Best movies about the Pacific War?

[jazman]

Problem with the new movies is they're made in an America slouching into decrepitude, and even despises herself and her past. The older movies reflect a better America, and are simply better for that reason alone. And given these things, am I to anticipate historically accurate Hollywood output? Thanks, I needed the laugh.

[sadja]

Objective Burma is the Errol Flyn movie, a really great one. Destination Tokyo was one with Cary grant

[gunnergoz]

I'm glad that Away All Boats was mentioned - I've always felt that was a gem of a movie about a topic too little covered.  Hollywoodish, maybe, but still, footage shot on an actual WW2 APA is worth something, not to mention all the landing craft and their evolutions in the water.  

[EwingNJ]

Task Force - 1949 with Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan

Interesting Fact: Wayne Morris who portrayed Lt.McKinney was the only actor in the cast who had actual combat experience as a carrier pilot in WWII . As a fighter pilot, Morris shot down seven enemy planes and contributed to the sinking of five enemy ships. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. He was the only combat "ace" of all the Hollywood actors who went to war.


They Were Expendable – 1945 with Robert Montgomery and John Wayne

Interesting Fact: Robert Montgomery was a real-life PT skipper in World War 2. He helped direct some of the PT sequences for the film when John Ford was unavailable due to health reasons.

[RevRick]

ORIGINAL: Admiral Scott

The Galliant Hours. 1960 James Cagne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gallant_Hours

Absoltively...... One of the best made. Battle Cry and From Here to Eternity are also good. Does anyone remember Hell in the Pacific, with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune?

[gunnergoz]

ORIGINAL: RevRick

ORIGINAL: Admiral Scott

The Galliant Hours. 1960 James Cagne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gallant_Hours

Absoltively...... One of the best made. Battle Cry and From Here to Eternity are also good. Does anyone remember Hell in the Pacific, with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune?

I do remember that film but somehow it did not end up on my personal favorites, list...on the other hand, Bridge over the River Kwai is definitely on it. I respected Marvin's war experience but he never managed to convey it to the big screen in a way that connected with me. But then, I've always been an Audie Murphy guy...[8D]

[dorjun driver]

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Lifeboat [/align]


Dang! Wrong theater!

[Sauvequipeut]

'Mister Roberts' - no carrier strikes or atoll storming, just 'cabin fever' running riot in the logistics tail.

'Mission of the Shark' isn't half bad either.

For the 'I Wannit!' category - IMHO GMF's 'Quartered Safe Out Here' and Becton's 'The Ship That Would Not Die' deserve to be filmed.

[TOMLABEL]

Alot of great movies about the Pacific theatre listed here and if you haven't seen them, I would take the time to view them all. Many are great stories.

One from the Japanese side (and may be hard to find) is "I Bombed Pearl Harbor" 1960 - starring Toshiro Mifune (yes of Midway movie fame). Actually, many of the scenes taken from the Japanese carriers in this movie appear in the movie Midway. I was very surprised when I saw it.

But then, the opening scene of Midway is taken from the movie "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" which is also a superb must see movie with Van Johnson.

[Footslogger]

wasn't Ensign Pulver a war picture too?

[Zakhal]

ORIGINAL: The Island

Here's a not so complete list of movies in rough chronological order with brief synopsis.

