Midway (Collector's Edition)

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

The Pivitol Battle of the Pacific War   January 26, 2004
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

In June, 1942, the United States uncovered Japanese plans to invade the island of Midway, located only 1100 miles from the Hawaiian islands. This fine film brings this great battle to life.

An all-star cast, including Charlton Heston (Capt. Matt Garth), Henry Fonda (Admiral Chester Nimitz), Glenn Ford (Admiral Raymond Spruance), Hal Holbrook (Commander Joseph Rochefort) and Robert Webber (Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) turn in fine performances as the men who would ultimately win the battle and turn the tide against the Japanese. The Japanese actors do a fine job as well portraying such officers as Admiral Yamamoto and Admiral Nagumo.

The battle scenes, especially the American dive and torpedo attacks against the Japanese fleet, are excellent. Real battle footage is also included, and if you watch close enough, you may even see some scenes from "Tora Tora Tora" in the footage.

One part of the film that I didn't care very much for was the love relationship between Matt Garth's son Tom and a Japanese/American girl. I felt that this was unnecessary and didn't really contribute anything to the movie. Overall, however, I thought this was an excellent film. The battle scenes are top notch, and the attention paid to historical fact is evident throughout the film, right down to Joe Rochefort's smoking jacket and bedroom slippers.

I've seen this movie several times on VHS, but this was the first time I saw it on DVD. The widescreen format made me feel like I was in the theater. I highly recommend this fine war film. Watch this film and experience the turning of the tide in the Pacific.


BATTLE OF MIDWAY   September 3, 2007
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The movie BATTLE OF MIDWAY is an excellent movie however I was hoping the
DVD that I ordered would be the original version which was shown in movie
theatre's many year's ago. That version was approximately 4 hours long
shown in 2 segments with an intermission in the middle. I would like to
find that original version.

arnold5918@bellsouth.net