Friday, August 8, 2014

Operation Pacific (1951) Reviews

Operation Pacific
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Since I grew up with this movie, I have seen it at least 30 times. This is one of the best Submarine Movies of WW-II action made. And not everyone knows this but this movie did deal with some truth. When the skipper is shot by a "Q" ship in a surface attack, he uses the command "Take Her Down" which was in actuality used by the CO of the USS Growler, after being critically wounded in action in 1942. And the torpedo trouble in the movie was also true and they did drop warheads from on high to test out various firing options. One submarine mentioned in the Movie was the Corvina, which really was a USN Sub, and she was suck by a Japanese Submarine like the movie portrays. Unlike other Sub Movies, this one has a lot of truth in it and is an excellent watch. It is made more realistic by being in black and white. Sources for the above "Sink em All" By Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, USN COMSUBPAC during WW-II

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This is a chilly saga of an American sub captain plagued by failure-prone weapons and an ocean full of Japanese to fight. They find the reason the torpedoes didn't work and put back to sea, this time, to take good care of the nasty business at hand. One scene that brings the cost of war home is that the Thunderfish loaned another sub a movie, "Washington Slept Here." Sometime later, they find wreckage of an American sub, and the movie tells them who is at the bottom of the ocean. The Thunderfish strikes back at the sub that got their friends, showing how dangerous it was out there and what courage it took to fight this war. The climax scene shows them in a Japanese-controlled harbor, with a waiting task force. They fire their new and deadly torpedoes, and radio back to Cincpac about the taskforce and its location. They run for cover, and barely survive massive retaliation: the outcome is in doubt until the last, as it was for many other submariners. A moving, poignant, and bittersweet tale that stresses the fact that nothing ever comes for free, even in war.

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This show depicts JW being handed what he least wants, to be left ashore during wartime to solve a technical problem with torpedos -something that really happened.

There is much of the standard John Wayne character in the movie -he's strong and larger than life, even when he faces a ruggedly handsome younger man who is vying for the same woman. John Wayne is, of course, the hero, and that's OK.

The best part about the movie, however, doesn't have anything to do with subs. The best part is the showdown between two nurses when one tells the other how things really are, and to quit whining about things (I paraphrase, badly).

Nevertheless, this movie is a great option for a free Saturday afternoon.

Addendum...I just read (3/2006) the non-fiction book "The Terrible Hours" by Maas, and found many similarities between Swede Momsen of that book and JW's character in this movie. While Operation Pacific doesn't do more than mention in passing that JW's character was involved in diving on a sunken sub before WWII, that and the work he does on solving the torpedo problems plaguing WWII fleet subs is enough to make the connection between JW and Swede Momsen. If you like this movie, you'll probably also like the book "The Terrible Hours."

Honest reviews on Operation Pacific (1951)

I bought the DVD of "Operation Pacific" over a year ago, but have only just watched it. I thought it would be just an average war film which I could watch when I had nothing better to see. However, I was quite wrong. This is definitely one of the best films of any kind that I have seen in the last couple of years. Why, I wonder, has it been forgotten (I had never heard of it until I saw it advertised on Amazon)? It is convincingly realistic, both when the submarine and its crew are at sea, and when they are having a break in port. I found some parts of the film very moving, there is no "false heroism" or cheapness about any of it, and the action when it comes is extremely exiting. Why, I wonder, do people sneer at John Wayne, or at his supposed lack of acting talent? In this film he is superb. I have seen quite a lot of his films in recent years, and I think that this may be one of his very best. The same applies, I think to Ward Bond, who is also superb in this.

Just a note: to anyone who watches this, and likes it as much as I do, make sure you also watch "They Were Expendable", also set in the Pacific in WWII, and also absolutely first rate.

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John Wayne's intrepid portrayal in this movie was taken from true life US Navy happenings that are skillfully blended for substenance for the backdrop of this story...John Wayne needs not to apoligize, either...there was...the raising of the USS Squaliss in 1939 just off the coast of Boston...there was...a US Navy rescue of Catholic Nuns and children from Guadalcanal before the 1st Marine Division's invasion of that island...there was...the sinking of the USS Corvina as noted in this film, as well as other disclosures stated by other Reviewers in here..."Operation Pacific" for whatever warts [imagined or not] is a monumental tribute to the Navy's Silent Service...I admit there were a couple of John Wayne moments, but that's to be expected, [pogey-bait time]...they didn't wrinkle my feathers one iota...I like the guy...the camera was very exquisite in the close/ups of Patricia Neal...wonderous close/ups of her adorable face in fadeout scenes...you can't tell me that these two [2] 'love/birds' maybe carried on/off screen??...Wayne and Neal generated plenty of 'steam' at those dockside scenes...look more closely...just read the know-it-all smirks [of envy] from the other male/stars at the dockside footage...that white-hot tidbit aside, a darn good Navy show and the intrinsic operation of submariner duty deep below the waves...Ward Bond was terrific, Scott Forbes made you notice his contribution, Martin Milner, as the young Ensign, came through with the impact of his declaration of sinking a Japanese submarine..."total silence on the screen"...only imprinted, what may be their lethal/fate along the way...Max Steiner's stiring music/score only adds to the heroic theme, as always...this is a well made Warner Bros' movie and a truly favorite of mine...in summation, I'm so glad we WON WW2...under the cruel sea our steadfast sailors of the US Navy's Silent Service sacrificed to preserve our heritage and the American way of life... 52 US Navy submarines were lost resulting in watery graves for 3,500 officers and enlisted men that marked the way back to Tokyo...God bless 'em all...SGGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

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