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Tinseltown on occasion has seen fit to go down to the sea in ships, U.S. Navy ships, that is. To celebrate the Navy's birthday, we offer a bit of entertainment—a tour through the best U.S. Navy movies ever made.
What's most striking about the history of the Hollywood/Navy nexus is the almost criminal under-representation of the Age of American Fighting Sail. 1952's Yankee Buccaneer depicts the Navy's pirate-chasing efforts in the early 19th century, but it's not all that memorable. 1959's John Paul Jones stars Robert Stack as America's first sea hero, but it doesn't remotely do its subject justice. Where are the great sea-fights of the Quasi-War, the Barbary War, the War of 1812? A wealth of material with cinematic potential is there, yearning to be tapped.
Nonetheless, there are numerous must-see U.S. Navy movies; our list of the best of the best follows, in chronological order:
DIVE BOMBER (1941)—In this engaging early example of Technicolor filmmaking, Errol Flynn stars as a Harvard-educated flight surgeon butting heads with naval aviator Fred MacMurray and vying for the hand of the lovely Alexis Smith. Flynn's out to solve the problem of pilot-blackout; MacMurray and he go from being adversaries to allies in this quest. The Navy granted Warner Brothers an unprecedented degree of access to film on location at Naval Air Station Coronado, California, and on board the USS Enterprise (CV-6) anchored in San Diego. Thus, in addition to its value as slick, exciting Hollywood entertainment, Dive Bomber provides the history buff with a great look (in color, no less) at the Navy on the eve of World War II.
DESTINATION TOKYO (1943)—In the granddaddy of all submarine movies, Cary Grant is cool and in command as the World War II skipper, with John Garfield providing solid support as a gunner. Their mission: infiltrate Tokyo Harbor to collect data in advance of a major bombing mission. There's tension, action, and an unflagging story momentum. The amazing emergency appendectomy shown here was based on real events. The details of submarine handling were so accurately portrayed in Destination Tokyo that the Navy ended up using it as a training film. Despite its wartime propaganda elements, this one remains a gripping, thoughtful thriller.
THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945)—The story of PT boats facing the unstoppable Japanese onslaught in the early days of World War II provides the setting for a stirring, loving tribute to the men, traditions, and honor of the U.S. Navy. Star Robert Montgomery had served as a PT skipper during the war, and his real-life experience adds a believable world-weariness to his acting. He and co-star John Wayne both turn in solid, low-key performances of quiet heroism and understated dignity. Best known for his iconographic Westerns, director John Ford revered the Navy and enjoyed touting his status as a captain in the Naval Reserve. Many Ford aficionados consider Expendable to be one of his best. There's an underlying sense of war's tragic toll throughout; comrades-in-arms don't make it back; wartime romances don't receive Hollywood happy endings. And Navy movies don't come much better than this.
TASK FORCE (1949)—The history of naval aviation is embodied here in the reminiscences of a fictional admiral played by Gary Cooper. We see the wild and wooly early days of the 1920s, when pioneering aces were risking their necks landing biplanes on a 65-foot flight deck. The struggle for aircraft-carrier acceptance is depicted, along with the ultimate vindication that came with World War II. Relegated to desk duty before the war, Cooper comes into his own—along with the carrier technology for which he's crusaded—once the shooting starts. B-Western actor Wayne Morris, who here portrays a dive-bombing lieutenant, was a genuine World War II flying hero with four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals to his credit. A must-see for naval-aviation devotees.
ON THE TOWN (1949)—A musical? On this list? Why? Because it's so consummately excellent, and because, in its own fantasized, splashy MGM way, it captures the sheer joy and anticipatory excitement of that most hallowed of Sailor traditions: shore leave! Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin are the three swabs let loose on New York City. Their "New York, New York" is one of cinema's great song-and-dance numbers (but the filmmakers felt compelled to change the more Sailor-appropriate lyric "It's a helluva town" to the more family-friendly "It's a wonderful town"). Of course, each of our liberty-loving trio finds a dishy gal, and madcap romantic entanglements ensue over the course of the 24-hour pass. Pure entertainment. Trivia note: Young Sinatra was so rail-skinny that they had to stuff padding into the seat of his trousers in this movie.
MEN OF THE FIGHTING LADY (1954)—The prolific pen of James Michener contributed to this tough aircraft-carrier actioner, partly based on a series of articles by Michener (who's even portrayed on screen, by Louis Calhern, as a narrator). Van Johnson heads a cast of MGM stalwarts in a no-frills look at life on board the Fighting Lady in the Sea of Japan as her squadron conducts Korean War bombing runs. The most famous, and most incredible, sequence, in which Johnson "talks in" a blinded pilot to a safe deck landing, is based on a true incident. Rarely if ever has the grim reality of carrier service, or the grave dangers faced by Navy jet pilots in Korea, been portrayed in a more raw fashion.
