Product: Midway (Collector's Edition) (1976)
Rating: 4.0
Captures the Scope of the Battle in True Hollywood Form
MIDWAY is an interesting concoction of reams of stock footage edited to newly filmed scenes of an all-star cast. It was all done in an effort to retell the Battle of Midway for American audiences in conjunction with our Bicentennial celebration. Director Jack Smight would have been more successful if he eliminated the fictional characters portrayed by Charlton Heston and Edward Albert Jr. and told it in semi-documentary style. The cast includes Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Glenn Ford, James Coburn, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Toshiro Mifune, Hal Holbrook, James Shigeta, Christopher George, Robert Webber, Monte Markham, Glenn Corbett, Dabney Coleman and Tom Selleck. John Williams composed a very effective score reminiscent of some of his early work such as his score for NONE BUT THE BRAVE. In the end it all seems to work and does not fail to entertain. Glenn Ford as Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and Robert Mitchum in a small but impressive role as Vice Adm. William F. 'Bull' Halsey Jr. come off best.