Midway

Rating:
Summary: About the fictional romantic subplot in Midway
Review: Being a big Charlton Heston fan I noticed it more than the rest of the film. It's where Chuck's role has the most meat. I didn't mind it at all but is it correct that the young Japanese-american lady has long straight hair? She looks more like something out of the 1970's than 1940's. I am not bothered by the Japanese (from Japan) speaking in English. Use yourr imagination, people. Imagine they're talking in Japanese.

Rating:
Summary: Midway
Review: If you can ignore Charlton Heston and a sappy, romantic sub-plot involving his on screen son, this movie is a fairly accurate depiction of one of America's greatest naval victories. In the space of five minutes, U. S. Naval Aviators sunk four Japanese Aircraft Carriers, destroyed over 300 enemy aircraft and, more importantly, killed most of the elite Japanese Flying Corps. It was the first major reversal for Japan in World War II and marked the turning point in the Pacific. Japan was never again on the offensive after this battle.

Rating:
Summary: "The battle that made everything else possible"
Review: I have seen "Midway" countless times, and find it impressive for many reasons: The many scenes that contain original war footage, the fabulous cast, and the degree of historical accuracy, which is exceptional for a Hollywood epic.
Some of the WWII footage is riveting, and is edited to blend in well with the 1976 cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr., which is also marvelous; a good score by John Williams also adds to the atmosphere, though mostly we hear the sounds that would have been heard at the time...the roar of the sea, the wind, and the exploding bombs.

Many of the fascinating figures of history are represented well, and a few brilliantly, like Hal Holbrook as Commander Joseph Rochefort, the man who intercepted and broke the codes. Holbrook's portrayal is much like the real man, who working many times 20 hour shifts in a bunker, was a little scruffy, and had crucial information that was an essential part of the battle plans.
Henry Fonda is great as Admiral Chester Nimitz, and other big stars include Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, Toshiro Mifune, James Coburn, Cliff Robertson and Robert Wagner. I love the way the battle is planed like a chess game by both American and Japanese leaders, moving little "boats" around on a big map, each side trying to outwit the other. It also lays out the basics of the battle and makes it fairly understandable for the non-military person.

Charlton Heston is terrific as Captain Matthew Garth, the fictional character in the script, who has to deal with his son (Edward Albert), in love with a Japanese-American girl (Christina Kokubo), who has been interned with her parents. This little bit of "romance" I imagine was included in the film to round out the "human interest", and though I could have lived without this non-historical addition, it is peripheral to the action.

Admiral Nimitz said that the Battle of Midway was "The battle that made everything else possible", and this film is an excellent way to get a feel for the momentous events of that time, with its heroism, tragedy, extraordinary battle tactics, and men who changed the course of history.
Total running time is 132 minutes.


Rating:
Summary: Poor sound, over-edited
Review: Midway as originally filmed is one of the great movies of all time. This DVD is not.

Problem #1: I have one of the best sound systems you can buy. The sound goes up and down and up and down on this DVD. You have to hold on to the remote just to be able to stay in the room with it because some combat footage is too loud, and other dramatic discussions are too low in volume.

Problem #2: My wife grew to hate this move somewhere around 1990 because on the veteran related holidays, a good 4+ hours were lost to watching this movie. Others claim that the original was over 5 hours. I'm very disappointed with the 2+ hour version. I want to see it all.

The manufacturer needs to do something to get us the complete movie. They won't, though, becuase they have to redo the sound for the DVD, and that's expensive.

Rating:
Summary: One of the better historical WWII movies
Review:

A good friend of mine (and a contemporary) rode in the backseat of a dive bomber at the battle of midway. He's dead now, like three quarters of the men who fought in World War Two. Can you imagine riding backwards in a dive while the people below are doing their best to kill you? Unless you've been there, probably not.

This is, historically, one of the most accurate portrayals of the war. One critic complained that "the writing was weak. There was no suspense at all in the film." Perhaps there'd have been enough suspense if he'd been there, like Bill. But Bill survived the battle and died of old age, so I can't ask him about whether he felt any suspense, although we talked a lot about the battle of Midway.

In the film, they used top notch actors. For "Bull" Halsey they used Mitchum. Not a look alike, but of course Bull's dead, too, and Mitchum did a good job. Heston, of course, represented a fictional character (Matt Garth), but virtually all of the names of people in the film were real men who fought a real battle, and it was the turning point of the war. After Midway, we took a lot of lumps, but they were on the run from that point on.

