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

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Ray Enright

Writers:

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

Release Date:

20 December 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Battle cry of the Marine raiders!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Island | Pearl Harbor | Submarine | Revenge | Stock Footage

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 21

6:00 AM

TCM

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Colonel Thorwald
Alan Curtis	...	John Harbison
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Cpl. Kurt Richter
J. Carrol Naish	...	Lieutenant C.J. Cristoforos
Sam Levene	...	Leo 'Transport' Andreof
David Bruce	...	Larry O'Ryan
Richard Lane	...	Captain Dunphy
Walter Sande	...	'Gunner' McBride
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Lieutenant 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

Also Known As:

Gung Ho! (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Actor Harold Landon, who plays Frankie Montana in the film, relates that the actors who played Japanese soldiers were actually Filipino and Chinese.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Leo 'Transport' Andreof arrives in the jeep, he is wearing Staff Sgt stripes, but when he enters the building, he is now wearing Sgt stripes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Loose Women (1996)

Perspective from a civilian viewpoint

Other reviewers have published some excellent critiques of this 1943 war-action film from the perspective of the military and military history. Given the subject matter - the introduction of guerilla tactics to the Marine Corps - the historic perspective is particularly important. Though I am no stranger to either perspective, I am going to discuss Gung Ho strictly from the perspective of its genre - military action.

Though loaded with clichés such as rousing pre-battle speeches and over-dramatized death scenes, Gung Ho tells a more-or-less true story about the successful deployment of the Makin Raiders (Carlson's Raiders) on a minor Japanese stronghold (Makin Atoll). Fifteen thousand men volunteer, and in the end, only 200 make the team. These two hundred men will adopt the Chinese phrase Gung Ho (roughly translated as working harmoniously) as a philosophical approach to the task at hand.

In the military action film tradition, we are briefly introduced to each of the men whose battle experience will form the central action later in the film. The characters are surprisingly well-developed and realistic, but the laundry-list approach to character development doesn't work very well in terms of pace and cinematography. Once deployed, the Makin Raiders immediately spring into action, employing intelligence, an unusual degree of individual initiative, and great courage, to challenge the overwhelming odds against their capture of the island of Butaritari in the Makin Atoll.

The action sequences are quite entertaining, nicely thought-out, and the effects are brilliantly executed. From a pure action perspective, the film rates high for its time. The cinematography is quite good, the acting is OK, but hampered by some very mediocre directing. The early appearance of later legend Robert Mitchum is noteworthy, and Mitchum, even this early in his career, dominates every scene he is in.

Gung Ho, however, has been justly accused of propagandism and jingoism, as well as historical inaccuracy. Overall, given the fact that this film was released in 1943 within months of the securing of Guadalcanal by U.S. forces, this is hardly surprising.

From a civilian perspective, it's really just a 'pretty good' war film.