Gung Ho! (1943)

Who payed the critics

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Marine colonel Randolph Scott hand-picks a battalion to raid Japanese-held Makin Island during World War II. Formulaic but fun wartime actioner. Great cast, led by Scott, includes J. Carrol Naish, Noah Beery, Jr., Sam Levene, and Robert Mitchum. Lame subplot involving two brothers vying for the same girl adds nothing. Nice pace and good action. Surprisingly violent and bloody. Real training and wartime footage is used, as well. This isn't a movie with deep philosophical discussions or ponderings about the futility of war. This is an American movie made to promote the marines' role in the war effort and tell the story of one operation in particular. The marines in this film know who their enemy is and are eager to take the fight to them, as we Americans would (hopefully) all expect them to. It's also a movie made when we were at war with Japan, so keep all of that in mind before getting on your soapbox about some of the jingoism heard here. It's not one of my favorite WW2 flicks, but it has a good cast, action, and some historical significance.

***SPOILERS***After Pearl Harbor with the Japanese Navy & Army sweeping across the South Pacific it's decided by the higher ups in the US military to start meaning business in putting an end or stop to their conquests and it's at Guadlcanal where that's to happen. As it turned out the battle of Cuadalcanal turned out to be a lot tougher for the US Marines & Navy then what was at first expected. Then as a saver it was decided to raid the island of Makin to relieve the pressure and give the US Marines a little breathing space. That's where Col. Throwald, Raldolph Scott, and his 600 raider came into the picture. It was their job to take over the island kill all the Japs defending it and then, after the job was done, blow the place sky high leaving nothing for the Jap reinforcement to use after retaking it. A tall order for the tall six foot four Col. Thorwald and his raiders but after six months of intense training not an impossible one.One of the better WWII propaganda movies that makes the war as realistic as any Hollywood studio could without the ridicules and at times phony heroics that their so used to doing. The raiders do create a bridgehead on Makin Island but the resistance by the Japanese troops makes their stay a hot one. Slowly but surly the raiders take over half of the island suffering heavy casualties but soon run out of gas ammunition and men when faced with a major Japanese counter-attack. It's then that the witty Col. Throward comes up with this unique plan to have the Japanses themselves, in coming to help the Jap forces on the island, do the job for him. With of all things the good old Stars & Stripes painted on the roof of the captured Japanese headquarters building.Great battle scenes with most of the cast, the US Marine Raiders, not making it to the final end of the picture. And the Japanese, played for the most part by what looked like Hispanics, getting their just deserts with not one as far as I could tell surviving. As for the Japs pilots attack on the raiders on Makin Island they now have a lot to explain to their superiors including the infuriated Emperor why in fact they stupidly help the allied not Japanses cause in the fighting. As for the raiders themselves their sacrifices, over 30 dead, was not in vain it gave the US Marines and later Army reinforcement the time they needed to not only hold off but defeat the Jap banzai charges on Guadalcanal but have the US Navy regroup and strike at the heart of the Japanese Imperial fleet. That's before it could continue it's offensive not only past the Hawaiian Island but the Unitaed States mainland as well.

