Back to Bataan

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with the then-recent US Army Ranger raid at Cabanatuan prisoner-of-war camp. The film then flashes back to March 1942.
As the U.S. Army under General MacArthur struggles to hold on at Bataan against the Japanese, Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne) orders one of his officers, Captain Andrés Bonifácio (Anthony Quinn), to shape up. Bonifácio has been under a strain because his sweetheart Dalisay Delgado (Fely Franquelli) is apparently collaborating with the Japanese, broadcasting propaganda over the radio.
Later, Madden is picked to slip through the lines to organize Filipinos to fight as guerrillas against the occupying Japanese forces. His commanding officer lets him know that Delgado is actually using the propaganda broadcasts to secretly transmit valuable information to them, but he is ordered to reveal that fact to no one, not even Bonifácio.
Madden makes contact with one group of Filipino resistance fighters, but as they set out to on their first mission, they encounter middle-aged American school teacher Bertha Barnes (Beulah Bondi). She and her students join the guerrillas after the Japanese hang Buenaventura Bello (Vladimir Sokoloff), the principal of her school and a dear friend, for refusing to take down the American flag.
Setting out on their first mission to destroy a Japanese gasoline dump, Madden and his men stumble upon the Bataan Death March and realize that Bataan has fallen. Many of the Filipinos lose heart, so to fan their will to fight, Madden finds and engineers the rescue of Captain Bonifácio from the Death March. Bonifácio happens to be the grandson of Andrés Bonifacio, a national hero. It works; for the group's first mission the guerrillas come to the Flilipino village and hang the Japanese officer who ordered the killing of Bello; and over the next year, Madden and his guerrillas attack Japanese outposts, supply depots, military airfields and other installations.
Major Hasko (Richard Loo), one of the Japanese commanders, attempts to appease the local population by staging a semi-independence ceremony to reduce popular support for the Filipino resistance. Madden, Bonifácio and the guerrillas attack the ceremony, where Dalisay finally reveals her true alliance when, during her radio broadcast, she urges her people to rise up against the Japanese. Most of the Japanese troops are killed in the raid, but young Filipino boy Maximo Cuenca (one of Barnes' students) is captured. After being beaten, he agrees to lead the Japanese to the Madden's hideout. However, as they near the spot, Maximo grabs the steering wheel of the Japanese truck, sending it careening down a mountainside. He dies in the arms of Miss Barnes.
Later, Colonel Madden is ordered out of the field, leaving Captain Bonifácio in command of the Filipino resistance. Several months later in October 1944, Bonifácio and his group travel to Leyte, where rumors are circulating of the impending American invasion to liberate the Philippines. After arriving on Leyte, Bonifácio is reunited with Madden. They are given the mission of taking and holding a small village to block Japanese reinforcements from repelling the impending American landing.
By trickery, Madden, Bonifácio and their men engage and defeat the Japanese garrison in a fierce pitched battle. However, two enemy soldiers get away on a motorcycle to spread the alarm. Japanese tanks and soldiers attack. The defenders manage to knock out most of the tanks, but are on the verge of being forced to retreat. Just when all seems lost, American reinforcements and tanks arrive and turn the tide of the battle.
The film closes with another short montage of several of the actual released Americans from the Cabanatuan prison camp.

Tags: cult, violence

Review:
This film is totally unselfconscious in how it deals with the war, in one scene it features real Bataan POWs marching in a parade and introduces them documentary style with a narrator, and it hired Filipino extras and actors for important roles.
This is what really touched and surprised me, how it elevated and glorified Filipino nationalism, culture, and history (Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifácio are frequently quoted and reverently referred to throughout the film); and, in an age where African American actors still were unfairly stereotyped and Asian actors almost nowhere to be found in Hollywood films, this treated Pinoy characters as equals and as heroes.
Director Edward Dmytryk, later blacklisted, paid no heed to Production Code regulations for violence, and filmed scenes that were fairly explicit (for the time) in their portrayal of cruelty and violence inflicted on soldiers and civilians in an attempt to realistically dramatize some of the atrocities that occurred during the war which lends the film an air of impending danger and gravitas.From before the era of ambiguous and complex war stories (which is how I usually prefer my war flicks to be served), this one of the best "classic" war films I've ever seen.
In particular, other than IN HARMS WAY, this is John Wayne's best WWII film, as his acting is a little less "bigger than life" and more realistic.
The film "Back to Battan" starts and ends with the January 30, 1945 US/Filipino raid on the infamous Cabanatuan Japanese prison camp on Luzon Island as the allied troops rout the Japanese defenders, that number some 2,000 to 5,000 men, at the cost of only 4 killed and 21 wounded with not even a single US/Filipino POW being lost in the battle.
