New Midway Movie

[Nathan]

FWIW I really enjoy the movie Midway..it's one of my favorites. Kind of a sequal to Tora, Tora, Tora. But not as good!

Really? I consider it one of the worst films I have ever sat through. Not only is it poorly written but the acting stinks with b-graders and rotten ham actors who were then considered stars for some reason like that dreadful man Heston. With all the clips taken from other films and sloppily cobbled together I found it hard to follow. The storyline of the Japanese internees was a totally unneccessary, cheesy and annoying sidleine. And comparing it to Tora, Tora, Tora which was a fine dramatic documentary with decent research and writing and acting, it doesn't cut the mustard one bit. I'd rate Tora five stars and Midway wouldn't get half a star.

Hi Dave! Thanks for the reply. Yeah I agree a lot of the film is cheesy. But I used to watch it as a kid and it had a big impact on me with a heavy interest in the real story.

There are some details that are flawd but the PBY searches and USN Carrier planes I think depicted well. I also enjoyed that they showed sub-titles of "real" names under the actors as their scene played out. Thatch, Maxwell, Waldron, Red Parks, Lt. Ady, etc. I think that was great to give some notes to the real names of the heroes of the Battle of Midway. It really adds to the movie with some serious historical notes. IMHO PH was way worse then Midway. Torax3 being number one out of the three. But I would not put Midway at the bottom of the list. Not yet.

"What's the count Red?

"I can put up a half a dozen F4F's and fifteen Buffalo's!"

"Damned Relics"

My favorite line in the whole movie!!

[Steve Nelson]

The basic storyline was pretty good, particularly with regard to historical accuracy. The two biggest problems were A: the overuse of stock footage and scenes culled from other movies (I've read that was necessary because they spent most of the budget on the "all star cast") and B: the cheesy melodrama between Heston, his whiny son, and his Japanese-American girlfriend. I think Heston's character summed it up best himself (from memory, so I don't know if it's quite correct) "You're being paid to fly fighter planes, not lay in your rack mooning over some girl. You better get your head in the game, Tiger, or some hotshot J@p pilot's gonna flame your a$$!"

But I think my favorite exchange of the entire film was this one:

Captain Garth: How much can you decipher?
Commander Rochefort: Fifteen percent.
Captain Garth: Really decipher?
Commander Rochefort: Ten percent.
Captain Garth: Ten percent? That's one word in ten, Joe! You're guessing!
Commander Rochefort: [slightly hurt] We like to call it "analysis."

And at least the film did have a really awesome original John Williams music score!

SN

[Ztex]

I saw it in the theater with the SENSURROUND! system...to this 11 year old it was Greatness!! So like Chris I still have some affection for the film. Is it good? Not really. Is it accurate? better than PH or Iron Eagle 3....

The opening scene with the B-25's headed to Tokyo and my seat rumbling like I was along for the ride....Awsome!
It made an impression on me....

[StangStung]

StangStung wrote:
Did I miss something about the NMNA working on recovering a TBD?

Moreover, it was my understanding that all the potentially recoverable TBDs (the one of the Keys, the couple offshore of some remote South Pacific island) would turn to rot if attempts were made to raise them.

Given the foregoing, wouldn't it be easier to start from scratch on building a TBD? That is, track down the drawings and begin anew?

Enlighten me please, as I've always been a huge TBD fan thanks to that only Monogram model from waaaaay back. I love the smell of airplane glue in the morning....


Word was put out a few months back that the NMNA is looking for funding to have A&T raise a TBD off the California coast.

Thanks for the response, I seem to recall seeing that in a thread a while back. Anyone on the inside of NMNA know what the status on the TBD recovery dinero is?

[Dave Homewood]

Well Nathan, all I can add is that I agree it wasn't as bad as Pearl Harbor as a film, that would get minus five stars.

Ztex said "Is it accurate? better than PH or Iron Eagle 3"

Iron Eagle 3? That made me giggle. Surely that's far more accurate?

Funnily enough all three films had Spitfires in and shouldn't have.

[Garth]

Captain Garth:

For the record, I got nuttin' to do with that guy ...

[Garth]

The opening scene with the B-25's headed to Tokyo and my seat rumbling like I was along for the ride....Awsome!

Better experienced as part of the movie it was lifted from: 1943's "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo".

[tom d. friedman]

my favorite funny line was when edward albert said to his japanese love in dubbed over english...." i love you gosh darm it" very powerful scene!! after it made the tv venue. i have to admit though that the scene where albert gets gets hit & his cockpit catches fire is pretty frightening & quite realistic, when he puts out the fire w/ his extinguisher & he's thoroughly toasted.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Okay, I've waited long enough.
I like "Midway". I always have.

That doesn't make it a great film, or a great representation of history, however.
It wouldn't even make my top 500 list! But then again, be honest, there are a lot of awful movies out there that each of you enjoy. I have a bunch. They are not good, not well written, but we still love to watch them.

I first saw "Midway" in "sensurround" and it was cool!
I've never been disturbed by the use of combat footage, sequences lifted from other movies, the horrendous acting and over acting or any of the other dozen things mentioned. I actually really liked seeing some of that original color combat footage, clear and on the big screen for the first time. I've always thought the love story should've been left on the cutting room floor, but that's about it.

