Perversely, the thing reminds me of "Glory," without the taken-for-granteds. I mean, now we take for granted that African-Americans are as good in the military as anyone else. (God knows, they were the tidiest sailors on my ship.) But at the time this film was released the accomplishments of the 442nd were still news to most people. Japanese? Fighting on OUR side? Gosh.
Alas, the performances leave a lot to be desire. Van Johnson does no more than a workmanlike job, and the Japanese soldiers are hard to distinguish. It isn't that they all look alike so much as that so many are given similar motivations. Only two of the enlisted men are really outstanding -- the bitter guy (the equivalent of the Denzel Washington figure in "Glory") and the educated guy (the Andre Braugher character in "Glory").
It's a good move though, and the action scenes are right up there among the better ones. Particularly good is the wounded guy wielding the mortar all by himself. Mortars don't ordinarily loom large in combat movies, although read Sledge's "With the Old Breed." Weaknesses? Not too many. One outstanding is that Van Johnson's racism is not made more explicit. Throughout, he objects to his assignment because, mainly, he wants to stay with his Texas division. His racism is sort of, well, masked.
Good movie though.
Stay way from the only available DVD, which is junk.
Alas, the performances leave a lot to be desire. Van Johnson does no more than a workmanlike job, and the Japanese soldiers are hard to distinguish. It isn't that they all look alike so much as that so many are given similar motivations. Only two of the enlisted men are really outstanding -- the bitter guy (the equivalent of the Denzel Washington figure in "Glory") and the educated guy (the Andre Braugher character in "Glory").
It's a good move though, and the action scenes are right up there among the better ones. Particularly good is the wounded guy wielding the mortar all by himself. Mortars don't ordinarily loom large in combat movies, although read Sledge's "With the Old Breed." Weaknesses? Not too many. One outstanding is that Van Johnson's racism is not made more explicit. Throughout, he objects to his assignment because, mainly, he wants to stay with his Texas division. His racism is sort of, well, masked.
Good movie though.
Stay way from the only available DVD, which is junk.