Gung Ho! (1943)

Good movie but grossly overrated

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The Plot.Seven weeks after Pearl Harbor, volunteers form the new 2nd Marine Raider Battalion whose purpose is to raid Japanese-held islands. The men selected come from different walks of life but have toughness in common. Under command of Colonel 'Thorwald', they're trained in all imaginable forms of combat. Then, after a perilous submarine journey, they face a daunting first mission: to annihilate the much larger Japanese garrison on Makin Island, in a lengthy battle sequence.I didn't think I was gonna like this movie. And yes, it is dated.But it's very engaging and hard to stop watching. It's directed at a brisk pace. Some people call this racist. It's not. They call the enemy Japs. That the entire racism in this movie.

*Spoiler/plot- 1943, The story of Carlson's Makin Island US Marine Raiders.*Special Stars- Randolph Scott, Noah Berry, J. Carole Nash, young Robert Mitchum, Richard Lane *Theme- Hard training is no substitute for easy victories in the field.*Trivia/location/goofs- The first film appearance of a young, Robert Mitchum. Also look for 50's TV Wresting Show host, Richard 'Whoa..Nelly' Lane appearing in a non-comedic on camera role.*Emotion- An enjoyable jungle warfare film with a notable cast from leads to day players. Tells the story of the beginnings of an elite combat unit within the US Marines Corps.

TODAY'S POLITICAL CORRECTNESS Police would no doubt love to collect all copies in all formats of films such as today's subject matter, GUNG HO: THE STORY OF CARLSON'S MAKIN ISLAND RAIDERS". Films in the tradition of this and the other great Worls War II era films and made during the years of hostility pulled no punches in neither characterization nor behaviour of the enemy Axis Forces.LIKEWISE, LIFE WASN'T so sensitive and touchy then. Real people, as well as their fictional character counterparts, spoke plainly and bluntly about their feelings toward enemy nations. So it was a natural and even expected; that one would hear gruff ethnic nicknames and stereotypical characterizations. Hence, it isn't fair to judge J.Carroll Nash's 'Dr. Daka' in the BATMAN Serial (Columbia, 1943) or Johnny Arthur's 'Mura Sakima in the chapter play, THE MASAKED MARVEL (Republic, 1943) for their over the top 100% evil portrayals.ALONG WITH THIS rendering of Axis operatives is the other half of the equation; being the language of the American G.I.'s, the Brits and other Allied nations. In our story, GUNG HO, when being questioned about their reasons for joining the Marine Raiders; the Leathernecks reply very plainly and gruffly. Replies such as: "I want to get back at them for what happened at Pearl (Harbor)!", or "Maybe I just don't like Japs!" ONCE AGAIN, TODAY'S self appointed orbiters of public good taste and mores would seek to censor out language and incidents that might offend someone today. We would like to remind the "P.C." crowd that this is no different than a Nazi Booki Burning in the Third Reich of the 1930's.AS FAR AS the other aspects of the film, the storyline is straight forward, based in fact and both informative and entertaining. There is none of the pretensions so prevalent today. It was wartime and we were well past the talking stage with the Axis thugs.IN CASTING THE FILM, the production team did a fine job of bringing a great number of different types under the film's umbrella. We had the younger men, what my wife and daughters would call "Hunks" (just like Daddy!). Names such as Randolph Scott (the Lead), young up and coming "Rugged Robert" Mitchum and Rod Cameron strike our fancy. Added to the mix are such as Milburn Stone, Noah Beery, Jr., J. Carroll Nash,Sam Levine, Louis Jean Heidt,Walter Sande, Richard Lane,David Bruce, Peter Coe and Harold Landon.THE PRODUCTION CAN boast of an almost All Male Cast (not that kind, Schultz); as it deals strictly with recruitment, training and combat, nothing much more, Grac McDonald is the only exponent of feminine pulchritude in the cast.LIKEWISE, THE STORY includes no American Black Marines, other than Dudley Dickerson's portrayal as a Mess Orderly; which of course was again reflective of the conditions. Banning a work which reflects such conditions will not change what was. Luckily we live in a country where social inequities are addressed and corrected. The Marine Corps of the day, much like Army, Navy and Coast Guard, were racially segregated.AND WHILE we're on the topic of Race, we're reminded how the Asian Actors Community found full employment. Headed up by names like Richard Loo, Keye Luke, Victor Sen Yung and Benson Fong, we found them showing in so many movies. From the "B's", the Serials, Comedy Shorts or Feature Films, they were either our staunch Chinese Allies or the hated enemy Imperial Japanese Army, Navy and Kamikaze Pilots.IN THE FINAL analysis, GUNG HO, like most any of the films of the period, has a great number of great action scenes; which makes for great entertainment these six decades or so later.

GUNG HO was a re-issue at my neighborhood theater 50+ years ago when I was a kid. Seeing it again on VHS is looking back on a dreadful but proud of American history. Think about it -- 1943 -- and America was facing powerful enemies in both Europe and the Pacific, America was losing on both fronts and the outcome was in serious doubt.Randolph Scott, Robert Mitchum, Rod Cameron and others portray some of the first soldiers to score a victory in the Pacific, and this fine movie shows you just how difficult the task was.These days we have liberal empty-heads posting "reviews" on this site that refer to films like Gung Ho as "propaganda." Fortunately, even in 2009, most Americans still appreciate what these great heroes did to assure the freedom that "intellectuals" disregard with contempt.