![]() He’s then replaced by Duke, who pops up here as – well, someone called Duke Gifford. The initial commander of the sub is Ward Bond, who pops up as ‘Pop’ Perry until he dies heroically whilst attacking a Japanese ship that has disguised itself as an unarmed vessel. Strange to say after my comments on “The Flying Leathernecks”, but for some reason, the use of large amounts of stock footage in this film doesn’t appear to have the same deadening effect upon the picture as a whole as it did with Nicholas Ray’s effort. The film is written and directed by George Waggner who worked with Wayne previously on “The Fighting Kentuckian” back in 1949. That’s mainly due to this being the product of a major studio, Warner Bros, as opposed to Republic or RKO, so the production values are elevated somewhat as opposed to previous JW WWII films. Whilst not exactly in the same league as “Das Boot” or “Run Silent Run Deep” or even “Destination Tokyo”, the crew in this film coincidentally find themselves watching at some juncture, but it’s still a worthy entry in the submarine genre. It’s Duke’s first WWII film of the 1950s AND it’s a submarine movie as well. ![]() What’s not to like about “Operation Pacific”? It’s only when he does actually cause a pilot to die in the usual futile gesture of war that he gets respect from Duke and then eventual command of the squadron.Ī bit of a lost opportunity considering the talent involved. The main thrust of the issue between the two men is down to Ryan being unable to take responsibility for sending men to their death. Just when it looks as though they’re finally going to indulge in fisticuffs another interminable bout of stock footage intervenes and the promise of a good old fashioned John Wayne punch-up never materialises. On the other hand, it looks as though some effort went into building a set on the backlot to then blow up using real fighter planes that have been hired for use in the movie itself.Īnother disappointment is that the expected fireworks between Wayne and Ryan – Duke gets command of the squadron in favour of Ryan – doesn’t really come to life. By my reckoning, about 75 to 80 percent of the action in the film is comprised of shaky and out of focus shots of the real war.Īt one point, as a plane spirals into the ground, you can even see a hair in the camera gate flickering across the bottom of the screen. One of the downsides to the film is the overuse of stock footage in the battle sequences. It’s directed by Nicholas Ray, who went on to direct “Rebel Without a Cause” a few years later, and pairs Wayne with Robert Ryan as two men at odds with each other on how to command a fighter squadron. Based on watching this movie, I’d say Sergeant Stryker miraculously recovered from being shot in the back on Iwo Jima, changed his name to Daniel Kirby, somehow managed to get himself in command of a Marine Fighter Squadron, then adopted the rank of Major which I guess obviously paid more.
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