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 | Pacific | Midway | Midway Island | Aircraft Carrier

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
Christopher George	...	Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky
Kevin Dobson	...	Ensign George Gay
Glenn Corbett	...	Lieutenant Commander John Waldron
Gregory Walcott	...	Captain Elliott Buckmaster
Edward Albert	...	Lieutenant Tom Garth
Pat Morita	...	Rear Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka
John Fujioka	...	Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi
Dale Ishimoto	...	Vice Admiral Moshiro Hosogaya
Dabney Coleman	...	Captain Murray Arnold
Erik Estrada	...	Pilot 'Chili Bean' Ramos
Larry Pennell	...	Captain Cyril Simard
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Cmdr. Watanabe
Phillip R. Allen	...	Lt. Cmdr. John S. 'Jimmy' Thach
Tom Selleck	...	Aide to Capt. Cyril Simard
Sab Shimono	...	Lt. Tomonaga
Conrad Yama	...	Adm. Nobutake Kondo
Robert Ito	...	Cmdr. Minoru Genda
Yuki Shimoda	...	Officer Aboard Carrier Hiryu
Seth Sakai
Kurt Grayson
Alfie Wise	...	Dobbs
Beeson Carroll
John Bennett Perry
Steve Kanaly	...	Lt. Cmdr. Lance E. "Lem" Massey
Kip Niven	...	PBY Pilot
Dennis Rucker	...	Ens. Manson
Michael Richardson
James Ingersoll
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeff Chamberlain	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Sam Chew Jr.	...	Guard (uncredited)
Noel Conlon	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Larry Csonka	...	Cmdr. Delaney (uncredited)
Jesse Dizon	...	Pilot (uncredited)
Don Dolan	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Paul Frees	...	Adm. Yamamoto (voice) (uncredited)
Jerry Fujikawa	...	Japanese Gentleman (uncredited)
Sean Garrison	...	Lt. Cmdr. Ken Cunningham (uncredited)
Ned Gill	...	Seaman Downes (uncredited)
Redmond Gleeson	...	Pvt. Dombrowski - Radio Man (uncredited)
Anthony Herrara	...	(uncredited)
David Hirokane	...	Lt. Shima (uncredited)
Jim Ishida	...	Pilot Lt. Takeo Koda (uncredited)
Lloyd Kino	...	Capt. Aoki (uncredited)
John Lupton	...	Officer Testing Electric Bomb Release (uncredited)
David Macklin	...	Lt. Jack Reid (uncredited)
Sandy McPeak	...	Capt. Thomas (uncredited)
Steve Moriarty	...	Naval Officer / Aide (uncredited)
Chuck Morrell	...	Pvt. Andy (uncredited)
Richard Narita	...	Lt. Hashimoto (uncredited)
Yôsuke Natsuki	...	Japanese Pilot on Hiryu (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bennett Ohta	...	Captain Taijiro Aoki - Commander of Akagi (uncredited)
Frank Parker	...	Deke (uncredited)
Clint Ritchie	...	Lt. Cmdr. Charles Fenton (uncredited)
Mitch Ryan	...	RAdm. Aubrey W. Fitch (uncredited)
Richard Sanders	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Richard Sarradet	...	(uncredited)
John Schuck	...	Wilson (uncredited)
Alec Smight	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Susan Sullivan	...	Ann (TV version only) (uncredited)
Miiko Taka	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
William Wellman Jr.	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack Smight

Writing credits
Donald S. Sanford		(written by)

Produced by
Walter Mirisch	....	producer

Original Music by
John Williams

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Jr.		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert Swink
Frank J. Urioste

Art Direction by
Walter H. Tyler		(as Walter Tyler)

Set Decoration by
John M. Dwyer		(as John Dwyer)

Production Management
William W. Gray	....	production manager (as William Gray)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Hashimoto	....	second assistant director
Jerome M. Siegel	....	first assistant director (as Jerome Siegel)

Sound Department
Roger Heman Jr.	....	sound re-recording mixer
Robert L. Hoyt	....	sound re-recording mixer
Earl Madery	....	sound re-recording mixer
Robert Martin	....	sound
Leonard Peterson	....	sound
Roger Sword	....	sound editor
James Troutman	....	sound editor (as Jim Troutman)
Dennis C. Salcedo	....	optical sound recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Jack McMaster	....	special effects

Stunts
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary Combs	....	stunts (uncredited)
Erik Cord	....	stunts (uncredited)
Duffy Hambleton	....	stunts (uncredited)
Charlie Picerni	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Saito	....	stunts (uncredited)
James Winburn	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Clifford Hutchison	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Richard Craig Meinardus	....	first assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Robert O. Ragland	....	conductor
Robert O. Ragland	....	orchestrator
John Williams	....	conductor

Other crew
Bob Forrest	....	script supervisor
Bernard M. Strean	....	technical advisor (as Vice Admiral Bernard M. Strean)
'Junior' Burchinal	....	pilot (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Mirisch Corporation, The (presents)
• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1976) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1977) (France) (theatrical)
• Image Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1978) (USA) (TV)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• MCA  Sensurround created by
• Universal Title  titles and opticals
• Department of Defense, The  grateful appreciation
• United States Navy, The  grateful appreciation
• Officers and Men of the USS Lexington, The  special salute

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 (archive footage) | Black and White (archive footage) | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sensurround (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 (1977) | USA:PG | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | UK:PG | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Point Mugu, California, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Almost all the on-board scenes were filmed on the USS Lexington. Lexington was an Essex-class "fast carrier" commissioned in February, 1943. Even some of the "Japanese carriers" shown in birds-eye views were actually Lexington (with the film reversed to put the island superstructure on the port side whereas all US carriers had them on the starboard side) Lexington, decommissioned in 1991, was the longest serving carrier in history. Lexington is now a museum ship at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Garth is talking to Pearson on the same side of the desk, Pearson is seen with his hands by his side and in the next shot he has a folder in his hands.

Quotes:

RAdm. Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher:I'd give my retirement pay to know what Nagumo is up to now.
Captain Garth:Same thing we are, Admiral- Sweating it out.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

It's overall what counts

This was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up and building models of land, sea, and air craft of the WWII period. Of course we all could have done without the romantic interest, but what counts is the overall telling of the story accurately (even if that includes sideline dramatizations etc.). In a nutshell Midway was a gamble and even though we knew where they'd be, we still took it on the chin with the loss of most of the aircraft and the Yorktown (which left only 2 effective carriers in the pacific and 1 in drydock). In the end we were lucky enough to be able to inflict sufficiently more damage on them than they did on us. This is the story that is told so well. It doesn't matter that the special effects were less than stellar (e.g., view of the fleet from the sealevel - obvious miniatures) or that they showed Essex class carriers which did not yet exist getting hit by kamikaze. The film is true in its depictions of gambles, gaffs, and good fortune which in the end allowed us to be victorious and end Japanese expansion. So quit knocking it and enjoy it for what it is!