THE CAINE MUTINY (1954)—It's pure fiction, but Herman Wouk's tale of a mutiny on board a World War II minesweeper has become ingrained in the lore and mythology of the U.S. Navy. The screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel became one of the top box-office hits in Columbia Pictures history. As Queeg, the mercurial, paranoid skipper, Humphrey Bogart overdoes it a bit, but still succeeds in capturing the brittleness of the ultimately sympathetic character. Fred MacMurray is memorably boo-hiss villainous as the instigator of trouble, and Jose Ferrer steals the movie as the mutineers' defense attorney. An all-time classic.
THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI (1954)—Bravery and heroism are celebrated, while the futility and tragedy of war are acknowledged, in this heartfelt drama based on the James Michener novel. William Holden stars as a lawyer who did dangerous duty as a Navy aviator during World War II. He's called back to active service in the Korean War, and he's none too pleased. (His wife is the luminescent Grace Kelly, so who can blame him?) His perilous adventures in the skies over Korea culminate with a titular mission: those five bridges deep in enemy territory need to be blown up, though relentless North Korean anti-aircraft artillery has something to say about that. Stupendous action sequences (Bridges won the Oscar for Best Special Effects) alternate with touching family scenes as the story wends its way to its inevitable finale. Fredric March, as Holden's admiral, sums it all up: "Where do we get such men?"
MISTER ROBERTS (1955)—After a long absence, Henry Fonda returned to the big screen to play the role he had owned on Broadway, Lieutenant Douglas Roberts. Stuck on a lowly cargo ship in the backwaters of World War II, Mister Roberts yearns desperately to get into the fight. Technically just the cargo officer, Roberts is the real leader in this tub; the crewmen look up to him, while the actual captain (James Cagney, hilariously chewing the scenery and spitting it back out) is a dysfunctional fascist to be avoided at all cost. Adding to the seriocomic goings-on are a manic Jack Lemmon (he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and debonair William Powell in a memorable swan-song performance. While much of Mister Roberts is played for laughs, in the end it is bittersweet and downright moving.
AWAY ALL BOATS (1956)—Raw recruits evolve into a tough, effective crew on board a Navy attack transport in the World War II Pacific. Based on the novel by Kenneth M. Dodson, Away All Boats is quintessential 1950s meat-and-potatoes war-movie fare. Jeff Chandler stars as the captain who's got to mold these lubbers into a cohesive unit; he's more than willing to make himself unpopular for the greater good. Highlights include an unforgettable kamikaze situation. Buried deep in the Fabulous Fifties cast—Richard Boone, Jock Mahoney, Lex Barker, et al.—is an unbilled Clint Eastwood.
THE WINGS OF EAGLES (1957)—The Commander Frank "Spig" Wead story, brought to you by the John Ford-John Wayne stock company. Wead and Ford were buddies and collaborators (Wead scripted They Were Expendable), and here the brawling, larger-than-life hot-shot Navy pilot-turned-screenwriter is depicted by the brawling, larger-than-life Wayne. (For the only time in screen history, we see the aging Duke without his rug as he plays Wead in his later, balding years.) At times too broad and comical in an almost frat-boy way, this one's still a worthwhile saga for the naval aficionado, as it chronicles the unique life of a naval aviation legend.
THE ENEMY BELOW (1957)—The classic cat-and-mouse sea adventure, The Enemy Below is not only one of the greatest submarine movies ever; it is, for many, their favorite all-around Navy movie, period. By the late 1950s, cinema depictions of the World War II foe had evolved from cardboard villainy to nuanced portrayals. As the captain of a German U-boat, Curt Jürgens is a sympathetic character—a wise and well-meaning commander first, a servant of der Führer second. The inimitable Robert Mitchum plays a war-weary U.S. destroyer escort captain who engages in a duel of wits with Jurgens. Taut, exciting, The Enemy Below is essential viewing.
RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP (1958)—Archetypal World War II submarine adventure, based on the novel by Commander Edward L. Beach Jr., Clark Gable is the sub skipper who earns the grudging respect of his XO (Burt Lancaster) and crew, which is more loyal to Lancaster at first. Does the captain have an Ahab complex for the Japanese destroyer that sank his last sub? The great Gable, bless him, seems a bit long in the tooth to be playing a man who (in the book, at least) is supposed to be in his late 20s. Ned Beach, later a legendary figure at the Naval Institute, wasn't thrilled with the screen adaptation of his work (to say the least). But to the Navy movie enthusiast, this venerable staple can't help but hold a place in the pantheon of classics.
