Customer Reviews

Operation Pacific

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Since I grew up with this movie, I have seen it at least 30 times. This is one of the best Submarine Movies of WW-II action made. And not everyone knows this but this movie did deal with some truth. When the skipper is shot by a "Q" ship in a surface attack, he uses the command "Take Her Down" which was in actuality used by the CO of the USS Growler, after being critically wounded in action in 1942. And the torpedo trouble in the movie was also true and they did drop warheads from on high to test out various firing options. One submarine mentioned in the Movie was the Corvina, which really was a USN Sub, and she was suck by a Japanese Submarine like the movie portrays. Unlike other Sub Movies, this one has a lot of truth in it and is an excellent watch. It is made more realistic by being in black and white. Sources for the above "Sink em All" By Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, USN COMSUBPAC during WW-II

This is a chilly saga of an American sub captain plagued by failure-prone weapons and an ocean full of Japanese to fight. They find the reason the torpedoes didn't work and put back to sea, this time, to take good care of the nasty business at hand. One scene that brings the cost of war home is that the Thunderfish loaned another sub a movie, "Washington Slept Here." Sometime later, they find wreckage of an American sub, and the movie tells them who is at the bottom of the ocean. The Thunderfish strikes back at the sub that got their friends, showing how dangerous it was out there and what courage it took to fight this war. The climax scene shows them in a Japanese-controlled harbor, with a waiting task force. They fire their new and deadly torpedoes, and radio back to Cincpac about the taskforce and its location. They run for cover, and barely survive massive retaliation: the outcome is in doubt until the last, as it was for many other submariners. A moving, poignant, and bittersweet tale that stresses the fact that nothing ever comes for free, even in war.

This show depicts JW being handed what he least wants, to be left ashore during wartime to solve a technical problem with torpedos -- something that really happened.

There is much of the standard John Wayne character in the movie -- he's strong and larger than life, even when he faces a ruggedly handsome younger man who is vying for the same woman. John Wayne is, of course, the hero, and that's OK.

The best part about the movie, however, doesn't have anything to do with subs. The best part is the showdown between two nurses when one tells the other how things really are, and to quit whining about things (I paraphrase, badly).

Nevertheless, this movie is a great option for a free Saturday afternoon.

Addendum...I just read (3/2006) the non-fiction book "The Terrible Hours" by Maas, and found many similarities between Swede Momsen of that book and JW's character in this movie. While Operation Pacific doesn't do more than mention in passing that JW's character was involved in diving on a sunken sub before WWII, that and the work he does on solving the torpedo problems plaguing WWII fleet subs is enough to make the connection between JW and Swede Momsen. If you like this movie, you'll probably also like the book "The Terrible Hours."

What makes "Operation Pacific" stand out is its authentic pigboat crew dialogue and operational procedures. It is also unique in that it took from a real life WWII sub commander's life. Cdr. Howard W. Gilmore (played by Ward Bond as the fictitious 'Pop Perry' in the movie) who actually did speak the words, "Take her down" as he lay mortally wounded on the bridge of his sub, USS Growler", thus saving the lives of his crew. This is an exceptional WWII submarine movie, a huge step above all of the rest.

Following WWII, a new subgenre of war movies appeared, the submarine movie, including Destination Tokyo, Run Silent, Run Deep, and Torpedo Run among others. But Operation Pacific with John Wayne is not often mentioned or known as a quality WWII submarine war movie, which is too bad because it's a more than solid movie. Returning from a mission that required the crew to rescue two nuns and a group of little kids off a Japanese-held island, the USS Thunderfish returns to Pearl Harbor. Back in port, Lt. Commander Duke Gifford hopes to get back together with his divorced wife, Mary Stuart, and rekindle the love they had four years before. But before he can win her back, the Thunderfish is sent back out on patrol, and with torpedoes that don't blow on impact. The rest of the movie involves the effort to fix the firing pins along with the Thunderfish's involvement at the battle of Leyte Gulf. The sub footage is excellent here as the Thunderfish goes up against everything the Japanese Navy has to offer and more. And unlike a lot of movies with forced love stories, the relationship between Duke and Mary is believable and doesn't detract from the movie overall. A good blend of action, drama and some laughs, Operation Pacific isn't a well-known WWII sub movie, but it's definitely worth a look.

John Wayne had it easy here, starring as a character with his own nickname, Lt. Cmdr. Duke Gifford. Gifford is the first officer on the Thunderfish who while trying to win his ex-wife back has to deal with some unexpected problems that arise. Patricia Neal is a good sparring partner for Wayne as Mary Stuart, his ex-wife and a nurse at Pearl Harbor. Wayne and Neal's scenes together keep the movie going instead of grinding it to a halt. Ward Bond is perfect as Cmdr. "Pop" Perry, the commander of the Thunderfish and Gifford's best friend. Wayne and Bond together were always perfect together, and here is no different. Phillip Carey plays Lt. Perry, Pop's kid brother who is trying to marry Mary which doesn't go over well for Gifford. The crew of the sub includes Scott Forbes, Martin Milner, Paul Picerni in a funny role, William Campbell, Vincent Fotre, Sam Edwards, and in maybe his meatiest part, and his best, Jack Pennick as the Chief.

The DVD is a good deal with a clean B&W standard presentation that looks pretty smooth throughout although it's fairly obvious when war footage is inserted in. Only special features here are a trailer and some brief filmographies of the cast, Wayne, Neal, and Bond. But overall, fans of submarine movies won't be disappointed here, especially with Wayne and Bond together again. Check out Operation Pacific!

This post-war made film (1951) about WWII is rather retrospective and honest in its telling of the tale. Wayne is very good here in an uncomplicated role. Mixing, submarines, lurking enemy, and old flings or ex-flings with a lot of macho dialogue (without preaching) along the way, this film does not fail to entertain. George Waggner's direction give a lot of freedom to get his story across.