US Col. Madden, John Wayne, and his men are fighting for their lives holding back wave after wave of suicidal Japanese Banzai attacks as the lights slowly go out for the American and Philippine forces.
With the US general in command of the Philippines Douglas MacArthur being called back to Australia to regroup the battered and defeated US Army for another shot at the invincible army navy and air force of the Empire of Japan things look very bleak for the American and Filipino troops still left on the islands.The film almost entirely concentrates on the guerrilla war conducted by Col. Joe Madden and Capt.
Dolici puts secret code words into her commentaries to alert the US and allied, Philippine, troops where the Japanese Army is making it's next move.One of the better WWII Hollywood war movies with John Wayne needing help from the locals and also being berated and pushed around by who I at first thought was the leader of the allied troops on the Islands,she sure as hell acted like she was, history teacher Bertha Barnes, Beulah Bondi.
There's also a number of really exciting battle sequences between the US/Filipino troops and Japanese forces that didn't come across phony and overly one-sided, like in the battles of Battan and the Island fortress of Corrigidor,where the "Japs" actually won, like in most WWII movies coming out of Hollywood at that time.There were two scenes in the movie "Back to Battan" that really moved me and that had very little to do with any fighting.
The second scene was when 15 year-old Philippine high-school student Maximo Cuerca, Duckie Louie, was forced to betray, after being tortured by the Japanese, his fellow freedom fighters and American allies.
Maximo gave up his life taking the lives of his Japanese tormentors with him by forcing the truck he was on, by grabbing the steering wheel, to go off an embankment killing everyone on board in order to warn Col. Madden's men that they were soon to be ambushed.The real heavy fighting was saved for last with the return to the Philippines of the American forces under the leadership of "I Shall Return" General Douglas MacArthur in the invasion and battle of Latye Gulf in October 1944.
Few young Americans today have even heard of the Filipino and American disaster at Corregidor and the Bataan Death March that followed, during which numerous sick and hungry prisoners of war were beaten and killed by their Japanese guards.
Although the movie accurately portrays the spirit of Filipino resistance to the Japanese, the individual characters from John Wayne down are cut from the usual Hollywood cardboard.
Similarly, the guerrilla force led by John Wayne looks little the worse for wear even after two and half years of jungle warfare (whixh seem like about a week in this movie).The Japanese lynching of the school principal is well handled.
The invaders hang him as an example.Despite its weaknesses, "Back to Bataan" is still watchable and even enjoyable as a different view of World War II, especially if you're a high-schooler who hasn't yet become too cynical about Hollywood war movies.
John Wayne and Anthony Quinn are their usual solid selves, and Beulah Bondi (as a naive but tough American matron)is an unusual asset in this kind of action film..
A rugged war-time combat drama following the true story of a Colonel in the Philippines who fought with the resistance movement.
Classical warfare movie with big John Wayne and the flick talks about the Phillipines battle , during WWII , concerning on defenders and resistance fighters , but Japan has just invaded ; regarding events happened in Bataan , Corregidor and Leyte .
Exciting warfare movie about a tough Colonel who forms guerrilla army to raid Japanese and to help Americans landing on Leyte .
A small group of soldiers commanded by Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne , he's based on on a real-life American who fought with the resistance movement) are among the escaping survivors who are ordered by general Douglas McArthur to organize a guerrilla .
This classic warlike movie is nicely starred by John Wayne at one of his best roles as a two-fisted Colonel , he's accompanied by a plethora of first-rate secondaries .
Being stunningly supported by Belulah Bondi , Richard Loo , Lawrence Tierney Abner Biberman , Vladimir Sokoloff and Paul Fix as a grizzled as well as sympathetic veteran .This is one of a handful of feature films that have featured the story of the World War II Battle of Bataan , they include ¨So proudly we hail¡¨ by Mark Sandrich (1943) ; ¨Bataan¨ (1943) by Tay Garnett and ¨They were expendable¨ (1945) by John Ford .
He is a classic director , his films deal with a deep description of civilized societies , he believes that corruption is an essential part of it , that society punishes sincerity , innocence and love, vengeance and greed determine the behavior of people .The actual deeds about Bataan concern an unsuccessful attempt by US and Filipino troops under General Douglas MacArthur to defend the peninsular against the Japanese 1 Jan-9 April 1942 .
John Wayne and Anthony Quinn star in this important story about the Philippine resistance in WWII.Sure, you won't see the excitement of Pear Harbor or the Battle of Midway, but what you will see is a film dedicated to the Philippine heroes and patriots.