TORPEDO RUN (1958)—No one played the quiet hero with a hint of trouble seething beneath the surface better than Glenn Ford; he's just right for the role of a World War II submarine skipper with a tortured soul in Torpedo Run, another enduring undersea favorite. This captain's got some serious baggage; a while back, trying to sink a Japanese aircraft carrier, he instead torpedoed a ship transporting POWs—including his own wife and daughter! Now he's out to nail that Japanese flat-top at all cost. Ever-reliable Ernest Borgnine co-stars.
OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959)—Navy comedies have been of varying quality through the years; this one's the best (not counting Mister Roberts, which is only partly comedic). Cary Grant is captain of a World War II sub with a con-man supply officer (Tony Curtis) whose motto is: "In confusion, there is profit." They end up having to transport five gorgeous Army nurses, whose voluptuous presence wreaks havoc in the close confines of a submarine full of love-starved Sailors. Grant and Curtis make a great comedy duo, and riotous moments abound.
THE GALLANT HOURS (1960)—Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey gets his due in this admirable biopic, starring James Cagney in what some consider his best performance. Told with flashbacks in a quasi-documentary style, the story focuses on fateful 1942 and Halsey's Pacific duel with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. There are none of the expected battle scenes, which serves to put the spotlight squarely on the character of Halsey. As such, it's a study in superlative leadership.
THE BEDFORD INCIDENT (1965)—Gripping Cold War nail-biter, tapping into the same nuclear-paranoia zeitgeist that had made box-office hits out of Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove a year earlier. Richard Widmark is a zealous U.S. destroyer captain on North Atlantic patrol. A reporter (Sidney Poitier) is on board for a routine story, when sonar picks up a Soviet sub. The chase is on, and the world is brought to the brink of nuclear showdown. Widmark's blood is up, he's pushing the crew too hard, the men are getting tired, accidents can occur . . . watch out!
IN HARM'S WAY (1965)—Otto Preminger's sprawling, multi-layered soap opera of Navy life at Pearl Harbor when the bombs drop features John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, a cast full of familiar faces, and lots of 1940s women with groovy 1960s hairdos. Preminger was an actor's director, and he gets top-notch work out of John Wayne here. Wayne is relaxed, warm, charismatic. You'd never guess he was just two months away from having his entire left lung removed. He and Douglas, diametric opposites politically, nonetheless hit it off so well making this picture that they ended up working together again in The War Wagon (1967). Faults aside, In Harm's Way is a big, meaty, enjoyable Navy epic.
THE SAND PEBBLES (1966)—A flawed masterpiece, to be sure, but The Sand Pebbles brings to life a rarely viewed era of U.S. Navy history—gunboat patrols on the Yangtze River in 1920s China—and offers a colorful visual spectacle. Steve McQueen, who looks like he was born to wear that vintage Navy uniform, is at his apex of cool. Narrative gaps and dead-end subplots muddy the waters, but things pick up toward the end with an excellent gunboat shootout scene, expertly filmed with mounting tension and explosive action.
TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970)—The Pearl Harbor attack is vividly recreated in this lavish, expensive extravaganza, a joint U.S.-Japanese production. Told warts and all from both points of view, Tora! Tora! Tora! is meticulous in its historical detail, and big, loud, and eye-filling as it culminates in a truly memorable depiction of 7 December 1941. It earned a richly deserved Oscar for Best Special Effects. Between this blockbuster and Patton, 1970 turned out to be a banner year for war movies, which is ironic considering what was going on in Southeast Asia and on the streets of American cities at the time.
THE LAST DETAIL (1973)—Coarse, profane, outright hilarious, and brimming with humanity, The Last Detail captures the look and feel of the 1970s Navy in all its gritty glory. Jack Nicholson and Otis Young are a pair of petty officers assigned to escort a dull-witted klepto seaman (Randy Quaid) from Norfolk to the naval prison at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Their journey, replete with barroom brawls, seedy lodgings, vice-den visits, and a growing bond of camaraderie, becomes an odyssey across the landscape of a disillusioned America. Arguably Jack Nicholson's finest hour.
TOP GUN (1986)—It would be easy for the cineaste to scoff and sneer at this formulaic, ultra-slick megahit that epitomizes '80s moviemaking at its most high-gloss and calculated. But it remains eminently watchable entertainment, with dazzling F-14 flight sequences that knocked everyone's socks off when it was released and that still look great. Tom Cruise is at his cocky, grinning Tom Cruise-est as the handsome alpha dog among the latest class of over-achieving trainees at the Miramar Naval Air Station. His goofy, lovable wingman, played by Anthony Edwards, is actually the favorite character for many fans. Top Gun was the top box-office moneymaker of 1986, and the recruitment poster for a generation.
