Greatest Navy Movie Ever Made

[Dan Thompson]

I don't think there is any reason to remake movies like Battle of Britain or Tora, Tora, Tora but I do think it would be great to see modern movie technology applied to other war stories, hopefully with better results than Pearl Harbor. There is a new movie based on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen called Red Tails coming out in January. The trailer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpA6TC0T_Lw

Will the movie be any good? I don't know, but the aerial scenes in the trailer look great and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

And if this can be done, why not movies about significant naval actions?

[robertmelvin]

Dan, it would require a fairly long movie to cover the subject, and it would never get made because I can't figure out any way to make in impossible love story the true center piece of the film, but the major naval engagements around Guadalcanal, any, some or all of them, would make an excellent subject for a great navy movie. Midway gets all the glory, and certainly it was a major blow to the IJN, but in my opinion the true turning point of the naval war in the Pacific was the grinding battle of attrition on and around Guadalcanal. We've had the story told from the Army's perspective in "The Thin Red Line", a movie I felt was mediocre at best, and from the Marine perspective in HBO's "The Pacific". But the Naval side of the battle for Guadalcanal has not, to my knowledge, been told on film other than in documentary form, and we are talking about popular culture here.

Another topic, ready made for a Hollywood block buster, is the story of the Battle off Samar. A film adaptation of "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" would be an excellent tale, and one of which most Americans are shamefully ignorant. The drama and heroism on full display in the true story would dwarf what any Hollywood fiction writer could conjure in their most fevered, coke fueled imagination. I'm actually a little surprised that a movie has not been made based on that book.

I recent read "Halsey's Typhoon", and that, too, would make a great navy movie, though largely devoid of combat other than man and ship against the sea. If you are not familiar with the book, it is the story of Typhoon Cobra, which clobbered Halsey's 3rd Fleet in December, 1944.

As an after thought, it also occurs to me that a ripping good navy movie could be made based on the Battle of Surigao Straight. The last classic BB vs BB gunfight in history, every type of vessel from P.T.s to DDs to BBs involved.

Just a few thoughts for what could be some great navy movies, especially if they were not done a la "Pearl Harbor" or "Titanic", but straight up war movies along the lines of "Black Hawk Down". There is so much material for great navy movies to be sifted from the history of the naval war in the Pacific that has been largely untouched by Hollywood except for Pearl Harbor (the attack, not the movie) and Midway.

I'm sure you could just as easily come up with at least that many different ideas yourself with just a few minutes thought.

Bob

[Dan Thompson]

Bob,

I agree completely that there are plenty of battles in WW II and some in WWI that would make interesting movies. The technology has reached the point that the ships can be put on screen in a believable manner. Maybe if Red Tails is a success, someone will do just that.

Dan

[Guest]

I got to see the Battle of the Bulge movie in NYC for my 10th birthday with my dad and little brother. It was that, or Gorgo. I liked it. Not as great on the reshowing but, great for my young imagination and prodding my interest.

Now, the Battle fo Britain movie is one of the absolute great, aerial spectaculars. I caught that in the theaters too, as a boy. I can't count how many times I've seen it. Just like Tora, Tora, Tora.

Is there anyone who doesn't think that the launching of the first wave sequence in T,T,T still the most thrillling, and chilling, cinematic moment in war movie history?

I would count the Nagato sequence at the beginning of TTT the most cinematic and chilling moment in naval cinema history.

[Brad Isherwood]

Dan, it would require a fairly long movie to cover the subject, and it would never get made because I can't figure out any way to make in impossible love story the true center piece of the film, but the major naval engagements around Guadalcanal, any, some or all of them, would make an excellent subject for a great navy movie. Midway gets all the glory, and certainly it was a major blow to the IJN, but in my opinion the true turning point of the naval war in the Pacific was the grinding battle of attrition on and around Guadalcanal. We've had the story told from the Army's perspective in "The Thin Red Line", a movie I felt was mediocre at best, and from the Marine perspective in HBO's "The Pacific". But the Naval side of the battle for Guadalcanal has not, to my knowledge, been told on film other than in documentary form, and we are talking about popular culture here.
Bob

