Click here to copy URL

They Were Expendable

1945

John Ford

Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Ward Bond ...

6.7

1,211

War. Drama In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the members of a PT boat squadron patrol Philippine waters and attack Japanese ships. The PT boat initially had little respect from senior Navy officers but their maneuverability and speed however quickly change their minds. As the Japanese advance across the Philippines, the PT boats become essential in evacuating the senior personnel including General Mac Arthur.

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"A war movie with enough honour and heroism to make a grown man weep (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"It captures upon the screen all of the gallantry and daring of that handful of Navy men who threw their fast PT-boat squadron against the Japanese in the first days of the war"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	"The tugs of docudrama, emotionalism and sheer timing produced a major work of surprisingly downbeat romanticism"	POS
United States	Don Druker Chicago Reader	"[An] example of the way Ford brilliantly intertwined intensely personal stories with magnificently epic narrative."	POS

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.