In June of 1942, quite possibly the most important naval encounter of WWII took place in the middle of the Pacific, at Midway Island.  1976's Midway sets out to show, in much the same manner that 1970's Tora! Tora! Tora! did about Pearl Harbor, the events and decisions that led up to and decided this landmark battle for naval dominance.  Much like Pearl Harbor, it shows in detail how those events fell into place, and really couldn't have happened any other way.

However, Midway departs from "Tora!" in one key aspect.  Midway takes on a bit of a "docudrama" aspect, as we see in the seemingly unecessary sideline plot between Capt. Matt Garth (Charleton Heston) and his son, Ensign Tom Garth (Eddie Albert.)  In this plot, Tom has fallen for a Japanese-descended civilian, and dear old dad has to try and resolve this issue.  What this has to do with the battle of Midway is really a mystery to me.  I can only surmise that it was thrown in there in an attempt to make it less "documentary" like, and maybe to add some sort of human dimension to the story.  But if you removed it, really, you'd succeed in making the film shorter and more focused.

But enough about the griping.  The remainder of Midway is pure classic war movie fare.  Coupled with a stellar war-movies-whos-who, such as Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Robert Mitchum, Glenn Ford, Robert Wagner, Hal Holbrook, and the inimitable Toshiro Mifune as Admiral Yamamoto....  there is no denying the greatness of this picture.  Also keep a close eye out for other (at the time) upcoming stars, such as Dabney Coleman, Tom Selleck, and Erik Estrada.

The action starts off a little dull, but you'll have to chalk that up to the documentary-ish style of the first part of the picture.  Here we're witness to the revelation of US intelligence of the Japanese plans for Midway, or "station AF," and the decisions on both sides of the line which bring us to the second half of the film, and the tactical goings-on which decided the victory.

Once the battle begins, we're treated to stellar dogfights and epic images of airborne squadrons, intermixed with well-chosen stock footage snippets which just blend right in.  A lot of care was taken in connecting the film's footage with those stock reels.  You're also reminded of the sheer scale that battles were fought on in that war, hundreds of ships of all sizes, from multiple carriers with hundreds of aircraft, to the battleships and patrol boats.  All of which ultimately and unfortunately cost hundreds of lives.  Such a thing will probably never happen again, and I'm glad for it.

Performance-wise, the all-star cast shines.  Although I'm not sure if Mifune's voice was dubbed by someone else or not, it just doesn't seem to "match" him at all.  Truthfully I've never heard him speak English in another film, so I'm going off of experience.  It would have been a bit more authentic for the Japanese to have been native and subtitled, as in "Tora!", but ultimately more difficult to watch.

I have to give this one a full 9 out of 10.  The only reason I'm holding back that one star is due to the misplaced "Garth family" plot.  I'd heartily recommend Midway to anyone, of any age, for if nothing else a grand history lesson into the most important early battles in the Pacific, and an excellent stretch of 132 minutes.

Technorati Tags: midway, 1976, war movie review, 1942, pacific, world war ii 2, us navy, aircraft carriers, japan

From across the pond comes a little-known film called Overlord, which of course was the code name for the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion.

This film really is a hidden gem.  Shot completely in black and white, and brilliantly intermixed with a ton of documentary footage from the Imperial War Museum's archives, Overlord is a surprising bit of experimental film making.

The story follows one Thomas Beddows as he joins up for the Army in '44.  He's shuffled around in the pre-invasion buildup, until he finally disembarks across the channel.  Unfortunately, that's where the story ends.

Overlord combined the aforementioned archival footage in such a way as to be nearly seamless.  The movie's original footage was shot (or at least appears to be) in a similar style and with similar cameras and film as would have been for the era.

The only drawback to Overlord is that at times, especially towards the end, it gets a bit too arty-film-school for its own good.  There are a couple scenes which stand out in this respect, one being right at the end where he daydreams about the girl he met only once preparing his corpse in some bizarre ritual....  Yeah, stuff like that.

