THEY WERE EXPENDABLE Movie Review

1945 John Ford

On one level, John Ford's film can be seen as the Navy's answer to Air Force and Bataan. All three films are about the early days of the war in the Pacific, specifically about the humiliating American retreat from the Philippines. Ford, however, takes an approach that's diametrically opposite to the other two. Where they are essentially “unit pictures” about a group of diverse individuals who are brought together and molded into a single force, Ford's film begins with the unit already established and ready to fight. The immediate problem is that Lt. Brickley's (Robert Montgomery) superiors don't believe that his PT boats are an effective weapon against the Japanese Navy.

On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Brickley's executive officer, Lt. Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) is ready to request a transfer to destroyers. Once the fighting starts, he puts his personal ambition aside and enthusiastically rejoins the group. That's what the film is really about—discipline, obedience to orders, the subjugation of self to larger goals. The theme is repeated with variations throughout the film, both in the major dramatic moments and in smaller details. Frank Wead's script is based on William White's book about Ford's friend Lt. John Bulkeley, and though the naval combat is presented with the usual Hollywood exaggeration, the characters and their reactions to the situation seem accurate.

The only flaw in that department is the romance between Ryan and Lt. Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed), a nurse. At first, it seems uncomfortably stilted—neither Ford nor Wead were at their most perceptive with female characters and never claimed to be—but the relationship develops and ends along much more realistic lines, adding depth to the film's elegiac tone. Despite Ford's friendship with Bulkeley and his undisguised affection for the Navy, the film is not flag-waving propaganda or hero worship. It does have an almost reverential attitude toward the armed services, beginning with the opening titles that read “Manila Bay in the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Hundred and Forty-one” (instead of the simple “Manila Bay—1941”) and ending with “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” swelling up over the closing credits.

At the same time, though, Ford is aiming for a degree of realism that films made earlier in the war lacked. He carefully points out, for example, how young many of the sailors were. His choice of the Florida Keys for Philippine locations is a solid step up from the soundstage jungles that filmmakers had been using. Much more importantly, he gets some of the best performances he ever coaxed out of a large ensemble cast, many of them Ford regulars. If John Wayne and Donna Reed have the most emotional dramatic moments, the film rests on Robert Montgomery's understated work. When the film was made, Montgomery had just left the Navy. Perhaps that experience gives him the aura of quiet conviction that provides the balance to Wayne's louder, more bellicose character. Ford works with the difference between the two throughout, but brings it to the surface only in the final scene, where he plays against all of the audience's heroic expectations.

It's an unusual conclusion to an unusually complex film. Reportedly, Ford was always ambivalent about They Were Expendable, but like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, it's one of the sleepers in his large body of work.

Cast: Robert Montgomery (Lt. John Brickley), John Wayne (Lt. Rusty Ryan), Donna Reed (Second Lt. Sandy Davyss), Jack Holt (Gen. Martin), Ward Bond (Boots Mulcahey), Cameron Mitchell (Ens. George Cross), Leon Ames (Maj. James Morton), Marshall Thompson (Ens. Snake Gardner), Paul Langton (Ens. Andy Andrews), Donald Curtis (Lt. “Shorty” Long), Jeff York (Ens. Tony Aiken), Murray Alper (Slug Mahan), Jack Pennick (Doc), Alex Havier (Benny Lecoco), Charles Trowbridge (Adm. Blackwell), Robert Barrat (Gen. Douglas MacArthur), Bruce Kellogg (Elder Tompkins), Louis Jean Heydt (Ohio), Russell Simpson (Dad Knowland), Philip Ahn (Orderly), Betty Blythe (Officer's wife), William B. Davidson (Hotel manager), Pedro de Cordoba (The Priest), Arthur Walsh (Seaman Jones), Harry Tenbrook (“Cookie” Squarehead Larson), Tim Murdock (Ens. Brant), Vernon Steele (Army doctor); Written by: Frank Wead; Cinematography by: Joseph August; Music by: Herbert Stothart, Eric Zeisl. Producer: John Ford, Cliff Reid, MGM, Loew's, Inc. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards '45: Best Sound. Running Time: 135 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta.