Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Operation Pacific, April 20, 2003
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
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When things go wrong and one is in harm's way., August 9, 2001
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.
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic, but only amongst sub movies, July 12, 1999
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."
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