# Midway - the movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811 "2011-05-31T02:36:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XXX19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@XXX19](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XXX19)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/21 "2011-06-01T03:14:28Z")
Good reply but sharks don’t always need blood to get you. Don’t believe it, try jumping in shark invested waters w/o any blood. But then again, maybe the torpedo, bombs and crashed planes got the sharks. 🙂 But you know, it’s funny how our fleet was supposed to be so crippled and even destroyed yet we won every major sea battle after Pearl Harbor including the big one - Midway. Well, Coral Sea might be considered a tie but we stopped them from invading Australia and disabled two carriers that were back in Japan for repairs during Midway. The Japs could have had 6 carriers there instead of 4 to our 3. We lost the Lexington at Coral Sea but turned them back. The Aussies consider it the battle that saved Australia. The biggest ships lost at Pearl were the Arizona and Oklahoma two of the biggest destroyers in the world at that time and we still kicked Japan’s ass. Many of the ships at Pearl were obsolete anyway and the Japs completely ignored the subs docked which came back to haunt them later. Colossal mistakes by Yammato. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/22 "2011-06-01T04:45:42Z")
> [@XXX19](#): > > …try jumping in shark invested waters w/o any blood… Hmm. I thought lawyers were sharks, not stockbrokers. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/23 "2011-06-01T10:18:16Z")
[QUOTE=minor7flat5] I agree that it doesn’t seem as well made these days as it did when I first saw it. I remember that they made a big deal about it being shown in “Sensaround” so you could feel the bombs right in your chair. [/quote] Yes, I remember this very well. I saw Midway in the theater where it was a very big film at the time because of Sensaround, you felt like being caught up in the battle. When I see it now I realize half the film is out takes from Tora Tora Tora. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/24 "2011-06-01T12:53:14Z")
I thought George Gay spent the rest of the battle floating in a life raft, but I fought my ignorance with [Wikipedia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Gay,_Jr.) > [@](#): > > After dark, Gay felt it was safe to inflate his life raft. He was rescued by a Navy PBY after spending over 30 hours in the water. Gay was later flown to the USS Vincennes (arriving June 28, 1942), before being transferred home.[4] Of the squadron’s thirty pilots and radiomen, Gay was the only survivor. The only survivor of the squadron. Dear G-d. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/25 "2011-06-01T13:23:38Z")
Wasn’t _Midway_ the movie that re-used a bunch of action footage from from _Tora! Tora! Tora_! ? Or am I misremembering which movie did that? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/26 "2011-06-01T13:28:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Wasn’t _Midway_ the movie that re-used a bunch of action footage from from _Tora! Tora! Tora_! ? Or am I misremembering which movie did that? I’m pretty sure I did. it also had pictures of battleships firing their main armament for no seeming reason and from what i remember some love affair with Charlton Heston’s son and a Japanese American girl. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/27 "2011-06-01T15:18:30Z")
In the film, when trying to show an overhead shot of air operations on a Japanese CV, they reversed the film of an Essex class CV with an angled flight deck and ran it backwards. (To make it look like an aircraft taking off over the bow of a carrier with it’s island superstructure on the port side.) They should have used models instead. While real footage looks more real, the effect (in this case) was spoiled by the anachronisms. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/28 "2011-06-01T16:42:08Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Wasn’t _Midway_ the movie that re-used a bunch of action footage from from _Tora! Tora! Tora_! ? Or am I misremembering which movie did that? Yep-during at least one of the Japanese torpedo attacks (watched it the other night), you can see the harbor cranes in the background. I’m not sure what would be the definitive WWII Pacific surface ship film-any of the real classics of the theatre either focused on the gritty if not brutal amphib campaigns, or on submarines. Like I said both this and _TTT!_ both come off more like staid documentaries than immersive dramas. When _The Pacific_ miniseries was first announced I had hoped that it would focus perhaps on a naval squadron (fighters and/or bombers) and follow it through Pearl, the Doolittle Raid, Midway, Battle of the Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf, but no, it just had to be about the grunts, again. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/29 "2011-06-01T16:48:03Z")
The only film I’ve seen where surface ship combat looked real was Master and Commander of a few years back, what is set during the Napoleonic Wars. No airplanes, of course. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/30 "2011-06-01T18:05:15Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The only film I’ve seen where surface ship combat looked real was Master and Commander of a few years back, what is set during the Napoleonic Wars. No airplanes, of course. _In Harm’s Way_ featured surface combat, but I don’t think y’all would consider it gritty or real looking. There you go: another idea for a TV series. The (fictional) life and hard times of a PT boat squadron in the Solomons in 42 or 43. The whole Solomons campaign was one of attrition. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/31 "2011-06-01T19:01:44Z")