I bought the DVD of "Operation Pacific" over a year ago, but have only just watched it. I thought it would be just an average war film which I could watch when I had nothing better to see. However, I was quite wrong. This is definitely one of the best films of any kind that I have seen in the last couple of years. Why, I wonder, has it been forgotten (I had never heard of it until I saw it advertised on Amazon)? It is convincingly realistic, both when the submarine and its crew are at sea, and when they are having a break in port. I found some parts of the film very moving, there is no "false heroism" or cheapness about any of it, and the action when it comes is extremely exiting. Why, I wonder, do people sneer at John Wayne, or at his supposed lack of acting talent? In this film he is superb. I have seen quite a lot of his films in recent years, and I think that this may be one of his very best. The same applies, I think to Ward Bond, who is also superb in this.
Just a note: to anyone who watches this, and likes it as much as I do, make sure you also watch "They Were Expendable", also set in the Pacific in WWII, and also absolutely first rate.

John Wayne's intrepid portrayal in this movie was taken from true life US Navy happenings that are skillfully blended for substenance for the backdrop of this story...John Wayne needs not to apoligize, either...there was...the raising of the USS Squaliss in 1939 just off the coast of Boston...there was...a US Navy rescue of Catholic Nuns and children from Guadalcanal before the 1st Marine Division's invasion of that island...there was...the sinking of the USS Corvina as noted in this film, as well as other disclosures stated by other Reviewers in here..."Operation Pacific" for whatever warts [imagined or not] is a monumental tribute to the Navy's Silent Service...I admit there were a couple of John Wayne moments, but that's to be expected, [pogey-bait time]...they didn't wrinkle my feathers one iota...I like the guy...the camera was very exquisite in the close/ups of Patricia Neal...wonderous close/ups of her adorable face in fadeout scenes...you can't tell me that these two [2] 'love/birds' maybe carried on/off screen??...Wayne and Neal generated plenty of 'steam' at those dockside scenes...look more closely...just read the know-it-all smirks [of envy] from the other male/stars at the dockside footage...that white-hot tidbit aside, a darn good Navy show and the intrinsic operation of submariner duty deep below the waves...Ward Bond was terrific, Scott Forbes made you notice his contribution, Martin Milner, as the young Ensign, came through with the impact of his declaration of sinking a Japanese submarine..."total silence on the screen"...only imprinted, what may be their lethal/fate along the way...Max Steiner's stiring music/score only adds to the heroic theme, as always...this is a well made Warner Bros' movie and a truly favorite of mine...in summation, I'm so glad we WON WW2...under the cruel sea our steadfast sailors of the US Navy's Silent Service sacrificed to preserve our heritage and the American way of life... 52 US Navy submarines were lost resulting in watery graves for 3,500 officers and enlisted men that marked the way back to Tokyo...God bless 'em all...SGGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

John Wayne gives a strong, honest performance as the skipper of the Thunderfish. Wayne is tasked with two missions. One is to win back his wife (Patricia Neal). The second is to fix the dud torpedoes plaguing the U.S. Pacific Fleet and crippling the Navy's efforts against the Imperial Japanese Navy. The film plays well and is a classic of WW2 submarine flicks.

** Some SPOILERS ahead **

OPERATION PACIFIC is a reasonably entertaining, intermittently exciting story about sub commander 'Pop' Perry (Ward Bond) and his executive officer Duke Gifford (Wayne) battling Japanese ships and having problems with their torpedos, which eventually leads to the death of commander Perry and the enforced sidelining of Gifford as he and his crew try to figure out what's wrong with the torpedos.

Interwoven with the action sequences is the story of Gifford trying to reconcile with his ex-wife, Lt. Mary Stuart (Neal), a Navy nurse in Honolulu. The first few scenes between Gifford, Neal, Pop and his younger brother Bob (Philip Carey) are really nicely handled; director George Waggner seems to have a good touch with romantic and seriocomic scenes, and he does a good job in building the tension in Gifford as he recognizes that he has a rival in Bob for his ex-wife's affections. But there are a couple of later scenes, after the death of Pop, that seem misguided, in particular a confrontation between Gifford and Bob that leads into a scene between Gifford and Mary that just doesn't come off convincingly. Wayne is quite solid in the film overall but this scene in which he gets blamed for his friend's death and then has to basically tell Mary that the ship is the most important thing to him finds him at sea, as it were - it feels underehearsed and awkward. There are a couple of other problematic sequences like this, including one where his CO tells him that he's got to stay in the dock rather than go back out to sea, and this combined with a general mediocrity in the production outside of the submarine scenes leads me to wonder if perhaps the budget wasn't all that terrific here, and there wasn't enough time or money to put together some of these dramatic scenes adequately.

I'm also not all that impressed with Patricia Neal here; she can come off as kind of superior and bitchy at times even when it's not called for and I feel a little of that in this performance. Bond on the other hand is great and most of the other seamen are very credible. John Pennick as the Chief has a memorable face that many viewers of this film will recognize from his work in John Ford films - in fact the whole film often has the feel of low-rent Ford, with a scene where Gifford bails out his men for fighting with a bunch of Hawaiians in particular being very reminiscent of some of the "character" scenes in Ford's war films and westerns.

This is probably the least-impressive John Wayne war film I've seen so far, one that I'd recommend mostly to serious fans of the actor or of submarine films; I watched it along with a group of his other WWII stuff and in comparison with a masterpiece like They Were Expendable it looks a bit weak. And certainly there are plenty of better submarine films out there. But for fans of Wayne or the genre, it's certainly worth a look; it's just not top-priority stuff as far as I'm concerned.