Thanks for the memories!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This movie was decent overall even with some major goofs as it had action along with comedy and romance. The acting was excellent but the cinematography and the script could have been better which is why I gave it 7 stars.

Boring and late movie of propaganda. No tension, no drama, no realism. And Wayne not bad, but certainly not his best acting. A waste of time.If you're looking for a good naval movie, this definitely is not. I had to make efforts to not skip non-battle scenes. Only to find bad action scenes, with no tension. A clearly epic script for propaganda purposes. But poorly conducted. Other older Subs movies are much better than this. The special effects are not bad, but the timing is disastrous, and moreover are well known.This movie is far from "Run Silent, Run Deep", "Destination Tokyo", "The Enemy Below", "Das Boot", even "Operation Petticoat" is better. It is closer to an anodyne documentary.

Talk about broad brush strokes -- there isn't an ounce of subtlety in this movie as far as the eye can see. But it's a classic post-WWII "sea picture", and it swaggers and struts just like The Duke himself. It's impossible to imagine anyone else starring in this picture.Wayne plays "Duke" Forrest, executive officer of the submarine Thunderfish, commanded by his mentor and friend "Pop", who you figure is wearing a Star Trek red shirt under his khakis by the second reel. Sure enough, Duke winds up captaining the "Thunder" while trying to patch things up with his Ex, the high-maintenance Patricia Neal. In one memorable scene she reads him the riot act about his behavior, while he stares at a point in space above her head, several miles away. You can almost hear him thinking, "Dames like this always got pot roast in the oven..."This film is a rather jarring counterpoint to realistic epics like "Das Boat" -- clearly OUR subs had it all -- climate control (no one sweats), plenty of space (enough for a boat-load of rescued Nuns with about 20 orphans -- each one more scrubbed and freckle-faced than the last), and enough interior lighting to make Martha Stewart jealous. The brave crew features the usual lily-white, WASP-y cross-section of America, featuring Junior ("my Great Grandpappy was on the Merrimack!"), Jonesy (a wisecracking Mike Dukakis lookalike) and Lieutenant Larry, who sounds like a Cary Grant knockoff. The Chief, who obviously served as a cabin boy on the Ark, is along to keep everyone in line.Having said all that, this is a wonderful film to break out on Memorial Day, to honor the brave sailors who went into harm's way in glorified sewer pipes with busted torpedoes, many to remain "on patrol" for eternity. Big, loud and jingoistic, this film nevertheless has its heart in the right place.

It's hard to decide which genre provided John Wayne the greater opportunity to showcase his talents - the "Western" or the "War Movie". Clearly, he excelled at both (and had more than a few opportunities to demonstrate it). Personally, I've always been a greater fan of his westerns, but when this film appeared on one of my favorite cable channels this afternoon, I found myself willingly drawn in. Although a lot of its elements are standard WWII fare, Operation Pacific still demonstrates why the genre has proven so successful to Hollywood.This one includes all the cliches - the tragedy of lives lost for a just cause (in this case, the war in the Pacific), the heroism of the men who gave up their lives for that cause (here it's a submarine crew based out of "Pearl"), and the women forced to wait patiently while the men they loved went into harm's way.Although a lot of this seems outdated and stereotyped some 50 years later, the movies that were made during and immediately following WWII nevertheless reflect the ideals and values that drove an entire nation (and generation) to act and feel as it did. My own father, who was a Navy man during the war, was a big fan of John Wayne. I have to believe that Wayne personified some of the very same values my father had come to embrace as a youth and during his time in the military. For me, this adds some validity and perspective.I know this is not considered to be Wayne's best war film (and admit to not being an enthusiastic student of the genre), but I'm confident that it's a good example of why these films were (and remain) so popular.