This week’s pick is Midway (1976) which depicts the U.S. and Japanese naval battle which turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. Director Jack Smight assembled some of Hollywood’s A-list talent including Charlton Heston (Capt. Matt Garth), Robert Mitchum (Vice Adm. William “Bull” Halsey), Henry Fonda (Adm. Chester Nimitz), James Coburn (Capt. Vinton Maddox), Glenn Ford (Rear Adm. Raymond Spruance), Hal Holbrook (Cmdr. Joe Rochefort), Steve Kanaly (Lt. Cmdr. Lance Massey), Tom Selleck (Capt. Cyril Simard), Robert Webber (Rear Adm. Jack Fletcher), and Toshiro Mifune (Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto).
Midway is best known for two things, its Academy Award winning Sensurround pre-surround sound/William Castle inspired movie experience, and as a war film which was shot using mostly colorized combat footage from World War II, and scenes from Hollywood greats like Tora! Tora! Tora! and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
Jack Smight had stated in an interview years later that the footage was meant to show the scope of the battle and that these were scenes shot under real battlefield conditions. Despite these flaws, the film does have a wide array of well orchestrated scenes, and the action is quite convincing in that many historical moments are made through matters of sheer luck and through careless actions.
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