'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

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:

Factual errors: U.S.S. Nautilus and U.S.S. Argonaut were the submarines used in the Makin Is. raid. Both subs mounted two deck guns. And due to their size could not be mistaken for Gato class subs. The Nautilus carried 6" deck guns and was used to shell shipping in the harbor at Makin.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Loose Women (1996)

Dated and Dateless...

You can say the film is dated. But then again, Shakespeare is also dated. Shakespeare is also dateless, and this film is too. We won't get another Randolph Scott and here he stars in perhaps his most entertaining, if not most sobering, war film. Sure, it's jingoistic, racist, preachy, and cliché-ridden. It's not exactly historical, except in showing how Americans viewed themselves and the Marines at the time.

The real history behind this highly romanticized dramatization has been covered well by the other commentaries. The Makin Island raid was a folly that movie glamorizes, and Carlson was an idealist whose comrade-oriented methods had little influence on later commando tactics. However, even he didn't like the Hollywood result. Despite seeing his name on the credits and Randolph Scott ideally cast to portray him, Carlson walked out of the movie theatre in disgust when he first viewed the film.

When will this gem get remastered and restored? They truly don't make 'em like this anymore.