'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders (1943)

The true story of Carlson's Raiders and their World War II attack on Makin Island.

Director:

Ray Enright

Writers:

W.S. LeFrançois (story), Lucien Hubbard (screenplay),

Stars:

Randolph Scott, Alan Curtis, Noah Beery Jr.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Randolph Scott	...	Col. Thorwald
Alan Curtis	...	John Harbison
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Cpl. Kurt Richter
J. Carrol Naish	...	Lt. C.J. Cristoforos
Sam Levene	...	Leo 'Transport' Andreof
David Bruce	...	Larry O'Ryan
Richard Lane	...	Capt. Dunphy
Walter Sande	...	'Gunner' McBride
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Lt. Roland Browning
Robert Mitchum	...	'Pig-Iron' Matthews
Rod Cameron	...	Rube Tedrow
Grace McDonald	...	Kathleen Corrigan
Milburn Stone	...	Cmdr. Blake
Peter Coe	...	Kozzarowski
Harold Landon	...	Frankie Montana

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

island | mission | battle | marine | pearl harbor | 

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Taglines:

U.S. Marine Raiders in Action...Blasting Their Way To Tokyo!

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

20 December 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gung Ho!

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the 1960s, American toy manufacturer Louis Marx and Company released a "Gung Ho Commando Outfit" for children.

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Goofs

When three Japanese try to surrender and then ambush the Marines. One of the Marines returns fire. He is using a M-1 Garand rifle, which only holds eight rounds. He fires at least 12 shots.

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Connections

Featured in Going Hollywood: The War Years (1988)

User Reviews

Not-bad war picture

A lot has been said about this picture's outrageous jingoism, and that's a valid point, but this wasn't intended to be a history lesson (although it's based on a true story), it was made as propaganda to further the war effort, and at that it succeeds. It's quite well made, the battle scenes are exciting and very well done, and it probably did what it was intended to do, which was to give the public something to feel good about; in 1943 the war wasn't going all that well for the Allies. Robert Mitchum was starting to get bigger parts about this time; he has a fairly substantial part here, and his laconic style is quite evident. Some of the dialogue is a bit difficult to get past (one soldier says he wants to join the unit that is being put together to raid a Japanese-held island because "I just don't like Japs"), and some of the heroics are a bit much, but overall it's no worse, and a bit better, than many of the war pictures to come out of Hollywood around that time.