I've always felt that the overall story has the drama it needs to sustain the interest of the viewer.
Also, if 10 percent of the people who see the film, then go on to "find out more" about the actual events surrounding the Battle of Midway, then the film can be considered a great catalyst for sparking more interest in history.

Not to go off on a tangent, but the TV series "Baa, Baa Black Sheep' was not very actuate and not well liked by the former VMF-214 pilots. I liked the show, but I knew at the time it was a lot of hooey. Some of my discussions with former Blacksheep about the series were that they must give the show credit for two things: first, it inspired many young people, some here on WIX today, to explore more about the actual history of the unit and also the history of the Corsair, and #2, the show has to be considered when anyone talks about the history of the Corsair. For three years the Corsair WAS a TV star.

Now back to "Midway".
I think my favorite funny thing about the film is that all the Japanese actors speak English very well. They talk like they're on the beach in Santa Monica. That's not the funny thing. The funny part is that they take Toshiro Mifune, a great Japanese actor, and have Paul Frees, overdub his lines in English but using an horrendous Japanese accent! It's really funny if you think about it as you watch it.

My two cents on a piece of film history.
Blue skies,
Jerry

[Chris Brame]

"I can put up a half a dozen F4F's and fifteen Buffaloes!"

In real life wouldn't he have said "F2As" or "Brewsters"? I thought the Navy/Marines never really had a nickname for that plane and the Buffalo name originated with the British?

my favorite funny thing about the film is that all the Japanese actors speak English very well.

That movie must have been like a family reunion for the familiar Japanese-American actors in the cast - One of my closest longtime friends is a struggling Chinese-American actor/singer with whom I'd sometimes go to auditions and we'd always see the same dozen or so people. Did get to meet Robert Ito at a play he and my friend were in - nice fellow.

The one actor I really wanted to meet and interview was Richard Loo, who played a lot of Japanese villains in the Forties, but he passed away in '84 before I had the chance.

[Speedy]

my favorite funny line was when edward albert said to his japanese love in dubbed over english...." i love you gosh darm it" very powerful scene!! after it made the tv venue. i have to admit though that the scene where albert gets gets hit & his cockpit catches fire is pretty frightening & quite realistic, when he puts out the fire w/ his extinguisher & he's thoroughly toasted.

"Roll out, Tom.....ROLLLL OUUUUUUUUUT!"

That's the line I remember from seeing it in the theater.

[Lynn Allen]

I hope they show the true story of Torpedo 8...
that they had just returned from helping save Britain during the Battle of Britain and they were immediately reassigned to the Hornet so they could attack the Japanese at Midway!
Jerry

Maybe Erik won't loose his girlfriend to his best friend this time around. An with no Mr. Miahgee, maybe Tom Cruise his fill in

[AviaS199]

Some time ago, I read an article that said the Devastator used for Midway was one of the Tora Kates repainted in Navy blue. Makes financial sense, at least, and it looked better than come cheesy CGI.

Thing is: A lot of people still think CGIs are some magic bullet for creating a scene on the cheap. They're not all that cheap, and they still don't look very convincing. They're best used to augment a scene, such as in the film "61*, when they used CGIs to add a third deck to Tiger Stadium, making it look like old Yankee Stadium.

If they can't afford to scratch-build a Devastator, I'd rather they build a large-scale RC model, one that's big enough to not bob around in the air like a cork on water. Chances are, it would probably cost about as much as some CGIs, and be a lot more realistic. Just my two cents.

Last edited by AviaS199 on Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[John Dupre]

Some time ago, I read an article that said the Devastator used for Midway was one of the Tora Vals repainted in Navy blue. Makes financial sense, at least, and it looked better than come cheesy CGI.

Thing is: A lot of people still think CGIs are some magic bullet for creating a scene on the cheap. They're not all that cheap, and they still don't look very convincing. They're best used to augment a scene, such as in the film "61*, when they used CGI's to add a third deck to Tiger Stadium, making it look like old Yankee Stadium.

If they can't afford to scratch-build a Devastator, I'd rather they build a large-scale RC model, one that's big enough to not bob around in the air like a cork on water. Chances are, it would probably cost about as much as some CGIs, and be a lot more realistic. Just my two cents.

How about "skin mapping"? Would it be possible to build a full scale Devastator mock up and film it digitally then take say a T-6 and digitally film it doing the Devastator's job and then map the mock up over the T-6? You would have filmed images that would look right because they are three dimensional images to begin with. If that concept works then there would be no limit to what could be recreated. You might also do the same with ships and tanks.

[Holedigger]

I believe the state of CGI is to the point that they COULD make pretty much any aircraft realistic. It is keeping IDIOT directors from requesting the aircraft do STUPID Hollywood things that really ruins it. THAT is the biggest issue I see, real aircraft apparently do not fly "Dramatically" enough! Still wondering just what is happening with "Redtails" and the rewrite...anyone know? If that can be a blockbuster, Torpedo 8 could be!