The Battle of Leyte Gulf could practically be a miniseries all by itself. Three days - hundreds of ships - thousands of men. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/32 "2011-06-01T20:54:29Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > _In Harm’s Way_ featured surface combat, but I don’t think y’all would consider it gritty or real looking. > > There you go: another idea for a TV series. The (fictional) life and hard times of a PT boat squadron in the Solomons in 42 or 43. The whole Solomons campaign was one of attrition. Yup, I’ve seen _In Harm’s Way_, and the ships look like toys in a bathtub. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/33 "2011-06-01T21:01:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Yup, I’ve seen _In Harm’s Way_, and the ships look like toys in a bathtub. They are obviously models. It’s got Patricia Neal, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/34 "2011-06-01T21:22:30Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I’m not sure what would be the definitive WWII Pacific surface ship film-any of the real classics of the theatre either focused on the gritty if not brutal amphib campaigns, or on submarines. My first thought is that the definitive surface ship film was _Sink the Bismarck_, but that wasn’t in the Pacific. Midway is my favorite example of my favorite game, spotting Paul Frees. (He dubs Toshiro Mifune’s (Yamamoto’s) lines) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/35 "2011-06-01T21:38:03Z")
I remember seeing Midway in the theaters, Sensurround and all ( I think Rollercoaster and EarthQuake were the only other theaters that used it). It does use a lot of Tora Tora Tora footage and a lot of stock footage that was taken later in the war (the scenes of planes landing on the carrier decks - some harshly - come to mind). [War and Remembrance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Remembrance) mini-series had an episode devoted to Midway and did a decent job although they truncated a lot for TV movie timing. Having read Shattered Sword it is amazing how much had to be left out or was unknown at the time: The USS Nautilus wreaking havoc in the Japanese picket but ultimately doing no damage, the attacks by Midway-based craft that came close to causing disaster on one of the Japanese carriers. Whenever someone says how lucky the US got at Midway I point out how lucky the Japanese were up to that point. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/36 "2011-06-01T21:40:13Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > My first thought is that the definitive surface ship film was _Sink the Bismarck_, but that wasn’t in the Pacific. > > Midway is my favorite example of my favorite game, spotting Paul Frees. (He dubs Toshiro Mifune’s (Yamamoto’s) lines) I’d forgotten that movie, and it is very good, but I think most all of the ship firing scenes are archival war footage. IIRC there were a few shots of the Bismarck firing antiaircraft batteries at British planes which looked kinda fake. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/37 "2011-06-02T08:57:34Z")
japanese AA unit officers standing fully exposed and holding up their katanas to guide the gunners against the attacking planes: how much chance do those suckers have of living if a bomb hits or if they get straffed? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/38 "2011-06-02T09:50:36Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Miskatonic] [War and Remembrance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Remembrance) mini-series had an episode devoted to Midway and did a decent job although they truncated a lot for TV movie timing. [/QUOTE] In the novel Wouk gave the names of every man killed from the planes that crashed into the sea due to running out of fuel. (One of the book’s fictional characters was among them.) Wouk was on a destroyer in the Pacific in WW2 but I don’t know if he was actually at Midway. It’s very clear in the novel he didn’t think much of Spruance or Nimitz and credited the victory more to great pilots and chance more than brilliant leadership by the admirals. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/39 "2011-06-02T11:25:15Z")
A few questions: -why didn’t the japanese have an air patrol flying arond their carriers to protect them against attack? -the land based plane from Midway scored almost no hits on the japanese task force-why didn’t Nagumo move hois battleships in and shell the island? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811/40 "2011-06-02T11:28:00Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > A few questions: > -why didn’t the japanese have an air patrol flying arond their carriers to protect them against attack? > -the land based plane from Midway scored almost no hits on the japanese task force-why didn’t Nagumo move hois battleships in and shell the island? Re the first question, I understood there was a combat air patrol. They destroyed the torpedo bombers and as they were doing that the dive bombers came and did their stuff. The CAP had lost altitude and used fuel and ammunition. (Apologies if this isn’t what you were meaning). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midway-the-movie/583811.md?page=3)