If you overlook those moments, you really find yourself admiring this film.  As one of the commentators in the DVD's special features said, you find yourself marvelling at the accidental beauty of the stock footage, only to be reminded, usually by that same footage just how horrible it all really is.

If you happen to come across this DVD, be sure to get into the special features section, as there is an entire "episode" which goes into where a lot of this footage actually comes from, and the people behind it.  I highly recommend checking that out.

Of note in this film, also, is a few rare glimpses at some of the British experimental beach invasion equipment, including the chain-flinging minesweeper tank, the "rolling carpet" tank, and a look at the failed "rocket wheel" (I forget the longish proper name for it) device which was designed to launch a high explosive charge across the water into the German's concrete beach defenses.

What could have been an absolutely brilliant film though, becomes a merely brilliant work due to the arty intrusions, so I give Overlord an eight....  Check this one out.

Technorati Tags: war movie review, overlord, 1975, d-day invasion, 1944, world war ii 2, wwii

In the eternal words of the almighty Beavis.... "Fire. FIRE!"

1971's Raid on Rommel has plenty of it.  And gunfire, and explosions.  Unfortunately the sound effects folks used the same clips.  Over and over again.  Which makes for a fairly monotonous exercise.

The plan is for Captain Foster (Richard Burton) of the British 5th Commando unit to get himself captured and from there stage a raid to take out the shore gun emplacements at Tobruk, in North Africa round about 1943.  Well, of course it doesn't go as planned, and he winds up escorting a group made up of medics and objectors, along with an Italian general's squeeze into the fight.

Just what was the purpose of having Vivi (Danielle De Metz) in this anyway, except as a brief moment of comic relief and something better to look at than Capt. Schroeder (Karl-Otto Alberty) and desert sand?!  Who knows.

Well, along the way they get sidetracked into burning down an Afrika Corps. fuel depot to immobilize the two Panzer divisions they find along the way.  That little exercise alone takes way too long in screen time.

Then there's the final battle.  What is with the editing here?  I lost count of how many times we saw the same clip of the same three or four guys rappelling down the side of the cannon bunker.  At least ten.  Here is the most monotonous bit of sound you'll come across.  Endless identical explosions and ricochets.  Argh.

Oh, and then there's a couple of strange moments when a member of the team gets shot, and there's some sort of freeze frame with an odd sound...  Eh?  And how can we forget the audio overlay of one of Hitler's speeches as they storm the bunker.  What is that?

Really, I remember watching this a lot, a long time ago on good old WGN and company back in the day, and for some reason don't recall it being this, well, awful.  Burton's performance is just dull, sort of reminds me of a less tongue-in-cheek version of McGoohan's No. 6 in The Prisoner.  At least No. 6 was somewhat funny.  And the rest?  Well, apart from a rare glimpse at John Colicos acting outside of a Cylon basestar there's not much else to say. 

I will give Wolfgang Preiss kudo's for his acting in the part of Rommel, though.  Even though, yet again, we seem to be somewhat celebrating him, as the Doctor and the General have a nice civilized discussion about stamp collecting, and he seems to take a genuine interest in the men in the hospital tent....

Ah well.  Couple all of the above with a soundtrack that is just overly pomp-and-circumstance and you've got Raid on Rommel.  Worth a gander if nothing else is on, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it.

Technorati Tags: war movie reviews, raid on rommel, 1971, richard burton, karl-otto alberty, john colicos, wolfgang preiss, afrika corps, 1943, tobruk

Two words.  Skip it!  Wait for the 1951 version of this starring Audie Murphy and Bill Mauldin to come around on the tube, or something.  Just avoid this at all costs.

Stephen Crane's classic novel, "The Red Badge of Courage", about a boy who becomes a man through the trials of his experience in the Civil War is turned into a glossy Cliff Notes version here.

Starring Richard "John Boy Walton" Thomas, his less-than-stellar performance is the highlight of the hour.  Which is about all the longer this made-for-TV fiasco is (thank goodness!)

The production is mediocre, and I quickly grew weary of the strings-and-harmonica "country" soundtrack they plastered on here.