Tora Tora Tora - docudrama on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor - Recent Hollywood movie that purists cringe over...with good reason!
From Here to Eternity - classic film starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra
Air Force - story of B-17 'Mary Ann' in the opening days of WW2
Flying Tigers - John Wayne leads the AVG in China
Wake Island - story of the Marines battle to hold the island
Bataan - Robert Taylor and great supporting cast hold out against the Japanese
They Were Expendable - PT Boats in the Philippines stars LtCdr Robert Montgomery USNR and John Wayne
The Fighting Sullivans - Story about the five Sullivan brothers who died aboard USS Juneau
MacArthur - Gregory Peck is 'Dugout Doug' in a fair bio-pic
Empire of the Sun - A young Christian Bale stars in Steven Spielberg's movie about a boy who fights to survive in a Japanese internment camp
Operation Petticoat - Cary Grant stars in this comedy as skipper of the pink submarine, USS Sea Tiger
So Proudly We Hail - Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake star as Army nurses on Bataan
Destination: Tokyo - Cary Grant stars as commander of USS Copperfin on a mission to Tokyo Bay
Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy star in this movie about the Doolittle Raid
The Purple Heart - Dana Andrews leads a group of downed flyers facing a 'war crimes' trial in Japan
Midway - Star studded cast in movie about the great battle
Wing and a Prayer: The Story of Carrier X Dana Andrews and Don Ameche battle each other and the Japanese at Midway
Gung Ho - story of the Marine raid on Makin Island
Guadalcanal Diary Classic film about Marines on the famous island
The Thin Red Line Artistic film about battle for Guadalcanal
In Harm's Way - John Wayne stars in this navy epic
God is My Copilot - Dennis Morgan is Col. Robert Scott in this movie based on the book by the same name
Operation Pacific - John Wayne stars as Duke Gifford in this submarine action tale
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison - under rated pic starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr
The Fighting Seabees - John Wayne establishes the legendary Seabees
Flying Leathernecks - John Wayne leads a Marine fighter squadron in the Solomons
Flat Top - Sterling Hayden stars in this film about carrier pilot training and butts heads with a new commander
Task Force - Gary Cooper stars in film about the development of naval aviation through WW2
The Wings of Eagles - John Wayne stars as navy flier Frank 'Spig' Wead
Father Goose - a romantic comedy starring Cary Grant as a boozy coastwatcher
Beach Red - Cornel Wilde attempts to take Japanese Island
Halls of Montezuma - Richard Widmark fights to destroy a Japanese rocket base. Jack Webb also stars.
Operation Burma - Errol Flynn manages to swashbuckle his way against the Japanese in Burma
Merrill's Marauders - Jeff Chandler stars as Brigadier General Frank Merrill in Burma
Battle Cry - Van Helflin leads a group of marines as they train for battle
Windtalkers - Slightly above-average movie about the Navaho codetalkers
Hell to Eternity - Jeffrey Hunter stars in the true story of Guy Gabaldon on Saipan
Back to Bataan - John Wayne organizes Philippine resistance groups
Hell in the Pacific - Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune star in a fine film of two opposing soldiers who have a tense truce
Mister Roberts - Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon in the classic and poignant comedy
The Caine Mutiny - Van Johnson deals with a mentally unstable captain played by Humphrey Bogart...Where are those strawberries?
Hellcats of the Navy - Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis star in their only movie together. A decent submarine movie about the development of mine detecting sonar
Run Silent, Run Deep - the submarine classic starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster
Torpedo Run - an under-appreciated submarine film starring Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine
The Bridge on the River Kwai - The classic PoW film that earned Alec Guiness an Oscar
To End All Wars - The awful truth of the prisoners who built the Kwai Bridge. Robert Carlyle stars in a moving masterpiece
The Great Raid - film about the Cabanatuan PoW rescue mission...Stars Joseph Fiennes and Benjamin Bratt
Sands of Iwo Jima - John Wayne leads a squad of Marines from Tarawa to Mount Suribachi
Flags of Our Fathers - Story of the men in the iconic image of WW2
Letters from Iwo Jima - Ken Watanabe stars in a fantastic film about the Japanese on Iwo Jima
The Outsider - Tony Curtis stars as Ira Hayes of Iwo Jima photograph fame
Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku (For Those We Love) - Japanese film on about a kamikaze unit
Otoka-tachi no Yamato (Japanese movie about Battleship Yamato) Great film on the final sortie of the famous battleship
Gekido No Showashi: Okinawa Kessen (The Battle of Okinawa) - The 1971 classic Japanese movie about the horrors of the battle
Mission of the Shark: The Saga of USS Indianapolis - Stacy Keach is the commander of the ill-fated cruiser Indianapolis
Fat Man and Little Boy - Paul Newman pushes for the gadgets to end the war
Hiroshima - Made for TV movie about the events leading up to and including the dropping of the bomb


