Product: Midway (Collector's Edition) (1976)
Rating: 4.0
Midway was the foundation for victory in the Pacific
i was 12 when this movie came out. it was a huge blockbuster with an all-star cast led by Charlton Heston as the fictional character Captain Matt Garth. the Garth character was in the movie to add some much needed human interest. Garth was the hero we could identify with and root for. and it also allowed the movie to have Edward Albert portray his son (a fighter pilot) and show how the Japanese were rounded up and sent to internment camps.if those elements were not in the movie, it simply would have been a documentary of probably the most compelling naval battle for the US during WW II. it was the battle that turned the tide in the US's favor and allowed us to keep the Japanese at bay till we were ready to go on the offensive.the DVD itself is very good quality with many excellent bonus feautures. i particulary enjoyed the interviews with producer Walter Mirish and director Jack Smight and also Charlton Heston. and there is also a nice interview session with composer John Williams who did a very nice job with the score for Midway.now let me say something about the confusion regarding the length and scope of the movie. the movie on this DVD is the original theatrical release. there was another version of this movie which was longer and showed the Battle of the Coral Sea (Mitch Ryan starred as Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch) and also gave Heston a romantic interest with Susan Sullivan playing his girlfriend. this version was made after the fact to accommodate NBC (i believe) so it could have a long two-part movie for its popular Movie of the Week. personally, i liked this longer version better as it gave the movie a lot more meat and made it more interesting. without these additional scenes, the movie seems a bit hurried and uninspired in my opinion.now on this DVD set they do have the 10 minutes worth of footage with Susan Sullivan in the Bonus section. but for some inexplicable reason there are no shots of the Battle of Coral Sea and that is very dissapointing.it would have been nice if they could have released this as a 2-DVD set with the second disc containing the longer TV version.the bottom line is that this is a good movie with a good cast and it is nice to see it with all of the extra bonus feautures as well.