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John Wayne leads a cast of Hollywood's elite on a World War 2 naval adventure of epic proportions. Rear Admiral Rock Torrey (Wayne), along with his Chief of Staff (Kirk Douglas) as tasked with halting the Japanese advance on the island of LeVuvanna. This movie is filled with battles at sea and on land, romance, fear, and courage. I've watched this movie a number of times on television, but seeing it on DVD in digital presentation only heightened my enjoyment. Other cast members such as Bergess Meridith, Slim Pickens, Carroll O'Connor, and many others made me long for the days when Hollywood made movies for national pride, not just the box office profits.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is a WWII movie I will watch again and again. The fact that it was filmed in black and white and produced long before HD does not detract from the story in any way. The story moves right along with a few independent threads which more-or-less get resolved prior to the end. There are even a few scenes with MARSOC Raiders which intrigued me, as my oldest son is a Raider. Lastly, this movie has romance, heroism, challenges with insurmountable odds, and humor. Anyone who likes war movies is likely to enjoy this movie.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The movie was directed by Otto Preminger around 1965, and used all scene locations in the State of Hawaii. It was, in my opinion, a much better way to recreate the era of which the story took place, which was the first few months after Pearl Harbor. I first saw the movie on network television in July 1976, when I served on a US Navy Ship (USS Valdez FF-1096), so the scenes shot on the US Navy Ships were indeed accurate in detail. When I again caught it a couple of years ago on a satellite movie channel service, it was only in the last movies' 1/2 hour that I could watch, thus I made it a point to condider purchasing it. Not many movies can boast a cast like John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Burgess Meredith, Henry Fonda, Patricia Neal, Paula Prentiss, Patrick Neal, George Kennedy, and other actors at the top of their careers. If you are looking for an action thriller, with loads of special effects, big fighting scenes, and on screen steamy sex, then this is not the movie for you. This movie was written with only subtle references in the class of motion pictures that you could take your entire family to the theatre to see without embarassment, before the ratings system became established. Shot in black and white and not in color, it adds to the quality because you are looking at crisp contrasts, instead of possibly faded color dyes in the film processing. Please purchase this film, as an example of what a great motion picture was in the 1960's.Read full review
Being a John Wayne fan, I am the first to admit that many of his films, although epic in Western Lore, often are "more cowboy than content." In this film, I feel that Otto Preminger chose the perfect cast of characters with which to work in this well made and timely story. The military aspect of this film is equally balanced with the personal stories of the lives of those people who lived the events. The weak link of this movie, in my opinion, was Kirk Douglas who acts more like a juvenile delinquent than a career naval officer, especially one who reached the level of Captain. The premise of a Captain being reprimanded for allowing his ship to be torpedoed by not zig-zagging was believable. After Pearl Harbor, everyone wanted to blame what happened on something or somebody. Years later, men who displayed the type of guts, were promoted. Soon, most realized the truth, the USA was looking in every direction except the right one at the time. Having been warned by Billy Mitchell in the mid 1920's and again in the 1930's that the U.S.Fleet was vulnerable to attack at Pearl Harbor, and was especially vulnerable to attack from Japan by air, nothing was ever done. Now we were in a real shooting war, and it was fight or die! Capt. Rockwell Torre (Wayne) had his arm broken in the initial attack at Pearl, and he met Nurse Lt. Maggie Haines(Patricia Neal) at the hospital. She was the head nurse and they began a relationship. In the following months, Wayne is in charge of routing convoys. Cdr. Eddington,(Douglas)has been sent on to the Philippines as officer in charge of docks and warehouses, sort of a "Get Lost and behave yourself" assignment. His wife, a flirt and trampy woman was killed at Pearl Harbor along with an officer she happened to be with. Now, about six months into the war, Wayne has figured out a major plan. He has deduced from ship and troop movements that a major offensive is about to happen. His intuition and experience is recognized by higher-ups and he is promoted to Rear Admiral, and put in operational charge of "Operation Shy-Hook". He has Eddington assigned as his Chief of Staff. This operation is designed to push the Japanese further back across the Pacific by establishing bomber bases deep in the Western Pacific. The back stories are all swirling around. Wayne's son Jeremy, is a P.T. boat skipper and is engaged to a cute little nurse who for a lack of a better term is a little "tease". She teases the wrong man and winds up raped by now Captain Eddington. The little nurse kills herself out of fear that she is pregnant. Operation Sky-Hook is a success, but as the Japanese fleet prepares to counter-attack and kick the Americans out, Eddington, knowing that his but was in a wringer, takes a plane on a one-way reconnaissance mission to gain information on the strength and whereabouts of the Japanese fleet. The infamous battle of Palo Passage was then fought. Wayne wakes up two weeks later on a hospital ship. Patricia Neal is there too. Wayne feels that he has failed terribly and gotten his entire fleet shot to bits. He has also been severely wounded and has lost his left leg. Instead, he finds out that despite the losses, the battle was an overwhelming U.S. victory, and that he would be returning to the war as soon as he was ready. This film was shot in black & white, and there were a lot of great sequences. The musical score and overall feel of the movie was genuine. I think that it was excellent, and one of Wayne's best movies.Read full review
This movie is good for your collection of war movies. DVD was in great shape, there was content in this movie that i didn't care for, but over all once you get past that it is great movie. Its one of those movie once you watch it you don't need to see again for a long while. Not like you want to watch every week.....
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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