IMDb > Midway (1976)
Midway
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Midway (1976) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   5,063 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 10% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Jack Smight
Writer:
Donald S. Sanford (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Midway on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
18 June 1976 (USA) more
Genre:
Action | Drama | History | War more
Tagline:
The glory, the suspense, the spectacular drama of the men who won the most decisive naval battle in U.S. history. more
Plot:
A dramatization of the battle that turned out to be the turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Peter Berg Will Sink Your Battleship in 2011
 (From FilmSchoolRejects. 16 September 2009, 9:06 AM, PDT)

Peter Berg’s Battleship Set for July 2011
 (From Filmofilia. 15 September 2009, 11:22 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Mediocre war film can't live up to predecessors. more (101 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Charlton Heston ... Captain Matt Garth

Henry Fonda ... Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

James Coburn ... Captain Vinton Maddox

Glenn Ford ... Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
Hal Holbrook ... Commander Joseph Rochefort
Toshirô Mifune ... Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (as Toshiro Mifune)

Robert Mitchum ... Admiral William F. Halsey

Cliff Robertson ... Commander Carl Jessop

Robert Wagner ... Lieutenant Commander Ernest L. Blake
Robert Webber ... Rear Admiral Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher
Ed Nelson ... Admiral Harry Pearson
James Shigeta ... Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
Christina Kokubo ... Haruko Sakura

Monte Markham ... Commander Max Leslie
Biff McGuire ... Captain Miles Browning
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Battle of Midway (Philippines: English title) (UK)
The Battle of Midway (USA) (video title)
more
Runtime:
132 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Colour:
Colour (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Sensurround (Westrex Recording System)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Robert Mitchum filmed his cameo in a day. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: When Admiral Pearson very reluctantly agrees to help Captain Garth with his family problems, he says, "We're even", meaning that by his taking this action all debts between them have been squared. In response, Captain Garth says "Aye, aye, sir." Any navy man knows that this is incorrect; "Aye, aye, sir" does not mean simply, "Yes, sir." It means 1) I hear the order, 2) I understand it, and 3) I will carry it out to the best of my ability." Since Admiral Pearson is not issuing an order in this case, the proper response is simply, "Yes, sir." more
Quotes:
RAdm. Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher: I'd give my retirement pay to know what Nagumo is up to now.
Captain Garth: Same thing we are, Admiral- Sweating it out.
more
Movie Connections:
Edited from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful.
Mediocre war film can't live up to predecessors., 3 June 2003
Author: keithw84 from Nebraska

Like "The Longest Day" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!", "Midway" follows the true story very closely and features an all star cast. And like the Longest Day, it features Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Wagner. However, whereas the first two are war classics, Midway falls short in many departments.

For one, the movie seems to have no sense of building suspense. In the Longest Day, the paratrooper landings and the scenes of bombardment vessels creeping toward the shore let you know that all hell is about to break loose. Likewise, in Tora! Tora! Tora!, scenes of anxious commanders, desperate analysts, and the oblivious Hawaii residents are separated by scenes of approaching Japanese bombers to hike the suspense factor. Yet, despite the fact that Midway was the most decisive naval battle in modern history, we don't get a true sense of how important the pilots' jobs are or how grave the implications of the battle are, except for from titles before and after the movie. Where were the scenes of planes prepping for takeoff or of pilots, wary but dutiful about a mission that may be their last?

The battle sequences are another problem. First off, most of the footage is actual war footage or stock footage. The stock footage works fine for the bombing of Tokyo (since the shown footage is actually about that event) but is a little less convincing when the footage shown is supposed to be of Hawaii's Hickam Field but is passed off as Midway Island. Worse than the presence of stock footage is the editing. While maps of the ocean are shown repeatedly so that we know where the action is taking place, it's hard to tell what's what when we're away from the maps. We see planes crash into water and bombs explode, but most of the battle sequences could use a little more coherence. Had the makers of this movie shot a little combat footage of their own, even if only to make the battle scenes less jump, the movie would have benefitted.

For the most part, the cast is pretty good and fares well with only occasionally trite dialogue. However, only Heston, Holbrook, and Shigeta stand out. Many of the other players are simply not given enough time to make an impact. Coburn, especially, has little to do.

The flaws of this movie notwithstanding, it's still watchable, and it gives you a pretty good idea of the events and decisions leading up to the battle, as well as the errors and luck that went into the battle itself. And when you can't figure out what's happened from the uneven visuals, at least Nimitz (Fonda) or his at-sea commanders are there to describe what happened and add some perspective.

** out of ****

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A better recreation of Midway krspas2
TV Version SgtSlaughter
Listed error that is incorrect. viking04
Midway Myths eflandrois
TV edits eflandrois
Why so few actual Pacific War films? geo1284060
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