New MIDWAY movie totally leaves out US fighters!

[Griff Murphey]

Yes we had only SBD Dauntlesses and TBD Devastators. I guess the Hollywood and Peking movie moguls thought a third aircraft type on our side would be too hard for the average moviegoer to follow. The US aircraft are also at the beginning of the war not carrying the center red dot insignia. I think it was painted out at the time Midway was fought. (Funnily enough Doolittle’s Raiders are correctly marked).

It has good cgi but I am awed by their failure to hire one or two military history goons who might have a passing acquaintance with the subject matter.

Also I doubt zeroes (oddly the Japanese have those) flew strafing right between battleships moored alongside each other at Pearl Harbor.

Aggghhh😜! Decent movie but coulda been great. They should have hired one of us!!!

[Roadkingtrax]

B-25s are not the correct configuration.

Thought I caught a story that the Chinese financiers of the movie were the reason for the Doolittle Chinese rescuer scenes.

Looked like a stinker 6 months ago.

[togor]

Sounds like it's time to pull out Tora! Tora! Tora! again.

[lyman]

sounds like I'll wait till this one hits cable or nextflix

[Griff Murphey]

I can forgive not having an early enough B-25 but then if the objective was to show the battles leading up to Midway from the standpoint of our naval aviation why include the Doolittle Raid at all?
I’d have rather seen a least a quick nod to the F-4-F pilots. The comment made by one of the navy pilots on seeing the B-25s on Hornet was rather ridiculous: “What are Army planes doing on a Navy carrier?!” More like “What are twin engine B-25s doing on a carrier?!?”

[Art]

B-25s are not the correct configuration.

Thought I caught a story that the Chinese financiers of the movie were the reason for the Doolittle Chinese rescuer scenes.

Looked like a stinker 6 months ago.

The WWII movie "30 Seconds over Tokyo" deals with the Chinese salvation of the American crews in detail, in fact it's the whole second half of the movie. Ted Lawson credited his own survival and the survival of his badly wounded crewmembers primarily to the Chinese. The vengeance of the Japanese visited on the Chinese after the raid for these acts of kindness to the American pilots was swift and awful. At least 100,000 Chinese were killed in the aftermath of the attack, some sources list it as high as 200,000.

If you get a chance to watch the movie it is superb. It's a propaganda film to be sure, the men long for mom's apple pie, the women are tearful and cheerful at the same time but the details of the planning and execution of the raid is almost 100% accurate with some parts modified or left out for security reasons (no radar antennae on the Hornet for instance.) Van Johnson and Phyllis Thaxter are excellent as the Lawsons. A very young Robert Mitchum turns in a fine performance in a supporting role. The movie was nominated for two academy awards and deserved them, winning for best special effects.

Modern war movies thanks to computer animation and the use of actual period weapons or replicas of them are generally more accurate than previous ones, though we have to remember they are still movies after all.

Griff, the Doolittle raid is included in an earlier (and not terribly good) Midway movie with Charlton Heston. The reason given for it's inclusion is usually (besides being a good story in itself) is that it motivated the Japanese to speed up the Midway attack, to its detriment. I realize that that is somewhat debatable.

[free1954]

sounds like I'll wait till this one hits cable or nextflix

despite the shortcomings, it was worth seeing on the big screen. the special affects were great. while I was watching those computer animated ships I thought it would be great to see them do a movie about the battle of jutland.

[Art]

…….. I thought it would be great to see them do a movie about the battle of jutland.

I have thought the same thing, perhaps with emphasis on the captain and crew of the battlecruiser Seydlitz; an incredible survival story.

[M1Tommy]

I have thought the same thing, perhaps with emphasis on the captain and crew of the battlecruiser Seydlitz; an incredible survival story.

I'd love to see the battle of Jutland as a 5-6 or more part miniseries, 2 hours each.
The tale of the Seydlitz would be worthy of an entire episode, IMHO.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf is another tale that would make a great series, with the Battle off Samar worthy of 2 episodes.

All my babbling aside, I plan to go see "Midway", this coming Friday. I know there will be inaccuracies but will try to not dwell on them.
Hey, they can't all be "Battle of the Bulge" or "Top Gun"! <grin>

Tommy

[lyman]

there is a guy that sets up at the Nation's Gunshow in Northern Va,
he has a large walk thru booth area set up with mostly war movies on DVD, and several TV's playing movies as well, (volume turned down thankfully)


he has a pile of movies on various battles etc, a good portion of them are Euro made (with overdubs and/or subtitles)

I'll look and see what type of naval stuff he has in a couple weeks when I am there

[blackhawknj]

Movies are for entertainment, documentaries and histories are for enlightenment. I recall the Midway episode of Victory at Sea where the narrator said Nimitz deduced that the Japanese would strike at Midway next, it was Operation Magic that let him prepare for the assault. The unglamorous-and crucial- role of maintenance and support people is rarely shown. The Yorktown was badly damaged in the battle of the Coral Sea, limped back to Pearl Harbor, went into drydock on May 28. The drydock inspectors said the ship would need at two weeks of repairs and three months would be better, Nimitz said "We need this ship back in 3 days."

[m1ashooter]

I enjoyed the movie. As a collector of military stuff I long ago stopped looking at war films through a critical eye.

[lyman]

I enjoyed the movie. As a collector of military stuff I long ago stopped looking at war films through a critical eye.

funny you mention that,

I used to watch movies with my Father when I was a kid,

he was Army Reserve (weekend duty, and full time civilian small arms guy)

he would point out discrepancies, and then as I got older, ask me about what was used,


got a good history lesson,


now, I try to enjoy the movie for what it is, , but sometimes shake my head at the weapons used,,,

[Art]

Our son who is a military buff took me to the movie.

As history, it's worthwhile as an introduction to the events of the first six months of WW II in the Pacific for a person unfamiliar with the subject. As entertainment its an O.K. action adventure movie. I do think it's better than the old Charlton Heston movie of the same name.

Modern movies tend to be more correct on the details of equipment but there is always stuff that a true buff is going to pick out. For example Chinese soldiers were carrying the wrong Mausers and I saw one character wearing a wristwatch which was way too big for the period, a small thing but you can pick stuff like this up if you're into that stuff. All movies edit material in or out because they're movies and continuity, time constraints and changing social attitudes over time can be more important than total content. Not only were U.S. fighters in the Battle of Midway given short shrift but there were other insertions/deletions as well. The movie shows a pretty large group of B26 Marauders bombing the Japanese. In reality there were four Marauders that launched a torpedo attack on the fleet. It is true that one of them nearly crashed into a Japanese ship after being shot up. No B17s were shown either.

I did think including the USS Nautilus was a nice touch and its part in the battle was handled well. The very large 6" gunned submarine cruisers like the Nautilus were already outdated but gave good service in a variety of roles (picket, transport, attack boat and even instrument of bombardment) throughout the war. The dive bomber's from Midway's ineffective glide bombing attack on the Japanese fleet was also an incident that actually happened.

The best movies about the period from a historical perspective are still "Tora, Tora, Tora" and "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," IMHO. Oh, speaking of "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," there is a scene where a navy pilot takes off a pair of loafers while in uniform on the Hornet :icon_rolleyes:.

[Griff Murphey]

A good movie need not be perfectly authentic to be enjoyable. I still tear up nearly every time when Humphrey Bogart reads the service at sea as they bury the midshipman killed by the HE-59 crash.