Documentaries
The Battle of Midway - John Ford's classic
With the Marines at Tarawa - Oscar winning documentary on the Battle for Tarawa
Report from the Aleutians - Great documentary about the boys in the North
To the Shores of Iwo Jima - Fine film on the epic battle
The Fighting Lady - THE movie that provides all the great battle footage in nearly every other movie. Filmed aboard USS Yorktown (CV 10).
Victory at Sea (TV Series) - 'Nuff Said!
Crusade in the Pacific (TV Series) - an average series on the fight in the Pacific

*****Addedum*****
Here Comes the Navy - Though not a WW2 PTO movie per se, this James Cagney movie would be of particular interest. It was shot on board the USS Arizona and therefore a nice time capsule of life aboard a battlewagon in the mid 1930s.
tm.asp?m=2187412&mpage=1&key=mutiny&#2187553

[Unhappy]

Hasn't anybody mentioned The Final Countdown?  Oh Kirk Douglas, if only you'd averted that whole Pearl Harbor thing when you had the chance!

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Custer

Anybody ever see "Beachhead" with Tony Curtis and Frank Lovejoy ? How about "Destination Burma" with Errol Flynn.

Is that the one where Tony Curtis runs back in 15 minutes a distance it took them three days brutal marching on the way out, and when he gets back to where they landed he swims out and sinks an attacking enemy destroyer with a hand grenade?

[stuman]

ORIGINAL: rroberson

I think there was a pretty good Ben Afleck movie a couple years ago...


[8D]

Arrrggghh. We should not even allude to The Movie That Shall Not Be Named ( TMTSNBN )

[stuman]

ORIGINAL: AcePylut

Pearl Harbor

There... I said it.  The "movie" that shall not be named, has been named.

May the you be cursed with the Central Pacific 12 month itch [:-]

[El Savior]

TORA! TORA! TORA!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066473/

That's the best I've seen.

[RoryAndersonCDT]

ORIGINAL:  The Island

Here's a not so complete list of movies in rough chronological order with brief synopsis.