In Harms Way* with John Wayne,Kirk Douglas leans towards the Guadalcanal Naval Battle's theme.
In Glorious B/W.....the sets of Island bases,palm tree's,and that broad Pacific sky with patch clouds and sunshine.
....would luv to see this movie in color.
The dialogue between characters and terms used really draws you into the script....the characters sell their roles well too.
There's enough real WW-2 era hardware in the movie to help one forgive the cheesy model scene's...which Kirk Douglas was quite upset about.

on a side note concerning the naval battles around Guadalcanal and follow on regional USN/IJN battles,
I've wondered if the IJN was unaware of how successful their Long Lance torpedo was,
they mauled the US fleet in battles with this.
I've read comment that Japans submarine force was not used effectively...considering how lethal that torpedo was.
Japans cruisers had Long Lance as well.
I did note in one net article that Long Lance Torpedo's were known to explode in their racks from vibration/frequency wave form moving thru the unit.

[Dan Thompson]

In Harms Way* with John Wayne,Kirk Douglas leans towards the Guadalcanal Naval Battle's theme.
In Glorious B/W.....the sets of Island bases,palm tree's,and that broad Pacific sky with patch clouds and sunshine.
....would luv to see this movie in color.
The dialogue between characters and terms used really draws you into the script....the characters sell their roles well too.
There's enough real WW-2 era hardware in the movie to help one forgive the cheesy model scene's...which Kirk Douglas was quite upset about.

I agree that In Harm's Way is a pretty good movie except for the model work. With today's technology it would be entirely possible to change it from B&W to full color (see some of Ray Harryhausen's colorized movies for good examples of what the current state of the art is capable) and replace the cheesy models with high quality CGI (see the trailer for Red Tails for an example of modern CGI applied to a WW II movie). I doubt if anyone will find a reason to do it but it would be interesting to see if it were done.

[robertmelvin]

I always thought that In Harm's Way was kind of an amalgam of the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle off Samar. The climactic battle seems to be strongly drawn on the Battle off Samar, but with the inclusion of a cruiser in the U.S. battle line, and maybe a twinge of the Battle of the Surigao Straight. Not very historically accurate, but I'd rate it as one of the best W.W. 2 navy movies ever made.

I've been hoping for a film version of Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. Now that would be a ripping good navy movie, particularly if Hollywood would leave the story alone and not throw in some utterly impossible love story. For goodness sake, how much more dramatic can you get than a handful of DDs and DEs charging a Japanese task force centered around the Yamato and turning them back! It just begs for movie to be made.

IMHO,

Bob

[les]

My top pics are:

Mr. Roberts
Tora, Tora, Tora
Das Boote
Master and Commander

and for just plain fun:

The Pirates of the Caribbean series. Johnny Depp is just great. Arrrrrgh Mateys!!!

[Jack Ray]

I recently watched "The Gallant Hours" starring James Gagney as Admiral Halsey. This hardly shows any ship shots, but is very thoughtfully done. It is about Halsey at Guadalcanal.

Jack

[Angeliccypher]

I would like to see them remake Midway, but instead of using Fujita's flawed book as reference, I would rather see them us "The Shattered Sword".

It would be nice to see something like the "Pacific" or "Band of Brothers" done from specifically around naval and naval aviation.

[Brad Isherwood]

I always thought that In Harm's Way was kind of an amalgam of the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle off Samar. The climactic battle seems to be strongly drawn on the Battle off Samar, but with the inclusion of a cruiser in the U.S. battle line, and maybe a twinge of the Battle of the Surigao Straight. Not very historically accurate, but I'd rate it as one of the best W.W. 2 navy movies ever made.

I've been hoping for a film version of Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. Now that would be a ripping good navy movie, particularly if Hollywood would leave the story alone and not throw in some utterly impossible love story. For goodness sake, how much more dramatic can you get than a handful of DDs and DEs charging a Japanese task force centered around the Yamato and turning them back! It just begs for movie to be made.

IMHO,

Bob

Have a ping for you on Dans - Ships in Movies thread.



