GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

dfwesley I've seen this twice and enjoyed it immensely both times. The lack of action does not hinder the quality of this war movie in any way. Rather THEY WERE EXPENDABLE depicts a gamut of emotions that make battle scenes unnecessary. Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, and Donna Reed are masterful in their portrayals of naval officers and nurse. One of my favorite sentimental scenes is the dinner for nurse, Sandy. Reed and Wayne's facial expressions were standouts. Of course, the last scene as the plane flies into the sunset leaving a host of hopeless personnel on the field, is very touching as is the dying officer in Corregidor's tunnel.An able cast of supporting actors, headed by Ward Bond, contribute much to the film. It is the largest role I ever saw for Jack Pennick who was "Doc". Pennick, an actual veteran of several wars plus, certainly was at home in uniform.We all remember that President Kennedy served and was injured while serving on a PT boat and that story is on film. PT boats gave up their torpedoes late in the war as mostly very small targets remained and they assumed rather a a gunboat function.Not your typical war movie but a great one, and it ranks up there with the best.

The Mick 7 Yankee Fan This is a great character study of those who were basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's all about a PT Boat squadron in the South Pacific at the outbreak of WWII. John Wayne, Robert Montgomery and Donna Reed head a great cast in this moving drama. This is about what war can do to people lives, people like you and me and the drastic decisions that have to be made in order to survive. It's about the military chain of command and what it's like to be near the bottom of that chain. Finally it has everything to do with how terrible war is and the ultimate price that must be paid for freedom.The Duke, as always, leads the charge while Ward Bond and the usual John Wayne crew fill in the balance of the story. Then of course there is Donna Reed, the Duke's love interest. She is beautiful, strong willed and a reminder that even in war everyone is expendable.This is without a doubt a great movie.

pearliemay-67-545621 My father joined the Navy in 1934; he was stationed on PT boats and was at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard when the Japanese attacked Pearl; he and his squadron were sent straight to the Pacific where they stayed the whole war. He died last year at 96. He had stories about his duty on the PT boats; fortunately for him his boat was destroyed when he was on a leave; which is why I am here today to write this. He was a radioman 1st class; then promoted to radioman chief. He was a humble man, and pretty much told it like it was. His written comments on this book were mostly "bull" and "that's not the way it happened". It was dangerous and they did not get any respect. But it was definitely glamorized in the movie, which shows you how bad it really was. He liked Robert Montgomery as an actor, but said he was a snobby officer. And Kennedy was called a 90-day-wanderer who was privileged and got in over his head and got his boat cut in half. The movie is entertaining because I like Montgomery and John Wayne. I do think that Ford treated Wayne shabbily; John Wayne volunteered, but the War Dept. told him he would be of better use making morale-building movies. Sure doesn't sound like our sorry government of today!!!

tavm After so many years of reading about this fictionalized filmed account of the events of American sailors dealing with the invasion of Japanese forces in the Phillipine peninsula, I finally watched They Were Expendable on VHS today. With John Ford as director, we see a fine drama of the struggles after Pearl Harbor of the Navy men trying to stay one step ahead of what they referred to as the Japs during their maritime missions of battle. Robert Montgomery and John Wayne play the superior officers put in charge of many young men not quite trained for the enemy attacks though they pull ahead with their best foot forward, anyway. While quite serious, there are some subtle humorous touches not to mention a slightly touching romance between Wayne and Donna Reed as a nurse that effectively pulls at the heartstrings down to hearing Ward Bond and many of his shipmates sing in accompaniment while Ms. Reed, Wayne, and many of the officers have a quiet dinner in a tent. In fact, part of the time, I couldn't help thinking of a similar scene in my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-when Bond also accompanied with Frank Faylen on the song "I Love You Truly" as Ms. Reed and Jimmy Stewart were kissing on their honeymoon! And the battle scenes were some of the most exciting at the time. So on that note, They Were Expendable comes highly recommended.