Midway (1976)

Director:

Jack Smight

Writer:

Donald S. Sanford (written by)

Release Date:

18 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The glory, the suspense, the spectacular drama of the men who won the most decisive naval battle in U.S. history.

Plot:

A dramatization of the battle that turned out to be the turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Battle | Midway | Pacific | Midway Island | Navy

Cast

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
Christopher George	...	Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky
Kevin Dobson	...	Ensign George Gay
Glenn Corbett	...	Lieutenant Commander John Waldron
Gregory Walcott	...	Captain Elliott Buckmaster
Edward Albert	...	Lieutenant Tom Garth
Pat Morita	...	Rear Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka
John Fujioka	...	Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi
Dale Ishimoto	...	Vice Admiral Moshiro Hosogaya
Dabney Coleman	...	Captain Murray Arnold
Erik Estrada	...	Pilot Ramos
Larry Pennell	...	Captain Cyril Simard
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Cmdr. Watanabe
Phillip R. Allen	...	Lt. Cmdr. John S. 'Jimmy' Thach
Tom Selleck	...	Aide to Capt. Cyril Simard
Sab Shimono	...	Lt. Tomonaga
Conrad Yama	...	Adm. Nobutake Kondo
Robert Ito	...	Cmdr. Minoru Genda
Yuki Shimoda	...	Officer aboard carrier Hiryu
Seth Sakai
Kurt Grayson
Alfie Wise	...	Dobbs
Beeson Carroll
John Bennett Perry
Steve Kanaly	...	Lt. Cmdr. Lance E. "Lem" Massey
Kip Niven	...	PBY pilot
Dennis Rucker	...	Ens. Manson
Michael Richardson
James Ingersoll
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jeff Chamberlain	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Sam Chew Jr.	...	Guard (uncredited)
Noel Conlon	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Larry Csonka	...	Cmdr. Delaney (uncredited)
Jesse Dizon	...	Pilot (uncredited)
Don Dolan	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Paul Frees	...	Adm. Yamamoto (voice) (uncredited)
Jerry Fujikawa	...	Japanese gentleman (uncredited)
Sean Garrison	...	Lt. Cmdr. Ken Cunningham (uncredited)
Ned Gill	...	Seaman Downes (uncredited)
Redmond Gleeson	...	Pvt. Dombrowski (radio man) (uncredited)
Anthony Herrara	...	(uncredited)
David Hirokane	...	Lt. Shima (uncredited)
Jim Ishida	...	Pilot Lt. Takeo Koda (uncredited)
Lloyd Kino	...	Capt. Aoki (uncredited)
John Lupton	...	Officer Testing Electric Bomb Release (uncredited)
David Macklin	...	Lt. Jack Reid (uncredited)
Sandy McPeak	...	Capt. Thomas (uncredited)
Chuck Morrell	...	Pvt. Andy (uncredited)
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Japanese Pilot on Hiryu (uncredited) (archive footage)
Bennett Ohta	...	Captain Taijiro Aoki - Commander of Akagi (uncredited)
Frank Parker	...	Deke (uncredited)
Clint Ritchie	...	Lt. Cmdr. Charles Fenton (uncredited)
Mitch Ryan	...	RAdm. Aubrey W. Fitch (uncredited)
Richard Sanders	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Richard Sarradet	...	(uncredited)
John Schuck	...	Wilson (uncredited)
Alec Smight	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
Susan Sullivan	...	Ann (TV version only) (uncredited)
Miiko Taka	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)
William Wellman Jr.	...	(TV version only) (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack Smight

Writing credits
Donald S. Sanford		(written by)

Produced by
Walter Mirisch	....	producer

Original Music by
John Williams

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Jr.

Film Editing by
Robert Swink
Frank J. Urioste

Art Direction by
Walter H. Tyler		(as Walter Tyler)

Set Decoration by
John M. Dwyer		(as John Dwyer)

Production Management
William W. Gray	....	production manager (as William Gray)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Hashimoto	....	second assistant director
Jerome M. Siegel	....	first assistant director (as Jerome Siegel)

Sound Department
Roger Heman Jr.	....	sound re-recording mixer
Robert L. Hoyt	....	sound re-recording mixer
Earl Madery	....	sound re-recording mixer
Robert Martin	....	sound
Leonard Peterson	....	sound
Roger Sword	....	sound editor
James Troutman	....	sound editor (as Jim Troutman)

Special Effects by
Jack McMaster	....	special effects

Stunts
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary Combs	....	stunts (uncredited)
Erik Cord	....	stunts (uncredited)
Duffy Hambleton	....	stunts (uncredited)
Charlie Picerni	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Saito	....	stunts (uncredited)
James Winburn	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Clifford Hutchison	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Music Department
Robert O. Ragland	....	conductor
Robert O. Ragland	....	orchestrator
John Williams	....	conductor

Other crew
Bob Forrest	....	script supervisor
Vice Admiral Bernard M. Strean	....	technical advisor
'Junior' Burchinal	....	pilot (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Mirisch Corporation, The (presents)
• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• MCA  Sensurround created by
• Universal Title  titles and opticals
• Department of Defense, The  grateful appreciation
• United States Navy, The  grateful appreciation
• Officers and Men of the USS Lexington, The  special salute

Also Known As:

Battle of Midway (Philippines: English title) (UK)
The Battle of Midway (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sensurround (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 (1977) | USA:PG | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Lake Castaic, California, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Robert Mitchum filmed his cameo in a day.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Several Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters appear in the movie. This type did not see combat until 1943, the year after this movie takes place.

Quotes:

RAdm. Tamon Yamaguchi: Once, we filled the sky with our aircraft. Now we win or lose with six fighters and ten torpedo planes.

Movie Connections:

Featured in They Were There (1976)

inspiring, in a way

I can't help but agree with most of the other comments: the sloppy production values, the scenes "borrowed" from better movies, the countless anachronisms, the distracting subplot about Lt. Garth and his Japanese girlfriend, and so on. But for me, this movie has two strong points in its favor. One, when they get around to the actual battle, they follow the history with surprising accuracy. (The "Pearl Harbor" makers could have learned something from this one.) So the movie's hard to follow? So was the actual battle! Personally, I think they did a pretty good job of keeping the flow coherent while still remaining faithful to its source material.

The second thing in its favor is that, from the moment I first saw it in the theater as a 10 year old, it ignited in me a passion for the Battle of Midway that remains to this day. I can't think of any other movie that even comes close to getting me as hooked on its subject as this one. Maybe it's a good thing I first saw it when I was young, when I was much less discerning about production values, etc. That way, I could concentrate on the story itself.

If you have even the slightest interest in military history or even in important historical events in general, do yourself a favor. Watch "Midway" to get an overview of the event (fast-forward over the love-story scenes if you like), then go read "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord (which is a better book than the one for which he is most famous, "A Night to Remember"). You won't be sorry.