Midway (1976)

Director:

Jack Smight

Writer:

Donald S. Sanford (written by)

Release Date:

18 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The glory, the suspense, the spectacular drama of the men who won the most decisive naval battle in U.S. history.

Plot:

A dramatization of the battle that turned out to be the turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Battle | Midway | Pacific | Midway Island | Navy

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Captain Matt Garth
Henry Fonda	...	Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
James Coburn	...	Captain Vinton Maddox
Glenn Ford	...	Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
Hal Holbrook	...	Commander Joseph Rochefort
Toshirô Mifune	...	Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (as Toshiro Mifune)
Robert Mitchum	...	Admiral William F. Halsey
Cliff Robertson	...	Commander Carl Jessop
Robert Wagner	...	Lieutenant Commander Ernest L. Blake
Robert Webber	...	Rear Admiral Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher
Ed Nelson	...	Admiral Harry Pearson
James Shigeta	...	Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
Christina Kokubo	...	Haruko Sakura
Monte Markham	...	Commander Max Leslie
Biff McGuire	...	Captain Miles Browning

Also Known As:

Battle of Midway (Philippines: English title) (UK)
The Battle of Midway (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sensurround (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 (1977) | USA:PG | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Lake Castaic, California, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Henry Fonda played Admiral Chester Nimitz twice, in this film and in In Harm's Way (1965). He is usually only referenced by his title "CINCPACFLT" - Commander-In-Chief, Pacific Fleet. It is an old Naval tradition that a captain, and by extension any commanding officer, is not just himself, he is his command and, on certain occasions, such as when arriving or departing a naval warship, is always identified as the command, never by name. However, the term "CINC" is now only used to reference the President of the United States, as he is the only official "Commander-in-Chief" of the Armed Forces.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The movie clearly shows an Iowa Class Battleship. There were no US Battleships at the battle of Midway and the Iowa Class Battleships came out after the Battle of Midway.

Quotes:

[Nimitz has received the first reports on the Battle at Midway]
Lt. Comm. Rochefort: Three Jap carriers sunk, Admiral. Isn't that worth at least a "hot diggity damn"?
Admiral Nimitz: I'll take it under advisement, Joe. There's still one enemy carrier out there somewhere.
Lt. Comm. Rochefort: We've already achieved a great victory, Admiral. Shouldn't you call the carriers back to Pearl and out of harm's way?
Admiral Nimitz: Ah, that would be the smart play. Joe. Trouble problem is; I *want* that fourth carrier!

Movie Connections:

Edited from Hawai Middouei daikaikusen: Taiheiyo no arashi (1960)

Flawed But Still Satisfying

Of course "Midway" is a flawed movie. The subplot about Japanese-Americans is ridiculous and seems like a forced attempt to be PC during the post-Vietnam 1970s when it wasn't in fashion to be completely celebratory of America. Of course it's unsatisfying that the Japanese actors don't speak Japanese and we have to hear Paul Frees dubbing Toshiro Mifune. Of course the stock footage isn't going to please aviation and naval buffs who know these details like the back of their hands, but to me this is a trivial complaint that fails to take into account the limits of 1970s technology or budgeting. "Pearl Harbor" ultimately got those details right through CGI and the end result was a far worse film in the final analysis. Because ultimately, for all the flaws that are in "Midway" it succeeds because it does stick to the essential truths when telling the story of the battle, and I know this because when I first saw this movie on the CBS Late Movie around 1979, I got so hooked that I went out and read every book on the battle I could find including Walter Lord's "Incredible Victory." The movie had given me a starting reference point and while I was sorry that some key aspects of the latter stages of the battle were not depicted (such as the torpedoing and eventual sinking of the Yorktown), I couldn't have asked for anything better in terms of getting me to learn more about this great turning point of World War II. As far as I'm concerned, it's good that Hollywood did tackle this subject in an era when the influence of "Tora! Tora! Tora!", "The Longest Day" etc. still hung over the proceedings because if it hadn't been made back then, we would today be forced to see it given the "Pearl Harbor" and "Titanic" treatment that is pure garbage.

John Williams contributes one of his finer pre-Star Wars scores with two great themes, the "Midway March" (which is only heard in the end credits of the theatrical version and became more popular in an expanded concert arrangement by the Boston Pops) and the "Men Of The Yorktown March" which dominates much of the score and offers great foreshadowings of the Throne Room sequence in "Star Wars" and the Smallville music in "Superman."