The resistance fought the Japanese until the Americans returned to Leyte.After over 100 westerns, this was one of Wayn'e first war films.
Realistic based movie which effecively encapsulates the brutality of the Japanese during that time in the Philippines.The Philippines had basic commonality with the U.S. in basic philosophies like CHRISTIANITY(Theology) and DEMOCRACY(Politics) and this was the reason why the Japanese miss-calculated when they thought they could win the Filipinos over to their side with the propaganda they spewed forth regarding the Japanese/Filipino Asian bond.It was a very big mess and the Japanese just could not figure it out.The Filipinos just despised all the Japanese stood for no matter how noble their cause was supposed to be.This movie delivers and is ahead of it's time with gritty battle scenes and not over doing the Hollywood compromise bit.The main flaw here was the casting of Quinn as a Filipino.I am sure even at that time there were a lot of able Filipino studs who could hadle the role of Andres Bonifacio's grandson.A movie like this which emphasizes Filipino freedom and equality should have at least casted Filipino's on equal terms.Quinn did a very good job of it though,amazingly capturing the mannerisms of a typical modern Spanish Filipino well enough to pull it off......
Back to Bataan is one of two films that deal with guerrilla warfare in the Phillipine Islands during World War II, the other being An American Guerilla in the Phillipines.
The more perspective one gets about an event like World War II, the more realistic the films will be.Nevertheless given the script and budget they had players John Wayne and Anthony Quinn do a creditable job in their roles.
Wayne does so and as a propaganda move rescues Anthony Quinn who is the grandson of Andres Bonafacio who was leader of Phillipine resistance to the Spanish in the previous century.It's a fact now acknowledged that the Japanese were seen as liberators in the Pacific war for most native populations.
John Wayne stars as an Army colonel who organizes guerrilla fighters in Japanese occupied Philippines with the aid of Spanish speaking Anthony Quinn.
John Wayne is mostly known for the westerns he starred in, like "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" but during the WW II era he made some good war pictures.
It is the story of American and Filipino resistance to the Japanese' occupation of the Phillipines during WW II.
Wayne plays Col. Joe Madden, an American who stays behind when the US evacuates the Pacific islands at the start of the war and heads a band of guerrillas comprised of both American soldiers and patriotic Fillipinos.
One of men under Madden is Andres Bonifacio, the grandson of a famed Fillipino leader, who must accept that the woman he loves is giving aid to the enemy through radio speeches requesting that the island people submit to Japanese rule.
Sequels never are as good as the original, and that's true here - even with John Wayne in charge.This picture contains one of the most far-fetched sequences ever recorded on film, as Anthony Quinn gets permission to leave the tense Philippine jungle fighting to visit his girlfriend in Manila!
Back to Bataan is guilty as charged, yet such is the composition of Edward Dmytryk's film, and its focus on a part of the war we rarely have seen on film, it matters not.We are in 1942, and after the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese, U.S. Army Col. Joseph Madden (John Wayne) stays behind to lead the local guerrilla resistance against the Japanese army.
With that synopsis it isn't hard to figure out what sort of pic we are going to get, yet to purely consider this as a macho beefcake movie is a little unfair.Sure it's bookended by blistering action, as Duke Wayne (very restrained turn actually) and Anthony Quinn cut a swathe through the RKO sound stages, but there's lots of intelligent human interactions here to mark it as being in the least knowing of the campaign.It often grasps for the sentimental branch, while the racist barbs and portrayal of the Japanese does sting at times.
this is one grit filled action packed war film.the the fighting scenes are well done.the acting is very good,all around.the movie really flows very well,i thought.it also really captures the essence of how brutal the Japanese were,in several scenes.everything looks authentic and realistic.in think the filmmakers were going for a high degree of realism here,and for the most part succeeded.it's one of those movies where you can help but feel uplifted.you may even feel like cheering.it's that kind of movie.yet it isn't maudlin or sappy.it's a very brisk paced ninety five minutes.would i watch it again?absolutely.i'd watch it again in the near future.for me,Back to Bataan is a 7/10.
One of only two American war movies I saw that gives some credit to Filipino soldiers and guerrillas for their role in the Pacific War..
William Manchester, the biographer of Gen. Douglas MacArthur who was a Pacific War veteran himself recounted that he had the pleasure of booing Wayne as he made an appearance during a showing of the latter's film "Sands of Iwo Jima." Indeed practically all of John Wayne's WWII movies were acted badly.
Unfortunately, as a Filipino myself I must say he looks nothing like a Filipino.Few people know that the gallant defense of Bataan which upset the Japanese plans of going back to Pearl Harbor for a land occupation and then proceeding to Australia and later on to California was undertaken mostly by Filipino soldiers of the Philippine Army of the Philippine Commonwealth.
