Customer Reviews

Fighting Seabees [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This movie provides one telling of their story. During WWII, there was a serious need for men in the military who had the know how and the determination to carry out essential construction work, particularly in the Pacific Theatre of operations.

In this movie we learn a bit about the plan and recruitment of men to serve as hybrid construction workers/soldiers. John Wayne was a natural choice to serve as the prototypical SeaBee -- an undisciplined individual, but determined, willing and able.

Join JW and his colleagues as they work and fight their way across the Pacific, building runways and roads, and anything else that needed to be made. During their spare time, they did some fighting, and JW finds time for some romancing (doesn't he usually?).

A good telling, and an interesting movie, but not quite 5-star material. Well worth a watch though!

This movie has become a part of lore among the men and women of the finest combat contstruction organizations of the US military. It is a nice Hollywood adaptation of the creation of the US Navy Seabees. And who can forget the best character in the movie -- Natasha! It's not often that you see JW's character make the ultimate sacrifice. I watch this and see the beginning of some traditions and attitudes still in practice today. "With Compassion for Others, We Build - We Fight, for Peace with Freedom," from the Seabee Museum. Remember their montra: Seabee Can-Do.

In one of his lesser starring efforts, John Wayne plays the leader of a construction company that goes on to help form the Fighting Seabees, an armed group of workers. Prior to the Seabees, the construction crews building air strips and other military installations weren't allowed to carry arms. Wayne is stubborn and determined to say the least, and he pushes to have his men armed for battle as they work on curiously named islands in the Pacific during the Second World War. The film's focus is torn between the establishment of the Seabees and Wayne's romance with journalist Susan Hayward. Neither plotline is developed enough, and considering that it appears to be a war film, there's not much to the fighting in the film. It's not a bad film, but it suffers from a low budget and a script that needed much more work. However, there is a rare chance in this film to Big John jitterbug, which is good for a laugh.

The Navy Seabees did a whole lot to win the war in the Pacific. This movie shows how civilian contractors failed in combat situations, and how the Navy created a new kind of builder-warrior. And who better to illustrate the metamorphasis than The Duke?

The Duke puts on a uniform, accepts rank and begans growling for reports the Navy way. In exchange, he and the crew have become people who can fight as well as build.

While it's kind of a low budget film, many people will relate to the scene where The Duke sends the bulldozer into the machine gun nest.

I was disappointed with the quality of the DVD. The movie was not restored, it was copied from a fair print. I liked the movie.

The setting of this movie is an island in the Pacific in June 1942. Besides getting entertained by the blazing combat action and the fervid patriotic mood, the viewer gets an education on the Seabees. The term itself comes from a phonetization and dramatization of CB's, which stands for Construction Battalions.

Wedge Donovan (a young John Wayne) takes command of a US Navy group of engineers who are using bulldozers, cranes, etc., to build various installations for military use. At first, civilians are involved and, not understanding the realities of a combat environment, they suffer severe casualties during a Japanese attack.

Wedge Donovan trains and, in time, leads the newly-named Seabees in a subsequent counterattack against a large group of Japanese invaders. Now it is the Japanese who suffer heavy casualties. The Seabees trap the Japanese in a flaming ravine, and pour gunfire upon them. Wedge Donovan gets decorated for leadership in this military success.

Compared to today's action thrillers, this is sedate. However, there is more to a movie than speed. What it does well is remind us of our heritage. Although Hollywood may not have been accurate in its portrayal of the Seabees, this movie goes a long way in helping us understand their courage and contributions.

Being in the USNavy myself, I have met and known many Navy SeaBee's. I greatly enjoyed watching this John Wayne movie. I respect the "Can Do" reputation of these individual's even more now.

John Wayne plays Wedge Donovan (a
character name he would use 19 yrs.,
later in 1963's Donovan's Reef), a
construction Engineering magnate who
ends up selling the US Navy on arming
civilian personnel in hot LZs! He does
get killed in here (like in 'The Cow-
boys' - **.5)but his movie was way bet-
ter! Enough referrences to'japs', 'mon-
kies', et, al and other racial epithe-
ts to turn off the 'politically stupid'
types. Well, that was the terms used at
the times. [to cross referrence, see J.
Garner's fine 'Grand Prix' movie to see
how attitudes changed by 1966!]

As a retired army officer and an adjunct history professor I thought it was important to review what I consider the best war movies depicting the challenges of leadership and the command of men.

I always liked John Wayne in war movies more than in westerns. In "The Fighting Seabees the "Duke" plays Lt. Cmdr Wedge Donovan, a civilian construction manager who is tasked to form the Navy's first Construction Battalion, (CB CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight. Donovan a hard nosed construction manager at first chafes under military control, but once commissioned, he learns the importance of doing things the Navy way. This turns him into a great leader and his unit into a very effective force. One of the few movies that the "Duke" dies in. Makes one just want to cry.