Picked up this DVD at a local Asian mall for $5.00
Excellent CGI.... the detail is awesome ,....just amazing what they can do.
Large scale set of the Yamato was built for this movie....there are photos of this on the net.
My version is Japanese....it has English in some DVD versions.
The story is good too.....You are taken to a few rural places in Japan that era.....really beautiful.
The battle scenes vs the US aircraft rock......lets just say...nobody lives.
well ya...a few do...the movie is about an old survivor going out to leave ashes and a message to his friends.
He tells the story of the Final Battle.
The movie is very graphic....like Saving Private Ryan/Pearl Harbor,......everyone on the Battleship just gets shredded.

[Dan Thompson]

I have seen Yamato and was impressed with the production but thought the story was a bit weak. Another, modern, Japanese movie that I enjoyed was Aegis which is set mostly on an actual Aegis class destroyer.

[Doug]

There were a few glitches such as P-47s attacking the Yamato.

It was interesting to see the AAs in action. Didn't know that the 127mms had such a slow rate of fire.

[Cliffy B]

All the talk earlier about the Battle of Britain and other like movies being remade reminded me of this trailer I found over on IMDB. Shows what they could do IF BOB were to be remade.

"Red Tails" due out Jan 2012 and it looks GOOD!!!! Great CGI fleets as well as aircraft. Hope its as good as it looks.
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1780522521

[robertmelvin]

There are so many untold tales that I can't see the need to remake a movie unless, as with "Midway", it corrects some significant historical errors. What I would really like to see is a naval version of "Band of Brothers" or "The Pacific", as others have suggested. The format of a 10 or 12 hour mini-series would allow the scope of the subject to be dealt with more appropriately.

I personally can't think of any better subject than the naval battles around Guadalcanal. Though this is a debatable point, it was that grinding series of battles of attrition that ground down the IJN and, particularly the corps of experienced Japanese naval aviators, that was arguably the turning point in the war, much more so than Midway, and that statement is in no way made to minimize the importance of that battle. But Guadalcanal was a meat grinder into which the Japanese fed men and machines and squandered the cream of Japanese naval aviation, many experienced pilots having actually survived Midway. Certainly, there were a number of dramatic naval engagements as the USN learned the art of countering the IJN, particularly its night fighting expertise, and leaned as they went how to utilize the technological advantages the Japanese lacked, such as radar. An epic tale if ever there was one.

IMHO,

Bob

[MichelB]

For a bit of levity to these solemn cinematic proceedings; there was also this Navy movie made:

The_Navy_vs_The_Night_Monsters.jpg

Please read this humerous skewering at Jabootu.net (may contain some 'language'):
http://www.jabootu.com/nvnm.htm

[Angeliccypher]

Does any know how to get a copy of Midway that has the made for TV scenes with the Coral Sea scenes in it?

[Cliffy B]

Does any know how to get a copy of Midway that has the made for TV scenes with the Coral Sea scenes in it?

So there are two versions?! I could of sworn there were Coral Sea scenes in the beginning when I saw it years ago on TV and wondered where they went when they broadcast it recently. Its a long movie but they show other epic length movies in their entirety. If you find where to get a full length copy let me know man.

[Angeliccypher]

The original version is what we have on DVD. There was a TV broadcast of it some time later (I don't know when) that they shot additional scenes for (which included the Coral Sea segments). So technically, yes. There are two versions.

[OhioMike]

Im sorry, but with all the garbage that gets made for the big screen or the small one...theres just no chance of getting anything close to accuracy out of hollywood, unless its both Hanks and Speilberg doing it! Either way....its time for something that hollywood should love....the US navy loses! The story of the asiatic fleet! Opens with the bombing of Cavitte navy yard, than moves on to 4 old 4-pipers gaining incredible fame at the Battle of Balikpapan, followed by the Famous Dutch enema at the battle of the Java sea, than ending with the USS Houston and HMAS Perth gaining Imortality fighting aganst insane odds at Sunda straight. In between could be filled with the humor of Dutch ignorance!!!!

Anyway...whats my favs for navy films?
1. "In harms way", because The duke NEVER made a bad film!
2. "Task Force" with Gary cooper, same as above!
3. "Das Boot"....simply the best sub movie ever made!
4. Any movie with ships in it...you simply mute the movie and drool over ships!!!!
5....forgot about "They were expendable"..because of donna reed
PS anybody who actually liked "Pearl harbor", stay away from my house, i am armed!