Gung Ho!
Gung Ho! | |
---|---|
Milton R. Krasner | |
Edited by | Milton Carruth |
Music by | Frank Skinner |
Production company | Walter Wanger Productions |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $866,898[1] |
Box office | $2,176,489[1] |
Gung Ho! (full title: Gung Ho!: The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders) is a 1943 American
Plot
Lieutenant C.J. Cristoforos announces that the
Sgt. "Transport" Anderof is reunited with the commander of the unit, Lt. Col. Thorwald, with whom he served in China. Thorwald explains that he left the Marine Corps to serve with the Chinese communist Eighth Route Army fighting the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War to find out about them and evaluate their chances. Afterward, Thorwald decided to form a unit using the qualities of Gung Ho or "work together".
Those who make it through the training are sent to
on a Japanese-held island.After a claustrophobic voyage, the Raiders invade the island from rubber boats. The Marine landing is met by fire from snipers hiding in palm trees. The Marines dispose of them, attack the Japanese headquarters, wipe out the garrison, destroy installations with explosives, then board the submarines for their return home.
Cast
- Randolph Scott as Col. Thorwald
- Alan Curtis as Pvt. John Harbison
- Noah Beery Jr. as Cpl. Kurt Richter
- J. Carrol Naish as Lt. C.J. Cristoforos
- Sam Levene as Plt Sgt. Leo "Transport" Andreof
- David Bruce as Larry O'Ryan
- Richard Laneas Capt. Dunphy
- Walter Sande as Gunner McBride
- Louis Jean Heydt as Lt. Roland Browning
- Robert Mitchum as Pvt. "Pig-Iron" Matthews
- Rod Cameron as Pvt. Rube Tedrow
- Grace McDonald as Kathleen Corrigan
- Milburn Stone as Cmdr. Blake
- Peter Coe as Pvt. Kozzarowski
- Harold Landon as Pvt. Frankie Montana
- Chet Huntley as Narrator
Production
When producer
Like many other films about the
Themes
The fast-moving film is a template for many
Thorwald/Carlson lectures throughout the film that the Japanese have no initiative and cannot think for themselves or deviate from a plan; thus unexpected action pays off. This is demonstrated in several scenes where a Marine defeats his opponent in unarmed combat by spitting tobacco in his eyes, a small but fast runner strips down to his trousers and quickly zig-zags through enemy fire to hurl hand grenades at a machine-gun nest, Marines destroy a Japanese pillbox and its occupants by squashing both with a road construction steamroller, and a speechless Robert Mitchum who has been shot in the throat and is unable to give warning, kills a Japanese infiltrator attempting to kill the battalion surgeon (Milburn Stone) by throwing his knife in the Japanese soldier's back. The climax of the film has the Raiders painting a giant American flag on the roof of a building, then luring the counterattacking Japanese to the area where their own air force bombs and strafes them.
In contrast to the Japanese and the rest of the American military, Thorwald orders that his officers wear no rank insignia and have no special privileges. He tells his Raiders, "I will eat what you eat and sleep where you sleep" and participate in the same training. Thorwald's Marines participate in "Gung Ho Sessions" where they discuss the unit's plans and each man participates without regard to rank.
Reception
Bosley Crowther in a January 1944 review for The New York Times praised the film, its performances and settings but said "the stabbings and stickings go on ad nauseum. [sic] Gung Ho! is for folks with strong stomachs and a taste for the submachine gun".[7]
Box Office
The movie was a big hit and earned profits of $577,460.[1]
It recorded admissions in France of 748,212 when released there in 1945.[8]
Re-issue
The film was re-released in the early 1950s by
The film has often been shown to recruits and Marines of the United States Marine Corps.
Influences on popular culture
In the early 1960s Louis Marx and Company came out with a "Gung Ho Commando Outfit" for children.[9]
See also
- Public domain film
- List of American films of 1943
- List of films in the public domain in the United States
References
- ^ a b c Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent, University of Minnesota Press, 2000, p. 442
- ^ Bernstein, Matthew, Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent, University of Minnesota Press, 2000, p. 191
- ^ p. 42 Moens, John. Marine Raider in the Pacific- An Interview with John Apergis Military History Aug 98, Vol. 15 Issue 3,
- ^ Bernstein, p.192
- ^ "Wilfred LeFrancois - Recipient -".
- ^ 'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders (1943) - Trivia
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (26 January 1944). "THE SCREEN; 'Gung Ho!' a Lurid Action Film About the Makin Island Raid, with Randolph Scott, Opens at the Criterion Theatre". The New York Times.
- ^ Box office information for France in 1945 at Box Office Story
- YouTube
External links
- Gung Ho! on YouTube
- Gung Ho! at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Gung Ho! at IMDb
- Gung Ho! is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Bugs Bunny-War Bonds, trailer of Gung Ho, 1943, retrieved 2017-09-21
- Gung Ho! at the TCM Movie Database