The Fighting Seabees

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The Fighting Seabees

1944

1h 40m

War

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100%

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5 Reviews

72%

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2,500+ Ratings

A morale-boosting tribute to the US Navy's Construction Battalions who followed behind the troops invading Pacific islands held by the Japanese to build runways, roads and bridges. Wedge Donovan is the civilian head of a construction company approached by the Navy to train their men as specialists. Instead, the impetuous Donovan wants to prove his crew are up to the job, but they are shot up by the Japanese.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

03/23/2011

B-

One of John Wayne's popular WWII movies, in which his hero shows the exepected rebellious independence.

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Steve Crum

Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers

08/10/2006

3/5

WWII flag waving + Duke Wayne = can't miss action.

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

02/11/2006

B-

Standard WW2 flagwaver.

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Linda Cook

Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

09/20/2005

4/5

Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

01/13/2003

4/5

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william d

@acsdoug 02/18/2021

For once The Duke is not infallible. He makes some mistakes that get his men killed. This rare vulnerability does not make the film any better, but the battle scenes certainly do. They are truly impressive, with lots of explosions and hundreds of extras running around, much better than the usual 1940s era war movie fare.

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01/14/2020

This was a movie during WW2 that was not only inspirational to the homefront, but had all the good things you needed to make it an exceptional movie. The ending was hard for me to see as a young kid in the 50's, but I truly remembered the star power of the actors, a truly outstanding movie.

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09/19/2015

Racist, sexist, poorly written, and badly acted, The Fighting Seabees is interesting only as a WWII propaganda curiosity and a window into the less-than-politically-correct times.

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04/23/2014

Watching one of my all time favourite movies. I watched it countless times as a kid.

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03/19/2014

another good WWII propaganda pic

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04/20/2012

Army is still better...

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Edward Ludwig

Director

John Wayne

Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan

Susan Hayward

Constance Chesley

Dennis O'Keefe

Lt. Cmdr. Robert Yarrow

William Frawley

Eddie Powers

Leonid Kinskey

Johnny Novasky

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Synopsis

A morale-boosting tribute to the US Navy's Construction Battalions who followed behind the troops invading Pacific islands held by the Japanese to build runways, roads and bridges. Wedge Donovan is the civilian head of a construction company approached by the Navy to train their men as specialists. Instead, the impetuous Donovan wants to prove his crew are up to the job, but they are shot up by the Japanese.

Director: Edward Ludwig
Producer: Albert J. Cohen
Screenwriter: Borden Chase, Æneas MacKenzie
Distributor: Republic Pictures
Genre: War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 10, 1944, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 8, 2018
Runtime: 1h 40m

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