He replied :"Because the Filipino soldier is the bravest in the world." The Philippine Army was attached to the American forces upon agreement of the governments of the United States and the Philippines as soon as war broke out.
During the Death March, many Filipino soldiers escaped to fight on as guerrillas.As in most enemy occupied countries in WWII, the largest and most organized resistance movement in the Philippines was the front led by communist partisans.
Some clashes occurred between US forces and "Huk" guerrillas during the liberation of the islands by MacArthur as the Americans sought to disarm some guerrilla units because they were seen as communists, and thus, enemies.For many years during the American colonial occupation, Filipinos resented the loss of their independence and seethed at the betrayal and atrocities committed by American forces during the Philippine - American War (cf.
Manila's two main historical avenues are named after the two great American officials.Another film about the Pacific War in the Philippines is The Great Raid (2005) which is based on the true story of the rescue of American POWs from a Japanese prison camp in Nueva Ecija.
During World War II, the Japanese wrest control of the Philippines from the United States, but stalwart Colonel John Wayne (as Joseph "Joe" Madden) doesn't see things the "Jap" way.
The ending would have you stand and salute.**** Back to Bataan (5/31/45) Edward Dmytryk ~ John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi, Fely Franquelli.
During the World War II, in the Philippines, the ruler (Americans) and the ruled (Filipino) cooperated to resist the new ruler (Japanese).
Colonel John Wayne (Madden) stays to fight in Bataan against the Japanese who have conquered the region.
John Wayne is the big star of the film, with Anthony Quinn starring also.
Any John Wayne war film is going to have lots of action and this one doesn't disappoint.
Even though the Japanese are show with early model Shermans (with the short M3 75mm gun, likely being used for training in the States), they did actually use captured American tanks against guerillas.To a modern viewer, Wayne's fondness for American cigarettes in the film is a bit ironic, since he died of lung cancer.The hanging of the school master came across to me as a rather well done and dramatic moment.
Basically an unofficial sequel to the Pre-Bruckheimerish 'Bataan' from '43(Lloyd Nolan/Rod Taylor/Desi Arnez), this time showing John Wayne and Anthony Quinn leading an insurgency against the occupying Japanese forces 'til MacArthur could, indeed, return in '45.
You have familiar faces ala Paul Fix, Lawrence Tierney and Buelah Bondy along for the ride, real POW's shown marching in front of the camera, and (of course) the usual studio gimmickry, bushes and oddly stagey handling of the combat scenes.In short, a typical WWII era lower-budgeted war-movie.
John Wayne is again on top form and Anthony Quinn is brilliant.The film is packed full of ear blasting battles, explosions and shootouts and there is a lot of action.
One for war movie and John Wayne fans..
It's a colonialist tale about Filipinos having to choose between the Spanish, the Japanese and the Americans, who on the face bring weapons, food and freedom (but Dmytryk hijacks this message, as the Yankees also raise hell and instigate actions which bring catastrophic retaliations).I didn't understand the topography of the itineraries, but the same characters met everywhere (the annoying kid, the gloomy Quinn, the colonel, the starlet ).
A few things are exposed neatly: the colonel doesn't care about the consequences of his encouraging guerrilla fight, and he doesn't hesitate to open fire on a bunch of Filipino kids waving Japanese flags.Wayne was eager to have a military outlook, once he graduated from the B westerns, sports movies and comedies.
The characters have a funny way of pronouncing guerrilla, as if a cousin of gorilla; and all mispronounce Spanish names.In another war movie, made later, where Wayne was playing a lieutenant on a submarine in the Pacific, he got a better role; here, his delusions of military glamor are subverted by his director.
The Filipinos have been sacrificed for a guerrilla war meant to weaken the Japanese and to rescue the Yankee prisoners.
Very uplifting WWII action film starring John Wayne as Col Joseph Madden, who volunteers to stay behind after the fall of the Philippines in the early months of war.
For one thing, the soldiers shown released from a prison camp in an opening scene, and those viewed during the Bataan Death March didn't resemble fighting men who'd been imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese.
What the story does convey well was the courage and conviction shown by the Philippine people to resist indoctrination by the Japanese and side with their American counterparts to achieve their own freedom and independence.One of the things that bothers me about war films in general is when a romance between principal characters is introduced.
A better one featuring John Wayne in a lead role also taking place in the Pacific Theater was "Sands of Iwo Jima", which also paid tribute to soldiers of that conflict with the appearance of three survivors of that battle during the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi.