New MIDWAY movie totally leaves out US fighters!

[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 .

[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.