They Were Expendable

Tomorrow is December 7, which is the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that sent the US into World War II. In fact, it's the 80th anniversary, and there aren't many World War II veterans left. Unsurprisingly, TCM is once again showing a bunch of war movies to commemorate the day, all of them having the attack on Pearl Harbor as a significant plot point. One that I haven't blogged about before is They Were Expendable, at 5:30 PM, and since I have it on DVD as part of a box set of John Wayne war movies, I decided to pop it in the DVD player and watch it to do a post on here.

Robert Montgomery, who was still nominally a bigger star than Wayne at the time the movie was made in 1945, and certainly on the MGM lot since I don't think Wayne was under contract to the studio, plays Lt. John Brickley, who commands a bunch of men in the Philippines in the autumn of 1941, the Philippines being a US possession at the time. Lt. Ryan (John Wayne) works under Brickley, and the two seem to be relatively good friends. Brickley has an idea for a mobile fleet of small boats called portable torpedo boats, or PT boats, that he'd like the Navy to approve. But since the war isn't on yet officially for Americans, Washington is dragging its feet on the subject.

The viewer, of course, knows that December 7 is just about to come, and with that the US forces stationed in more distant places being in danger. Philippines is about as distant as you can get from the American mainland, and the naval men there know that they're in a very difficult situation once the actual war begins and they'll have to fight undermanned and underarmed. In one of the attacks, Lt. Ryan picks up an injury that deteriorates into blood poisiong, sending him to a makeshift field hospital where he's treated by nurse Lt. Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed), who serves as a romantic subplot popping up here and there throughout the movie.

Anyhow, the PT boats' basic job is to hold off the Japanese long enough to enable the other fighting forces to regroup or evacuate, much like Dunkirk 18 months or so earlier. It's not glamorous work, but somebody has to do it. As the few remaining PT boats continue their work, Washington realizes that perhaps the PT boats have some use, and recall Lts. Brickley and Ryan to Washington, if they can get out of the Philippines before the complete Japanese takeover.

What sets They Were Expendable apart from a lot of other Hollywood movies about World War II is that there's somewhat less of a rah-rah atmosphere, and more one of grim determination. Sure, the sailors all have morale, but a lot of other movies make the Americans seem almost invincible and the Japanese or Germans peternaturally stupid. Actually, I don't think we see any Japanese in the movie, just the planes flying overhead to attack. That's really to the benefit of the movie.

They Were Expendable also gets fine performances out of both John Wayne and Robert Montgomery, the latter being disproportionately known for light comedy before the war. Montgomery, in fact, took over directorial reins when director John Ford fell ill during production, and found that he liked directing so much that he would go on to direct another five films.

If you haven't seen They Were Expendable before, it's definitely worth a watch.