Of course Hollywood took some liberties, and since they used a lot of actual combat shots, some of the aircraft used were out of place (F6F "Hellcats" for F4F "Wildcats" several times, and the ditching scene where Ensign George Gay went in showed a "Hellcat" instead of the TBD Douglas torpedo bomber that he actually flew. And the shot of the "Hellcat" being torn apart on the carrier's island was well-known footage from the technicolor documentary, The Fighting Lady, which was shot on the old Enterprise during battle, with narration by Lt. Robert Montgomery (qv). Garth's (Heston's) fictional son was supposed to be flying it in the film, but it was an actual crash on board the "Big E", in an actual battle. "Hellcats" (F6F) were Grumman fighter planes (the big brother of the "Wildcat" (F4F) which was obsolescent when the war started, but in use at the Battle of Midway--as was the old Brewster "Buffalo") and the F6F never saw combat until late 1943 (on my birthday, as a matter of fact.) The battle of Midway was in June of 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor.

It helps when you know a little history. For instance, Ensign George Gay actually did ride out the battle in the water, after he ditched, and was debriefed personally by the commander-in-chief, pacific fleet (CINCPAC), Admiral Chester Nimitz. He was the only survivor of his torpedo squadron, VT-8 (torpedo squadron 8).

Altogether, when you see this picture, you are watching history (as near as Hollywood will ever get to it), and many of the people who died to entertain today's movie audiences are named in the movie.

So, try to overlook the lack of a plot, at least in the battle sequences. History wrote them, not Hollywood script writers.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

Rating:
Summary: All-Star Cast. Ultimate invasion of Midway Island.
Review: This story is set in June 1942, six months after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. Includes the all-star cast of: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Ed Nelson, Monte Markham, David Macklin, Christopher George, Robert Webber, Kevin Dobson, Edward Albert, Pat Morita, Dabney Coleman, Erik Estrada, Tom Selleck, Robert Ito, Steve Kanaly, Kip Niven, Clint Ritchie (ABC serial "One Life To Live"), Frank Parker (NBC serial "Days Of Our Lives"). The main cast can be seen acting with stock footage from THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO and some old Japanese war films. However, some actual wartime footage of the real combat is incorporated into this film. The actual war footage was filmed in color by navy photographers and by the cameras mounted on fighter planes in 1942.
Filmed in the same manner as EARTHQUAKE (1974) and ROLLERCOASTER (1977) and in "Sensurround". "Sensurround" was a new sound system set up for specific films only that would make the sounds in the film seem realistic to you. The sound was balanced and came at you all around. You would hear the sound of an earthquake, riding a rollercoaster or being in the middle of a battle. Very few films were made in "Sensurround" and was only a gimmick in the 1970's. Small theaters benefited the most. Nowadays, we have sound systems in our own modern homes that come at us from behind and the sides. Disneyland rides use a sound system similar to "Sensurround".
A special television version runs four hours with commercials. It includes new scenes NOT shown on video or in the theatres. It includes new scenes with an additional cast NOT seen in the original version, Susan Sullivan, Richard Sanders, Noel Conlon, Don Dolan, Richard Sarradet, Alec Smight, Miiko Taka and William Wellman Jr. The extended tv version includes a Charlton Heston-Susan Sullivan romance and the scenes of the Coral Sea battle is played out. At the end of the television extended version, Susan Sullivan and Christine Kukobo are both shown waiting at dockside.
I think this film was meant to be a tribute to those Americans who served.

Rating:
Summary: Just slightly over-edited
Review: Our USMC squad went to the 'World Premier' at Luneta Theatre, Manila, Philippines. Midway WAS a Full-length FEATURE movie-then. It was near 5 hours long. Our sixes burned from seating.
>These days the once good, and quite long Midway has been edited-down from it's feature film status, a 5, to the new 2+ hour typical 'Hollyweird' shortened edition, a true waste of unreplaceable WWII Pacific footage, though actually faked. According to The NAVY, there were NO USN photojournalists with color motion-picture cameras at or near Midway, and actual Naval Aviators names were changed, and most colorized motion picture photography was filmed at The Battle For Leyte Gulf.
>Some carrier shots depict the ESSEX-class carriers designed POST Midway, and produced in 1943. "Universal" left-out several hours of video footage. Midway should be near 4-5 hours.