They Were Expendable
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List Price: $19.98
Features
• Black & White
• Color
• Original recording reissued
• NTSC
In Theaters : 20 December, 1945
Video Release : 04 May, 1999 |
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They Were Expendable Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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A Battle Lost but a War Won
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My grandfather served in the Navy in the Pacific during WW2. He was on two different boats the Japanese sunk. He survived and served 30 yrs in the Navy. The second, the USS Mahan was kamikazied in the Leyte Gulf. My Step-Grandfather was on the Yorktown during midway. My dad was a Naval physician for 20 yrs. Fair to say, I have a personal interest in Navy movies and, in particular, the Navy during WW2.
I've seen lots and lots of war movies and They Were Expendable is one the best. John Ford was the best American director ever, in my opinion. A movie so realistic, I remember it "in color" even though it is B/W. The b/w cinematography is beautiful on it's own. There are some exciting action scenes but it is important to understand movies made in the 40's, even war movies and westerns didn't have a whole lot of action compared to today's action and war flicks. TWE is long and deliberately slow so as to allow the characters to flesh out and give the audience an opportunity to understand and appreciate the tremendous sacrifice these men made.
I'm the product of a cynical generation and I'll admit I sometimes find classic films to be a bit quaint or corny. Everyone in this movie is steadfast, honorable, brave, graceful, helpful, upbeat, patriotic and unhesitating in their eagerness to place themselves in harms way not for accolades but to help fight. You don't see that in today's war movies.
TWE is about men who fought a running island hopping battle knowing the situation was hopeless because they understood that anything they could do to weaken or delay the enemy in even the most minor way helped shorten the war in the allies' favor. Thousands of men and not a few women (nurses) suffered and died in the Philippines giving the enemy every last ounce of grief while America recovered from Pearl Harbor and built its fleet back up.
John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed and many of John Ford's stock company collaborate to make a movie even the most cynical and jaded American can and should watch with enjoyment and patriotism. |
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