As a namesake nephew of one of Carlson's Marine Raiders that was killed in action during the historical Makin Island Raid this has always been one of my favorite movies. This patriotic film served as valuable and much needed recruitment tool for the United States Marine Corps for it's time. The film for the most part is jingoistic in nature and filled with a lot Hollywood make-believe i.e. scenes of the Marine Raiders over running the Japanese Headquarters then painting an American flag over the building then withdrawing the troops as Japanese troops approach. This Hollywood make-believe scene worked wonders on the movie audience at the time as they cheered while the Japanese pilots seeing the American flag mistakenly bombed their own troops. This type of scene caused many of the real Marine Raiders that participated in the Makin Island Raid to shake their heads in sheer disbelief. Having said that, it is true that Japanese pilots did accidentally bomb some of their own land force during the fighting. One of the Marine Raiders once told me that he thought the scenes of the Marine Raiders being formed and trained were quite accurate. The scene that he thought was the most historically accurate scene was when the Marine Raiders first landed on the island by rubber rafts, and when they approached the Japanese snipers hiding in the palm trees. The movie tries to convince the audience that the Japanese outnumbered the Marine Raiders 3 to 1. The Marine Raiders involved in the raid did in fact believe that, but the Marine Raiders easily outnumbered the Japanese force of 80 or so soldiers. The film ends with Randolph Scott giving a patriotic speech on the submarine as it makes it's way back to Pearl Harbor. From a personal perspective, I think what is not said in this movie is much more important than what is said. The Marine Raiders had one devil of a time getting off the island as they lost weapons, medical supplies, etc. due to the huge waves that impaired their journey back to the two submarines (USS Argonaut, USS Nautilus). In fact, an effort was made to surrender to what turned out to be an almost extinct remaining Japanese force. Fortunately, for the Marine Raiders contact was made to the submarines and they were able to rendezvous at another part of the island. Unfortunately, 9 Marine Raiders were inadvertently left on the island as a result of the inability to have a final roster reading and a blackout of radio contact between the two submarines.. The 9 marines were later captured by the Japanese and beheaded on Kwajalein. Oscar Peatross who participated in the Makin Island Raid later mentioned the valor displayed by FM1st Class Vernon Castle as he gave his life as he took out a Japanese Machine Gun nest. Petross later regretted the fact that had he known more about putting personnel in for medals that he would have put Castle in for the Congressional Medal of Honor as it was the bravest act that he had witnessed in WWII. Consequently, Petross even dedicated his book "Bless Em All" to Castle. To this day, the only medal Castle family has ever received has been the Purple Heart. After talking with some Marine Raiders at a Marine Raider Reunion I got the impression that medals are given sometimes for "political purposes" rather than the fact that were earned or deserved. In fact, it is my understanding that one member of the Makin Raid realizing he didn't truly deserve the medal tried to give his Navy Cross back to the Marine Corps but was told that "Once given the Marine Corps doesn't take back it's medals." The story of the 19 K.I.A.s that remained on Makin Island (Butaritari) is a fascinating one....much more interesting that any Hollywood version could ever be. After the war families such as my Grandparents were notified that the remains were "not recoverable". Carlson in his biography "The Big Yankee" by Michael Blankfort indicated that his second in command Col. James Roosevelt, F.D.R's son, visited the island and said that the 19 Marine Raiders were buried in individual plots, and that he said a prayer over each grave. This later turned out to be another historical falsehood. The remains of the nineteen Marine Raiders (including my late uncle) were later recovered in 1999 by the Central Identification Laboratory of Hawaii (CILHI). They had been buried in a mass grave. One of the natives, Buremoia Tokarei, that had buried these men as a teenager later led members of the CILHI to the lost grave site. According to some accounts he was 80 years old at the time, and began singing the Marine Corps Hymn as they began transporting the remains back to Hickham Field. Thirteen members of that group were buried at Arlington Cemetery on August 17, 2001 (59 years to the exact date of their untimely demise). My uncle PFC William A. Gallagher was one of them and Sgt. Clyde Thomason, the first enlisted Marine to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII was another. If your readers have any interest in reading more about this historic raid I refer you to Major General Oscar Peatross book "Bless Em All" and George Smith's book "Carlson's Raid". The Peatross book is difficult to find but you can read excepts of it at the Dan Marsh Marine Raider Web Site. http://www.usmcraiders.com/2ndann/bless_em_all.htm The main lesson to be learned from the film "Gung Ho" is that it is a typical cinema rendition of history.... a lot of glitter with little substance...and yet remains dated but enjoyable entertainment. Patriotism can be a wonderful thing but truth must always be the thread that guides it. As a Makin Island Marine Raider once told me..... "War is a terrible....terrible thing... and terrible things happen in war!"

After reading the reviews, it became obvious that everyone intellectualized this work. How utterly boring. Oh how about the good ol' days and there was nothing like it. Of all the comments no one expressed any emotion to this work or any other.I grew up just after the end of the steam age and this cinematic gem along with Dan'l Boone graced the Saturday afternoon matinées. This was an annual movie that made the rounds and filled the seats with gabbing, yapping, farting, giggling, snot monsters like myself or was-self. And it was a movie theatre filler at the time. Almost as big as the Wizard of Oz.IMDb insists that every critique contains something about the plot. Problem is was that it was rather a template. Here goes. Randolph Scott (cowboy/hero)gathers friends and goes defeats those evil people. Hooray! All of us kids figured out that plot before we plunked our quarter down to watch it. That was just about the plot line of every Scott, John Wayne, Roy Rogers film ever made. If you take the time to go back and review each and every movie - just don't ask for surprises.One must remember the context of the times. There was no or little TV. None for kids. There was school. There was the great outdoors. There were toy guns. No Cyber time. And the steam age had just collapsed. But movies such as this provided the entertainment and filled the imaginations of young whippersnappers. Even the girls got into it.This movie was the entertainment. And it is just as mindless as anything produced today. It had a purpose originally of being propaganda. But quickly came to be kids movies.Our fathers had experienced the real thing. And it wouldn't be until Sam Peckinpah a decade later who finally lavished the red splashes of imitation blood in realistic and copious quantities. Not until his directorship did anyone die slowly, with great pain and miserably. Until Peckinpah war and gun fights were a rather bloodless affair. Thanks Sam.To see a movie had little or no blood, the adults didn't mind. They wouldn't have tolerated it I think. No guts spraying the shattering plant life. So this movie had all of the glory and none of the gory. Gung Ho was suitable for kids then.You will see that I assigned a four to this rating. Why would I do that? Well. It is a terrible movie. No matter how I love it. I do love this movie because it brought back one of the happier moments of my childhood. But it is not all that good of a movie in quality terms. Basically Gung Ho transitted to become a romance novel for children.Should people watch it. Of course. I am not saying to stay away. Realistically however. The plot is simple. The characters shallow? they are shoals. You can love a bad movie.