They Were Expendable (1945)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

William L. White (book)
Frank Wead (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

A Spine-Tingling Thundering Saga Of The Sea!

Plot:

A dramatized account of the role of the American PT Boats in the defense of the Philippines in World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Philippines | Corregidor | Claim In Title | WWII | Bataan

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Robert Montgomery	...	Lt. John Brickley (as Robert Montgomery Comdr. U.S.N.R.)
John Wayne	...	Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan
Donna Reed	...	Lt. Sandy Davyss
Jack Holt	...	General Martin
Ward Bond	...	'Boats' Mulcahey C.B.M.
Marshall Thompson	...	Ens. 'Snake' Gardner
Paul Langton	...	Ens. 'Andy' Andrews
Leon Ames	...	Major James Morton
Arthur Walsh	...	Seaman Jones
Donald Curtis	...	Lt. (J.G.) 'Shorty' Long
Cameron Mitchell	...	Ens. George Cross
Jeff York	...	Ens. Tony Aiken
Murray Alper	...	'Slug' Mahan T.M. 1c
Harry Tenbrook	...	'Squarehead' Larsen SC 2c
Jack Pennick	...	'Doc'

Runtime:

135 min | West Germany:107 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 (1964) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #11113)

Filming Locations:

Florida Keys, Florida, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The real-life Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II was equipped with six 77-foot Elco PT boats, all either lost in combat or destroyed to prevent capture. In the film, the Squadron 3 boats are represented by two 80-foot Elco and four 78-foot Huckins PT boats.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: By the time this movie was made, the class of PT boat used in the Philippine Islands was not available. They substituted 80-foot ELCOs for the 78-foot ELCOs actually used in Manila Bay.

Quotes:

'Slug' Mahan T.M. 1c: Mr. Ryan, this has gone far enough! That 41 boat is always havin' the good jobs, sir.
Seaman Jones: We'll get all the soaking we need on our way up to hit the Japs, sir.
'Squarehead' Larsen SC 2c: What are we gonna do, sit around on our duffs till they get back, sir?
Ens. 'Snake' Gardner: 41 can't handle this job alone... sir.
Lt. 'Rusty' Ryan: How about it, sir?
Lt. John Brickley: Okay. But if she starts taking water, turn back. Sir.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mister Roberts (1955)

Geography Made Them Expendable

They Were Expendable is John Ford's first Hollywood feature since his discharge from the U.S. Navy and the same can be said for Robert Montgomery. Both had served in the Navy and Montgomery in fact on P.T. Boats. From the last presidential election we now know them as Swift Boats.

It's an unusual John Ford film because the usual heavy comedic monkeyshines are rather subdued here. I'm thinking that John Ford wisely decided that World War II being recently over, the country's mood was joyous, but somber in terms of the heavy human cost.

They Were Expendable has the benefit though of the American audience knowing the ultimate victory. The story begins in the Phillipines in 1941 with Robert Montgomery as real life naval hero John Bulkeley, renamed Brickley for the film, trying to convince the brass of the usefulness of the P.T. Boat in combat, not just for scouting and courier duty. Of course that experiment is cut short and the P.T. Boats and their crews are rushed into some on the job experience.

During the film MacArthur, you might recall Gregory Peck saying that he was going to be evacuated from Corregidor by "one of Johnny Bulkeley's torpedo boats." That scene is dramatized as a wordless Robert Barrat plays MacArthur traveling on the boat commanded by John Wayne.

Wayne is Montgomery's second in command of the P.T. boat squadron who is not thrilled to be there. He'd like to be on at least a destroyer. He gradually comes around though. He also gets a fling in the romance department with Navy nurse Donna Reed.

During that interlude John Ford had some of the crew outside singing Dear Old Girl in a comic vein. Ford was never one to not let a good bit of business die with one film. You might remember in Fort Apache and Rio Grande there was some serenading done. And Donna Reed got serenaded on her "Hawaiian" honeymoon with James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life with Ward Bond once again being one of the serenaders. I'm sure Frank Capra would have conceded he stole that from Ford.

The story is first and foremost about some very desperate American armed forces who after Pearl Harbor were at the Japanese mercy. Pearl Harbor had totalled our Pacific fleet and no supplies could get through. Still the troops there fought on bravely, they were in fact by geography expendable.

Wayne and Montgomery give good but subdued performances. No do or die heroics here, just a sobering reminder of a terrible beginning for the Americans in the Pacific theater of World War II.