Tora Tora Tora - docudrama on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor - Recent Hollywood movie that purists cringe over...with good reason!
From Here to Eternity - classic film starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra
Air Force - story of B-17 'Mary Ann' in the opening days of WW2
Flying Tigers - John Wayne leads the AVG in China
Wake Island - story of the Marines battle to hold the island
Bataan - Robert Taylor and great supporting cast hold out against the Japanese
They Were Expendable - PT Boats in the Philippines stars LtCdr Robert Montgomery USNR and John Wayne
The Fighting Sullivans - Story about the five Sullivan brothers who died aboard USS Juneau
MacArthur -  Gregory Peck is 'Dugout Doug' in a fair bio-pic
Empire of the Sun - A young Christian Bale stars in Steven Spielberg's movie about a boy who fights to survive in a Japanese internment camp
Operation Petticoat - Cary Grant stars in this comedy as skipper of the pink submarine, USS Sea Tiger
So Proudly We Hail - Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake star as Army nurses on Bataan
Destination: Tokyo - Cary Grant stars as commander of USS Copperfin on a mission to Tokyo Bay
Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy star in this movie about the Doolittle Raid
The Purple Heart - Dana Andrews leads a group of downed flyers facing a 'war crimes' trial in Japan
Midway - Star studded cast in movie about the great battle
Wing and a Prayer: The Story of Carrier X Dana Andrews and Don Ameche battle each other and the Japanese at Midway
Gung Ho - story of the Marine raid on Makin Island
Guadalcanal Diary Classic film about Marines on the famous island
The Thin Red Line Artistic film about battle for Guadalcanal
In Harm's Way - John Wayne stars in this navy epic
God is My Copilot - Dennis Morgan is Col. Robert Scott in this movie based on the book by the same name
Operation Pacific - John Wayne stars as Duke Gifford in this submarine action tale
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison - under rated pic starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr
The Fighting Seabees - John Wayne establishes the legendary Seabees
Flying Leathernecks - John Wayne leads a Marine fighter squadron in the Solomons
Flat Top - Sterling Hayden stars in this film about carrier pilot training and butts heads with a new commander
Task Force - Gary Cooper stars in film about the development of naval aviation through WW2
The Wings of Eagles - John Wayne stars as navy flier Frank 'Spig' Wead
Father Goose - a romantic comedy starring Cary Grant as a boozy coastwatcher
Beach Red - Cornel Wilde attempts to take Japanese Island
Halls of Montezuma - Richard Widmark fights to destroy a Japanese rocket base. Jack Webb also stars.
Operation Burma - Errol Flynn manages to swashbuckle his way against the Japanese in Burma
Merrill's Marauders - Jeff Chandler stars as Brigadier General Frank Merrill in Burma
Battle Cry - Van Helflin leads a group of marines as they train for battle
Windtalkers - Slightly above-average movie about the Navaho codetalkers
Hell to Eternity - Jeffrey Hunter stars in the true story of Guy Gabaldon on Saipan
Back to Bataan - John Wayne organizes Philippine resistance groups
Hell in the Pacific - Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune star in a fine film of two opposing soldiers who have a tense truce
Mister Roberts - Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon in the classic and poignant comedy
The Caine Mutiny - Van Johnson deals with a mentally unstable captain played by Humphrey Bogart...Where are those strawberries?
Hellcats of the Navy - Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis star in their only movie together. A decent submarine movie about the development of mine detecting sonar
Run Silent, Run Deep - the submarine classic starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster
Torpedo Run - an under-appreciated submarine film starring Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine
The Bridge on the River Kwai - The classic PoW film that earned Alec Guiness an Oscar
To End All Wars - The awful truth of the prisoners who built the Kwai Bridge. Robert Carlyle stars in a moving masterpiece
The Great Raid - film about the Cabanatuan PoW rescue mission...Stars Joseph Fiennes and Benjamin Bratt
Sands of Iwo Jima - John Wayne leads a squad of Marines from Tarawa to Mount Suribachi
Flags of Our Fathers -  Story of the men in the iconic image of WW2
Letters from Iwo Jima - Ken Watanabe stars in a fantastic film about the Japanese on Iwo Jima
The Outsider - Tony Curtis stars as Ira Hayes of Iwo Jima photograph fame
Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku (For Those We Love) - Japanese film on about a kamikaze unit
Otoka-tachi no Yamato (Japanese movie about Battleship Yamato) Great film on the final sortie of the famous battleship
Gekido No Showashi: Okinawa Kessen (The Battle of Okinawa) - The 1971 classic Japanese movie about the horrors of the battle
Mission of the Shark: The Saga of USS Indianapolis - Stacy Keach is the commander of the ill-fated cruiser Indianapolis
Fat Man and Little Boy - Paul Newman pushes for the gadgets to end the war
Hiroshima - Made for TV movie about the events leading up to and including the dropping of the bomb


Documentaries
The Battle of Midway - John Ford's classic
With the Marines at Tarawa - Oscar winning documentary on the Battle for Tarawa
Report from the Aleutians - Great documentary about the boys in the North
To the Shores of Iwo Jima - Fine film on the epic battle
The Fighting Lady - THE movie that provides all the great battle footage in nearly every other movie. Filmed aboard USS Yorktown (CV 10).
Victory at Sea (TV Series) - 'Nuff Said!
Crusade in the Pacific (TV Series) - an average series on the fight in the Pacific

*****Addedum*****
Here Comes the Navy - Though not a WW2 PTO movie per se, this James Cagney movie  would be of particular interest. It was shot on board the USS Arizona and therefore a nice time capsule of life aboard a battlewagon in the mid 1930s.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: moonraker

Tora! Tora! Tora!. Without doubt the best portrayal of the Pearl Harbor attack. And for 1970 not bad Special FX.

What he said. Great, respectful and generally historically accurate movie. And no ridiculous sub-plots, as with 'Midway'.

[Lützow]

How about Letters from Iwo Jima ?

[Sauvequipeut]

'The Long and the Short and the Tall' - great study of of a patrol lost in Burma. 'Flingers on Blonce!'

'The Seawolves' - who needs fiction when fact has things like this?

wasn't Ensign Pulver a war picture too?

Well, kind of, but...what makes Mister Roberts so special is the depiction of the USS Reluctant as being part of the war, but not really 'in' it - the crew face years of inglorious, soul-destroying tedium with the reward being a lifetime of fearing the question 'What did YOU do in the war, Daddy?'.

Ensign Pulver is just common-or-garden cheesy nautical slapstick - they could have put that one in the 30's or 50's without changing a thing.