Best movie ever!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Produced by Walter Wanger with the fullest co-operation of the U.S. Marines, this is a spectacular, money-was-no-object re-enactment of one of the great turning points of WW2 in general and of the war in the Pacific in particular. Although the names of the real men involved in the action have been changed, Randolph Scott gives a most convincing account of Carlson, while Sam Levene is almost equally impressive as Sergeant "Transport" Maghakean who, along with Lieutenant W.S. LeFrancois who also wrote the screen story, actually served as technical advisers for the movie. Aside from Grace McDonald, there are no women in the cast at all, but for once they are not missed as this re-enactment of training and combat is virtually non-stop action from go to whoa – and most spectacular action it is too! In fact, some might feel that it's far too realistic. Here is a movie that pulls no punches – certainly suitable fare for upcoming star, Bob Mitchum. Mitch's role here is small, but he does feature in three or four brief scenes. Lucien Hubbard, who always thought big, wrote the action-packed screenplay – and for once just about all Hubbard's spectacular, super-expensive effects were translated intact to the screen! Available on an excellent amc (sic) DVD.

Marine colonel Randolph Scott hand-picks a battalion to raid Japanese-held Makin Island during World War II. Formulaic but fun wartime actioner. Great cast, led by Scott, includes J. Carrol Naish, Noah Beery, Jr., Sam Levene, and Robert Mitchum. Lame subplot involving two brothers vying for the same girl adds nothing. Nice pace and good action. Surprisingly violent and bloody. Real training and wartime footage is used, as well. This isn't a movie with deep philosophical discussions or ponderings about the futility of war. This is an American movie made to promote the marines' role in the war effort and tell the story of one operation in particular. The marines in this film know who their enemy is and are eager to take the fight to them, as we Americans would (hopefully) all expect them to. It's also a movie made when we were at war with Japan, so keep all of that in mind before getting on your soapbox about some of the jingoism heard here. It's not one of my favorite WW2 flicks, but it has a good cast, action, and some historical significance.

This fact-based war film (detailing the first ground assault on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor) is neatly divided into two parts – showing, first, the specialized training session of the carefully-chosen platoon (which is quite interesting) and the mission itself (displaying fairly standard heroics but well enough done nonetheless).The film has been criticized for glamorizing what was essentially a band of cutthroats (Leonard Maltin even describes it as "a jaw-dropping experience"). Still, there was no doubt that any war picture made during this time wouldn't ram propagandist slogans down the audience's throat (witness Randolph Scott's final straight-into-camera speech); ironically, even if the latter was the film's nominal star, he's rarely involved in the action proper – being there mainly to co-ordinate things, and repeatedly instigate his men to kill every Jap on the island!).The supporting cast is good, made up of veteran character actors – J. Carroll Naish, Sam Levene – and newcomers – notably Robert Mitchum; however, a fair share of the running-time is unwisely devoted to the romantic triangle involving a girl and two soldiers who happen to be half-brothers (one of them played by Noah Beery Jr.) – all of which has a quite deadening effect on the main narrative! Despite being a relatively early WWII film, the action sequences are surprisingly gutsy – though accentuated on occasion by obvious stock footage.

The movie 'Gung Ho!': The Story of Carlson's Makin Island Raiders was made in 1943 with a view to go up the moral of American people at the duration of second world war. It shows with the better way that the cinema can constitute body of propaganda. The value of this film is only collection and no artistic. In a film of propaganda it is useless to judge direction and actors. Watch that movie if you are interested to learn how propaganda functions in the movies or if you are a big fun of Robert Mitchum who has a small role in the film. If you want to see a film for the second world war, they exist much better and objective. I rated it 4/10.