This is my 1,000th
post (coincidentally this blog celebrated its 10th anniversary this
month). I wanted to do something special
and I decided to return to my first review.
I often think back to movies I have reviewed and wonder if I was right
about my grade. This is because even
though I have reviewed over 800 movies for this blog, I have seen many of them
a second time since the review. Rarely
do I change my mind about the movie now that I am a reviewer. This differs from my perceptions of some of
my childhood favorites that I have reviewed and found to be less than I thought
at the time. But what about a movie I
reviewed ten years ago? I’ve seen a lot
of war movies since then and read a lot of books about war movies. Part of that reading is because I am a
history buff and like to include back-stories for the films. “They Were Expendable” is a movie with a lot
of back-story.
In 1942, William L. White wrote They
Were Expendable: An American Torpedo
Boat Squadron in the U.S. Retreat from the Philippines. It was excerpted in “Reader’s Digest” and
“Life” and then became a bestseller. In
1945, MGM obtained the rights and wanted John Ford to direct it. Ford was serving with the Navy Field
Photographic Unit and had famously filmed the Japanese attack on Midway for a
documentary. He refused to leave the war
to make the film. However, he met John
Bulkeley (the hero of the book) when he spent five days on his PT-boat during
D-Day. The experience convinced Ford to
change his mind. This was ironic because
Bulkeley felt White had exaggerated his actions and he did not deserve the
Medal of Honor. Robert Montgomery’s
casting as Bulkeley was brilliant. He
had entered the American Field Service in London before Pearl Harbor. He was already a well-respected actor before
that. He was President of the Screen Actors’ Guild and had been nominated for
Best Actor. After driving ambulances in
France before the fall, he returned to his day job in Hollywood. He was nominated for another Best Actor in
1941 and then enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor. He served in PT-boats in the Solomons and served
on the USS Barton, a destroyer that was at D-Day. He left the Navy as a Lt. Commander. “Expendable” was his first movie after his
war service.
John Wayne was second-billed as
Bulkeley’s exec Robert Kelly. Wayne’s
WWII experience was almost the opposite of Montgomery’s. He was 34 at the beginning and classified 3-A
(family deferment), but could have enlisted.
He talked about it and wanted to join Ford’s unit, but Republic Pictures
threatened to sue for breach of contract and Wayne kept postponing his defiance
of Republic until after his next picture. That moment never came. Ironically, the epitome of cinematic war
heroes was considered by some to be war avoider. Surprisingly, the problem on set was not with
Montgomery. Ford, partly to suck up to
Montgomery, treated Wayne like dirt, calling him “clumsy bastard” and “big
oaf”. The snide comments continued until
Montgomery intervened and told Ford to lay off.
Another significant cast member was Ward Bond. Ford created the role of Mulcahey for his
down on his luck player (he made 25 movies with Ford). The screenplay was by Frank “Spig” Wead who
Wayne had played in “The Wings of Eagles” (“I’m gonna move that toe.”)
After wrapping, Ford returned to
his unit in time to cross the Rhine with it.
He did not like the finished product.
He felt it was forced and claimed to not have watched it until an
interviewer suggested it to him in 1950.
Upon viewing, Ford admitted it was good.
He may have avoided watching it because of bad memories. He fell off a scaffolding and broke his leg
during production. He spent two weeks in
traction. Montgomery took over
directing. He was the logical choice
since he had been treating the experience as an apprenticeship under Ford. At one point, Montgomery had suggested a
different way to shoot a scene. Ford did
it Montgomery’s way and then when it was finished, he asked Montgomery if he
was satisfied. When he said yes, Ford
opened the camera and gave the film to Montgomery saying “Here, take it home
with you”. At the helm, Montgomery did a
good job and went on to direct several films, including “The Gallant Hours”.
The movie is considered a
classic example of the WWII films made during the war. Although the war was coming to an end, it
still has a heavy whiff of patriotism and propaganda. It is an homage film to PT-boats in the
darkest days of the war, specifically “in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred
and 41”. John Brickley (Montgomery) and
his exec Rusty Ryan (Wayne) head a unit of PT-boats which they proudly show off
for a visiting admiral. The admiral parts
by proclaiming he prefers “something more substantial”. Rusty agrees and wants a transfer to a
destroyer. (Way to think big!) Pearl what?
Screw this transfer, I’d rather die in a “high-powered canoe”. The god of war is going to try to make that
happen. It is going to be a bleak month
or so. In between two attacks on
Japanese cruisers, they are tasked with evacuating MacArthur from the
Philippines. Through the whittling down
of the boats moreso than the men, a romance between Rusty and a nurse (Donna
Reed) is thrown in. There is some
command dysfunction similar to a submarine movie.
Although made during the war,
TWE is considered subgenre challenging.
It appears to be different than films like “Bataan” and “Wake Island”. Both are grim depictions of the hopeless, yet
hopeful, early days. It breaks some of
the classic clichés. Wayne does not get
the girl, which is the only thing about the romance that is not cliche. (There is a scene that perfectly contrasts
with where war movies are today. Nurse
Davis is invited to a dinner with the officers and is serenaded by some of the
sailors. Imagine that in a modern movie.)
Another break with tradition was the two leaders accept abandoning their
men. However, in most ways it is not
groundbreaking. It has two heroes who
butt heads. (By the way, although Wayne
is second-billed, his role is more substantial than Montgomery’s.) The unit is heterogeneous. There is a redemption arc, for the boats. They
have a mascot, the cat “Bad Luck”. There
is a funeral. In some ways it is the combination
of a small unit and a submarine movie.
The biggest problem with the
movie and the thing that keeps it from being a great movie is its targets for adulation
do not hold up. The central theme is
that the PT-boats were an underestimated weapon and had a bright future after
the Philippines fell. The whole point of
Brickley and Ryan being evacuated is for them to help build the force. The movie has them sinking two Japanese
cruisers and taking credit for an escort carrier, a tanker, and a freighter. By 1945 when the movie came out, it would
have been very apparent that the boats, while glamorous, were light on
successes and the successes shown in the movie were not based on facts. For instance, in the second cruiser attack the
movie has most of the torpedoes hitting the Japanese warship with fireworks
ensuing. In actuality, only one of eight
torpedoes hit and it was a dud. (Clearly
the movie was not interested in criticizing our abysmal early war torpedoes.) Perhaps the historical license is why the
names of Bulkeley and Kelly were changed.
More unpalatable is the movie’s treatment of the MacArthur
evacuation. The general is treated like
the god that the press had built him up as, so the movie was giving the
audience what they expected. But to have
the sailors fawn over him is laughable considering his reputation amongst the
men he left behind.
It turns out that I have not
changed my mind about the movie. I
thought it was overrated in 2010 and I still do. It was a good movie for its time and is one
of the best movies made during the war, but it feels stodgy today. The overly patriotic score and poorly written
romance drag it down. It breaks some
tropes, but overall it is pretty predictable.
GRADE = B-
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