Back to Bataan (1945)

The US Army's defense of its Philippines colony and the allied Malay countries/colonies behind it counted on its island fortress of Corregidor on Luzon -and a few others- but loses it in ... See full summary »

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Ben Barzman (screenplay), Richard H. Landau (screenplay),

Stars:

John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Wayne	...	Col. Joseph Madden
Anthony Quinn	...	Capt. Andrés Bonifácio
Beulah Bondi	...	Bertha Barnes
Fely Franquelli	...	Dalisay Delgado
Richard Loo	...	Maj. Hasko
Philip Ahn	...	Col. Coroki
Alex Havier	...	Sgt. Bernessa (as J. Alex Havier)
'Ducky' Louie	...	Maximo Cuenca
Lawrence Tierney	...	Lt. Cmdr. Waite
Leonard Strong	...	Gen. Homma
Paul Fix	...	Bindle Jackson
Abner Biberman	...	Japanese Captain
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Señor Buenaventura J. Bello

Storyline

The US Army's defense of its Philippines colony and the allied Malay countries/colonies behind it counted on its island fortress of Corregidor on Luzon -and a few others- but loses it in the 6 May 1942 Japanese combined forces attack. Colonel Joseph Madden is among the escaping survivors who are ordered by general Douglas McArthur to organize a guerrilla. As he finds many native Filipinos inclined to resist the occupier's vision of returning to the South Asian fold under a paternalistic empire which doesn't hesitate to 'spank the unruly', but is mainly civilian, unprepared, inept in military matters, Madden appeals to the legendary anti-US freedom fighter Andres Bonifácio's homonymous grandson Captain Andrés Bonifácio, who is luckily rescued from a POW dead march, to inspire the resistance -once his own fighting spirit is rekindled- with him in a still very unsure war, retaliated by bloody, ten to one repression. When the Japanese realize the people side against them, they stage fake ...

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Plot Keywords:

philippines | guerrilla | grandson | japan | captain | 

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Taglines:

True, timely, terrific...is this story of a Yankee Colonel and his Philippine guerrillas, (original poster)

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 May 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Invisible Army

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As the script for the movie was being written, the battle for the Philippines was still being fought. The screenwriters were constantly updating the script based on the latest news from the front.

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Goofs

A long shot of the truck carrying the Japanese soldiers and the boy Maximo driving along the mountain road is repeated twice (the truck is seen passing in front of a hill headed toward the right of the screen, then the same shot is repeated a few seconds later).

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Quotes

Maj. Hasko: I send out 100 men, they find nothing. I send out ten men, they don't come back.

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Connections

Featured in The John Wayne Anthology (1991)

User Reviews

Back to Bataan

I agree that this is a terrific movie, and by "History vs. Hollywood" standards rates fairly high. The point of the movie is to characterize the Japanese soldiers as brutal and often sadistic in their treatment of the enemy. In the history of modern warfare, the Japanese in WWII were by far the most inhumane. There is nothing in this movie that is unfair in the portrayal of Japanese treatment of Filipinos. Later, American and other Allied POW's were subjected to even worse horrors. The film also correctly characterizes the Filipinos as tough, hard fighters, and unfortunate victims of a superior Imperialist (militarist) society, which was run by the Japanese Army, and victimized with extreme prejudice. I will disagree with one contributor to this forum who offers that the brutal treatment of Filipinos was one of the reasons for entering the war. Not so. The reason for entering the war was the gradual aggressive military movements of Japan spanning the previous 20 years, culminating in the invasion of China followed by the attack on Pearl Harbor.