They Were Expendable is the greatest American film of the Second World War, made by America's greatest director, John Ford, who himself saw action from the Battle of Midway through D-day. Yet it's been oddly neglected. Or perhaps not so oddly: for as the matter-of-fact title implies, the film commemorates a period, from the eve of Pearl Harbor up to the impending fall of Bataan, when the Japanese conquest of the Pacific was in full cry and U.S. forces were fighting a desperate holding action. Although stirring movies had been made about these early days (Wake Island, Bataan, Air Force), they were gung ho in their resolve to see the tables turned. They Were Expendable, however, which was made when Allied victory was all but assured, is profoundly elegiac, with the patient grandeur of a tragic poem.

"They" are the officers and men of the Navy's PT boat service, an experimental motor-torpedo force relegated to courier duty on Manila Bay but eventually proven effective in combat. Their commander is played by Robert Montgomery, who actually served on a PT and later commanded a destroyer at Normandy; James Agee called his "the one unimprovable performance" of 1945. In addition to giving it, Montgomery codirected the breathtaking second-unit action sequences (and took over the first unit for a week when Ford broke his leg). John Wayne's costarring role as Montgomery's volatile second-in-command initially looks stereotypically blustery, but as the drama unfolds--the death of comrades, a friendship-that-never-gets-to-be-a-romance with an Army nurse (Donna Reed)--Wayne sounds notes of tenderness and vulnerability that will take Duke-bashers by surprise.

"This film was made possible by . . .

. . . the Office of Strategic Management." (acknowledged during the credits)

This gives you a clue about the reason for the making of this film at the (victorious) end of the war in 1945.

Americans (I'm one) have short memories. Very short. The OSM judged there was adverse public reaction to the abandonment of the Philippines in 1942. The film counters, or blunts, the question, "why did we pull out when we won the war anyway?"

Of course, the question is highly illogical but whoever said the general public is able to formulate logical questions?

What is being "strategically managed" is the manipulation of public opinion.

(I would have preferred giving a no-star review.)

A Battle Lost but a War Won

My grandfather served in the Navy in the Pacific during WW2. He was on two different boats the Japanese sunk. He survived and served 30 yrs in the Navy. The second, the USS Mahan was kamikazied in the Leyte Gulf. My Step-Grandfather was on the Yorktown during midway. My dad was a Naval physician for 20 yrs. Fair to say, I have a personal interest in Navy movies and, in particular, the Navy during WW2.

I've seen lots and lots of war movies and They Were Expendable is one the best. John Ford was the best American director ever, in my opinion. A movie so realistic, I remember it "in color" even though it is B/W. The b/w cinematography is beautiful on it's own. There are some exciting action scenes but it is important to understand movies made in the 40's, even war movies and westerns didn't have a whole lot of action compared to today's action and war flicks. TWE is long and deliberately slow so as to allow the characters to flesh out and give the audience an opportunity to understand and appreciate the tremendous sacrifice these men made.

I'm the product of a cynical generation and I'll admit I sometimes find classic films to be a bit quaint or corny. Everyone in this movie is steadfast, honorable, brave, graceful, helpful, upbeat, patriotic and unhesitating in their eagerness to place themselves in harms way not for accolades but to help fight. You don't see that in today's war movies.

TWE is about men who fought a running island hopping battle knowing the situation was hopeless because they understood that anything they could do to weaken or delay the enemy in even the most minor way helped shorten the war in the allies' favor. Thousands of men and not a few women (nurses) suffered and died in the Philippines giving the enemy every last ounce of grief while America recovered from Pearl Harbor and built its fleet back up.

John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed and many of John Ford's stock company collaborate to make a movie even the most cynical and jaded American can and should watch with enjoyment and patriotism.

They Were Expendable

One of the finest films directed by John ford and starring John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed, Ward Bond etc, this movie gets to the heart of WWII, and what the PT Boats Commanders & their Crews had to go through, it is also a deeply moving love story between a man and a women, who come together only to be torn apart by the war not knowing whether OR not they will see each other again, this is one movie that if you watch it you can identify with and one movie you can never get tired of watching.