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)—Slam-bang submarine-chase classic based on Tom Clancy's best-selling novel, published by you-know-who. Sean Connery, always a commanding presence, has one of his best latter-day roles as the rogue Soviet sub Captain Marko Ramius. Alec Baldwin is CIA hero Jack Ryan, Scott Glenn is the U.S. sub skipper, Commander Bart Mancuso, and James Earl Jones plays Admiral James Greer. Two notable supporting roles are played by now-presidential candidate Fred Thompson as Rear Admiral Joshua Painter, commanding officer of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) battle group, and Law and Order regular Courtney Vance, whose sonarman "Jonesey" is the first to identify the Red October's strange sound as being man-made. Baldwin abandoned the Ryan role after Red October, paving the way for Harrison Ford. This, the first, remains the best of the Ryan films.
CRIMSON TIDE (1995)—Another killer-diller submarine thriller, centering on a threshold-of-Armageddon mano-a-mano between gung-ho nuclear sub captain Gene Hackman and his cool, refined new second-in-command, Denzel Washington. Elements of Red River, The Caine Mutiny, and The Bedford Incident are combined in a big-budget, suspense-filled package. Our favorite scene: watching Hackman and Washington debate about von Clausewitz while James "Tony Soprano" Gandolfini and Viggo "Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings" Mortensen look on. What a bizarre movie moment that is!
MEN OF HONOR (2000)—The inspiring true story of Carl Brashear, the U.S. Navy's first African-American diver, is recounted with heartfelt conviction. Cuba Gooding Jr. gives a moving performance as the never-say-die Brashear, who suffers the slings and arrows of bigotry and scorn. Robert De Niro, as a hardnosed master chief, deftly depicts the metamorphosis of his character from racist cracker to sympathetic ally. An important history lesson, and an uplifting ode to the indomitability of the human spirit.
Mr. Mills is the author of Chesapeake Bay in the Civil War (Tidewater Publishers, 1996), Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties (Tidewater Publishers, 2000), and, forthcoming from the Naval Institute Press, The Spectral Tide: Great True Ghost Stories of the U.S. Navy.
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While space precludes us from delving into any detail on the following, we also recommend: Hell Divers (1932), Here Comes the Navy (1934), Follow the Fleet (1936), Annapolis Salute (1937), Navy Blue and Gold (1937), In the Navy (1941), Navy Blues (1941), The Fleet's In (1942), Crash Dive (1943), The Fighting Seabees (1944), Here Come the Waves (1944), Operation Pacific (1951), The Frogmen (1951), Sailor Beware (1952) Flat Top (1952), An Annapolis Story (1955), Hellcats of the Navy (1957), Kiss Them for Me (1957), Up Periscope (1959), The Battle of the Coral Sea (1959), McHale's Navy (1964), Ice Station Zebra (1968), Cinderella Liberty (1973), Gray Lady Down (1978), The Final Countdown (1980), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), and the television mini-series The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988).
Despite that lack of space, we would be remiss in not suggesting that you order your helmsman to steer a course far clear of the following:
Ensign Pulver (1964)—The limp sequel to the great Mister Roberts lacks the original's casting magic; it's a day late and a dollar short.
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966)—We love Mamie Van Doren, but man-eating trees from Antarctica?
Midway (1976)—America's Trafalgar deserves far better treatment than this cheesy, anachronism-riddled misfire.
Weekend Pass (1984)—Lame 1980s-style hedonistic slob-comedy, bad even by 1980s-style hedonistic slob-comedy standards.
G.I. Jane (1997)—If it's the Navy SEALs Demi Moore is joining, then why is it "G.I." Jane?! Sheesh.
U-571 (2000)—Wait a minute, wasn't it the Royal Navy that captured the Germans' Enigma machine? Memo to Tinseltown: The U.S. Navy has enough movie-worthy heroic accomplishments of its own without having to steal glory from other countries.
Pearl Harbor (2001)—Big-budget mess; makes one appreciate "Tora! Tora! Tora!" all the more.
Annapolis (2006)—Shallow "Rocky" rip-off set at the fakest-looking U.S. Naval Academy in movie history. Hey, look across the river there. Someone plunked down a great big industrial shipyard on top of the Severn Inn!
just the facts The 2000 film U-571 took way too much dramatic license, changing history in the process.
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