2023]

This one's a bit different than most TV movies made in the 1970's, a videotaped drama with minimal sets and action which in theory sounds really boring but in execution isn't. Hal Holbrook had already won great acclaim playing Mark Twain, and as a stage and TV character actor (little theatrical movie credits at this time), went for really unique projects like this. He's the real life commander of an American navy ship in the Pacific doing research and is captured by the Korean military who arrests them and threatens execution as spies. On trial for various assumptions of dereliction of duty makes Holbrook and others victims of the enemy and their country.

Veteran Chinese American actor James Hong has hundreds of credits, and he's popped up in more movies that I've watched recently than any other actor. His persona has put him in many wise, kindly roles, so when he's cast as a villain, it's a shock to see him being so cruel. As the antagonist of this teleplay, he's absolutely vile, yet so fascinating that you can't take your eye off of him. The film is mainly a series of closeups of interviews in the hearing about what happened to the Pueblo, opening up to explore the tortures of Holbrook and his men, orders demanded by Hong's unsympathetic character.

Yep, that's kindly Ruth Martin of "All My Children" fame, Mary Fickett, as Holbrook's wife, along with veteran actors Larry Gates, Andrew Duggan and Barnard Hughes, just a few of the large ensemble. This really builds in emotional impact, starting out with closeup just on Holbrook which instantly gives the viewer comfort. Sound effects really adds to the emotions although general statements about both North and South Koreans gives them a hard nosed barbaric feel, even when Hong explains motives for resentments against the Americans. If done today, this might have been toned down in an anti-Korean bias, but that would weaken it of the angriness of this era towards communist regimes. Absolutely perfect the way it is.

TV film about a somewhat forgotten incident.

[yenlo · 6/10 · 9 July 1999]

This made for TV film is done semi-documentary style with certain parts resembling a stage play. The story is the important part. North Korean forces capture an American Naval vessel and the crew is imprisoned for nearly a year. Their captivity at the hands of the North Koreans is depicted through flashback sequences. Recently Arthur Kent hosted a documentary on the History Channel about the Pueblo incident that was superb.