Better yet, sit down and just read the book.  I'm sure most of us had to read it at one point in our schooled past, but it might warrant a second look....

Technorati Tags: red badge of courage, richard thomas, stephen crane, 1974, civil war, classics, simply awful, dreadful

There are times when you just have to throw all the analysis and whatnot right out the window, and just say, "DAMN! That was a cool movie!"

Time Slip (aka G.I. Samurai) is exactly the movie that time was made for.  In it, Lt. Iba's (Sonny Chiba) squad of the Japanese Self Defense Force gets thrown back in time to the time of the Shogun, the "Warring States" period of Japanese history.  The time of the Samurai and feuding warlords....  and, to use a cliche, all hell breaks loose.

Sure this little time travel twist has been played out before in other films and TV, such as 1980's The Final Countdown, and at least one episode of The Twilight Zone, and probably more I'm not remembering.  But few come close to the sheer awesomeness of G.I. Samurai.

Ahhh, sometimes it's refreshing to just watch a good old fashioned action war movie.  No particular message, no relevance to historical facts, or concerns about accuracy, just a good time for a couple of hours.

That's where Too Late the Hero comes in.  American Navy officer Lt. Sam Lawson (Cliff Robertson) gets sent from his cushy office job as a linguist into the jungles of some unnamed South Pacific island to assist the British forces there in destroying a Japanese radio station on the other side of the island.

Little does he know just how bad the situation is there, but he soon finds out, as he's sent off a short 30 minutes after his arrival on this mission.  He's not received well by any of the men, in particular Private Hearne (Michael Caine).  Add to that the seemingly inept leader of the mission, Capt. Hornsby (Denholm Elliot) and you can see where this is going. 

The first obstacle is to get across a large clearing to the jungle, but this clearing may as well be a graveyard, as few who try succeed... in either direction.

They manage to slip through, and after the usual episodic events like running across Japanese patrols, losing some of their men, smashing their radio, etc. and so on, they reach the station.  Then the tension starts as the Hornsby improvises, against the better judgement of Lawson.

Once the mission is complete, the remaining team has to make it back to base, but of course the Japanese commander Yamaguchi (Black Rain's Ken Takakura) has other plans, hunting them down and taunting them via loudspeaker until only Lawson and Hearne remain.

I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say it doesn't end exactly like you'd expect.  And Hearne's opinion of Lawson changes much for the better.

Too Late the Hero comes through on just about all fronts.  It's not hokey enough to be unbelievable, not realistic enough to be unpleasant to watch, the language is kept at a decent level, the writing and acting are good, and the soundtrack is one of the movie's strengths.

It's yet another one of those "hidden" gems that I enjoy coming across.

Technorati Tags: war movie reviews, too late the hero, 1970, world war ii 2, pacific, cliff robertson, michael caine, denholm elliot, ken takakura

Tora! is the quintessential model for a pseudo-documentary war movie, painstakingly attempting to chronicle the events (on both sides) leading up to the infamous 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

Is this an action-packed thriller that will keep you pinned to the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next?  No.  Absolutely not.  It is however a detailed (and lengthy at 2hrs 25 minutes) look at exactly how something like Pearl Harbor happened. 

From the Japanese Admiralty planning the attack, through the missteps of the US government and the miscommunication which ultimately might have prevented it, we are shown in great detail the mechanics of how not to prevent an invasion.

Sure its easy to say such things in hindsight.  And there's nothing that can be said to diminish the importance of the event in US history, but maybe we can learn a few things from it.  I think that's the goal of Tora!, to show us what happened that might have been different.

Technically this film is an amazing recreation of the period, from the authentic aircraft and facilities on both sides, to the acting and word-for-word dialog where possible.

I recommend setting up an afternoon to watch the Bruckhemier/Bay fiasco "Pearl Harbor" and then watch this one directly after.  See which version of events you think is better told.  (Although "Pearl Harbor" does get into the famous Doolittle raid where this does not....)

Technorati Tags: war movies, pearl harbor, tora! tora! tora!, navy, dvd, review, documentary