Product: Midway (Collector's Edition) (1976)
Rating: 5.0
A fine telling of the battle that won the Pacific war
This movie is a well-told and well-acted presentation of the Battle of Midway--which was probably the single most important battle that the US Navy has ever fought. Its greatest strength in my opinion is that it shows the battle almost equally from the American and Japanese sides. The script from the Japanese side is largely based upon the book "Midway" by Fuchida, et al. and this is a very positive thing. "Midway" is a great book.Both sides are shown with dignity, although the Japanese side takes the bulk of the criticism due to the dithering on the part of the Japanese: do they attack Midway again, or strike at the American fleet that the imperfect scouting reports suggest is out there? This indecisiveness--a departure from the military principles of "concentration of force" and "mission"--went a long way to costing the Japanese a battle that the odds favored them to win. By the way, this criticism of the Japanese commanders at Midway derives from the above-cited book "Midway" which was written by Japanese participants in the battle.My only criticism of the movie are two. First of all, Admiral Spruance is shortchanged--although Admiral Fletcher had very little to do with our victory at Midway, in this movie you would never know that. Admiral Nimitz is played by Henry Fonda and I suppose that is why, in this telling of the Midway battle, Nimitz completely overshadows Spruance. It was in reality Admiral Spruance who remembered everything that the Japanese forgot: concentration of force (he sent all his planes at long range to get in the first surprise blow) and mission: Spruance never forgot that his mission was to attack the Japanese fleet in order to prevent the invasion of Midway.My second criticism is that I thought that the whole sub-plot dealing with the Heston character's son, who was in love with a beautiful Nisei girl, was completely unnecessary and was in fact pointless as far as this movie went. I don't know why this portion of the movie didn't end up on the cutting room floor where it belonged.The above criticisms are not enough to deprive this movie of 5 stars. The best thing about the film is that it is very, very, entertaining--you'll watch this one over and over. It belongs in the DVD collection of everyone who likes good war movies.