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Gung Ho!

Play trailer Poster for Gung Ho! Released Dec 20, 1943 1h 28m War Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 51% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
During the Pacific phase of World War II, Marine Col. Thorwald (Randolph Scott) puts together a special strike force to capture the Makin Island, a strategic territory held by Japan. He goes out of his way to select soldiers who are rugged or unbalanced misfits, such as former boxer "Pig-Iron" Matthews (Bob Mitchum) and yokel Rube Tedrow (Rod Cameron). As their raid draws closer, Thorwald dispatches with all ranks and titles, and trains his group using unconventional methods.
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Gung Ho!

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Don Q. Cine-Mundial Brought to the screen with successful realism. [Full review in Spanish] Sep 17, 2019 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Outdated WWII flagwaver. Rated: C+ Aug 6, 2007 Full Review Sean Axmaker Turner Classic Movies Online ... the film moves from the familiar cliches of platoon drama character vignettes to the sinewy action scenes of the invasion. Jun 28, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Robert R Excellent classic submarine movie that was a huge success in 1943. And continues to be shown to Naval recruits till this present day. I was one of them. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/22/24 Full Review Audience Member Flag waving reaction to the war in the Pacific, exemplified by the rather preachy summary by Randolph Scott at the end. The war scenes are nothing too spectacular. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member This is one of the best action war movies for it's time. It is also without a doubt the most well known of them. A propaganda film no doubt and it shows, but a good action flick that gets it all down pretty well. The beginning feels long and drawn out, shows us some characters but we can't really tell them apart of remember them as the movie goes on. We are stuck in a submarine for a bit, then the fight for Makin takes place, which takes up about 45 minutes of the movie. Te action is really good for its time, far better than other stuff they had, with good sound effects, explosions, and camera angles. The showing the actual guns firing with the exception of the Japanese machine guns seems to have been a problem, as we can't really tell if they are shooting if we didn't have the good sounds effects. Of course it is the classic American hero style, which is exactly what is expected of it given the time and all, so don't expect different. They kill all the Japanese with little problem, have some good shootouts, and after the action starts it doesn't let off until the film is over. I don't really know anything about the raid on Makin so I don't know how historically accurate it is, but I can be pretty positive that they didn't paint an American flag on the headquarters roof to make the Japanese planes bomb their own troops after they retook it. Also it was funny to see the Japanese pilots flying out their American F4F Wildcats and TBM Avengers which although were standing in for Japanese aircraft had full US navy markings. Overall good classic war movie, exactly what is to be expected in terms of story and plot, but better in action and characters. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member wartime propaganda man's movie Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member WWII drama starts out slow, but then gets exciting. Never boring. I just wish I got to know the characters more, because I didn't really care about some of them dying. Which wasn't intentional. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Ultra patriotic morale booster from just after America had entered WWII. Randolph Scott takes a break from the saddle to lead a troop into battle. His last speech, directly into the camera, is the very height of 40's Hollywood flag waving. Robert Mitchum who was just starting out has a good, if small, showcase role in one of the 19!! movies he appeared in that year. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Gung Ho!

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Movie Info

Synopsis During the Pacific phase of World War II, Marine Col. Thorwald (Randolph Scott) puts together a special strike force to capture the Makin Island, a strategic territory held by Japan. He goes out of his way to select soldiers who are rugged or unbalanced misfits, such as former boxer "Pig-Iron" Matthews (Bob Mitchum) and yokel Rube Tedrow (Rod Cameron). As their raid draws closer, Thorwald dispatches with all ranks and titles, and trains his group using unconventional methods.
Director
Ray Enright
Producer
Walter Wanger
Screenwriter
Lucien Hubbard
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Walter Wanger Productions, Inc.
Genre
War
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 20, 1943, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
May 8, 2012
Runtime
1h 28m
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