Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Product Description
Van Johnson stars as Lt. Michael Grayson in this wartime drama about a unique regiment of Japanese-American men during World War Two and their distrustful and bigoted lieutenant. Sent to fight in Italy, the regiment soon have the lieutenant re-evaluating his personal opinions as his men prove their willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, and live up to their motto and 'Go For Broke'.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
How sad that this very fine war film has been so neglected. To such an extent that it was one of only a handful of films that MGM did not even bother to renew their original copyright, allowing it to fall into the public domain, where there have been many inferior DVDs produced that the unwary buyer should beware of. The film tells the very worthy story of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was made up of "Nisei", being second generation Americans of Japanese descent. This unit fought bravely in Italy and France during the Second World War. The unit incredibly became the most decorated for its size and length of service in the US Army. In picking up these honours, they also suffered one of the highest casualty rates of any unit. Now this is a story worth telling! These are facts that should be much better known, and full credit to writer/Director Robert Pirosh who tells this story in an unsentimental and factual way, even using many of the unit veterans as actors in the film.
In the film Van Johnson plays a bigoted newly commisioned Texan Officer assigned to the 442nd. We follow the unit through training where Johnson makes himself unpopular with the men with his racist attitude and condascending manner. But when the unit are posted to Italy and front line action, he begins to revise his opinion. Eventually he even gets into a fistfight over racist remarks made by another officer toward his men. The unit also begins to revise their opinions of their officer. The final action culminates in a very realistic reenactment of the units rescue of the 36th, Lost Battalion, at Epenal, near Bruyeres in France, where many of the 442nd who didn't make it back are buried.
My first impressions of this film after watching it was just how remarkably convincing it was. The racism and bigotry directed against these soldiers was not avoided. The soldiers banter seemed real. Although I do not pretend to be an expert, the equipment and tactics seemed accurate. It was also good to see such attention to detail as highlighting the distinction between Nisei from Hawaii, and those from the mainland who were culturally different. I was also very pleased to see the actual archive footage of General Mark Clark and President Truman presenting the Unit citation in Washington. This is a remarkable story that deserved telling. These men often fought knowing that their families were interned at home. Now that was a tough cross to carry, but one that they carried with distinction. The movie not only entertained me, but it also enlightened me. Okay they did not have the benefit of the special effects that modern films like "Saving Private Ryan" have at their disposal, but then that film could not boast having the actual veterans of that conflict on board, as did the admirable "Go For Broke". Well worth watching.
In the film Van Johnson plays a bigoted newly commisioned Texan Officer assigned to the 442nd. We follow the unit through training where Johnson makes himself unpopular with the men with his racist attitude and condascending manner. But when the unit are posted to Italy and front line action, he begins to revise his opinion. Eventually he even gets into a fistfight over racist remarks made by another officer toward his men. The unit also begins to revise their opinions of their officer. The final action culminates in a very realistic reenactment of the units rescue of the 36th, Lost Battalion, at Epenal, near Bruyeres in France, where many of the 442nd who didn't make it back are buried.
My first impressions of this film after watching it was just how remarkably convincing it was. The racism and bigotry directed against these soldiers was not avoided. The soldiers banter seemed real. Although I do not pretend to be an expert, the equipment and tactics seemed accurate. It was also good to see such attention to detail as highlighting the distinction between Nisei from Hawaii, and those from the mainland who were culturally different. I was also very pleased to see the actual archive footage of General Mark Clark and President Truman presenting the Unit citation in Washington. This is a remarkable story that deserved telling. These men often fought knowing that their families were interned at home. Now that was a tough cross to carry, but one that they carried with distinction. The movie not only entertained me, but it also enlightened me. Okay they did not have the benefit of the special effects that modern films like "Saving Private Ryan" have at their disposal, but then that film could not boast having the actual veterans of that conflict on board, as did the admirable "Go For Broke". Well worth watching.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
a really good action film.well worth watching with a good story line.one of VAN JOHNSONS better movies.light hearted plenty of action
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Dreadful. I didn't even get to the end. Note the disclaimer on the cover that the photo may bear no resemblance whatsoever so the actual film.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
