They Were Expendable (1945)

Memorable, crazy movie

Absolutely Fantastic

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I've always enjoyed this film, but in viewing it yesterday a couple of things bothered me which I had not previously noticed. 1) For about half of the movie John Wayne's character acts not just inexperienced, but downright childish, very unlike any other character of his with which I'm familiar. 2) I found the musical background to be very obtrusive. I expect overwrought patriotism from any 1940s war movie, but this one went overboard. Every few minutes, especially when action is happening, they gave us a taste of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, The Navy Hymn, or even a few bars of the national anthem. They were more such intrusions, but I didn't write them down.I appreciate Robert Montgomery's acting, and contributions to the production, as he actually did serve on PT boats during the war.

Lt. Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) is a veteran skipper of a PT boat in the Philipines and Lt. John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) is an eager young skipper of the group. Suddenly, Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese. The squad's base is next and the survivors struggle to fight off the invading Japanese forces. They are forced back to Bataan and beyond.Honestly, I assumed PT boats were first introduced after Pearl Harbor but I guess there was a large buildup even before then. It makes sense that war production would ramp up after the outbreak of WWII and that PT boats would be part of that. This is an old fashion war film made in the depths of the war in the Pacific and released a few months after Japan's surrender. The tone is old melodrama of the highest order. The action is surprisingly good with some real boats and planes. Obviously, they got their hands on a few boats to film this for the war effort. Sure, there is plenty of projection backdrop work but the action still looks great. The romance does slow down the movie in the middle but it's expected from that era. This is solid war action from that era and the explosive boat footage is thrilling.

...given the subject matter, as well as the overwhelming influence of the 45+ cohort voting on this site (many of them undoubtedly John Wayne fans), this somewhat turgid, fictionalized account of PT-boat action at Corregidor and the Bataan peninsula during the Japanese invasion of the Philippine Islands in late 1941 marked the first war drama directed by the inestimable John "The Grapes of Wrath" Ford, and the continuation of a long association with rising screen icon, John Wayne. Based on an account published mere months after the event, the screenplay by naval-aviator-turned-writer Frank "The Citadel" Wead (and apparently uncredited assistance from expatriate script-doctor Jan "The White Cliffs of Dover" Lustig) incorporates dialog wholesale from the source, hewing closely to the somewhat unhistorical record of the travails of PT Squadron 3, which after significant combat action eventually carried Douglas MacArthur to his escape rendezvous on Mindanao Island when the Allied defense of the P.I. finally collapsed."They Were Expendable" is notable for its relatively non-propagandistic approach (in part, no doubt, because victory in Europe had already been achieved during filming, and victory in the Pacific was foreseeable--though painfully so--and in fact had been achieved by the film's release date), as well as its somewhat melancholic depiction of a battle that the United States was inevitably forced to lose to fight another day. It helps that Wayne isn't the lead (naval veteran Robert "Private Lives" Montgomery had that honor), and that an utterly lovely Donna "The Picture of Dorian Gray" Reed did the heartstring-tugging. The ensemble support isn't too shabby, either, featuring the likes of a young Marshall "Daktari" Thompson, Cameron "The High Chaparral" Mitchell, and established character actors like Jack "Cat People" Holt and Ward "The Maltese Falcon" Bond. The cinematography from esteemed lensman Joseph H. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" August keeps things dark and moody; sadly, this co-founder of the A.S.C. died a few years later.Quite watchable, though not nearly as good as better known Ford (or Wayne) productions, "They Were Expendable" remains one of the best (and last) wartime Hollywood releases.

After so many years of reading about this fictionalized filmed account of the events of American sailors dealing with the invasion of Japanese forces in the Phillipine peninsula, I finally watched They Were Expendable on VHS today. With John Ford as director, we see a fine drama of the struggles after Pearl Harbor of the Navy men trying to stay one step ahead of what they referred to as the Japs during their maritime missions of battle. Robert Montgomery and John Wayne play the superior officers put in charge of many young men not quite trained for the enemy attacks though they pull ahead with their best foot forward, anyway. While quite serious, there are some subtle humorous touches not to mention a slightly touching romance between Wayne and Donna Reed as a nurse that effectively pulls at the heartstrings down to hearing Ward Bond and many of his shipmates sing in accompaniment while Ms. Reed, Wayne, and many of the officers have a quiet dinner in a tent. In fact, part of the time, I couldn't help thinking of a similar scene in my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-when Bond also accompanied with Frank Faylen on the song "I Love You Truly" as Ms. Reed and Jimmy Stewart were kissing on their honeymoon! And the battle scenes were some of the most exciting at the time. So on that note, They Were Expendable comes highly recommended.