Pretty Good

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is quite an entertaining comedy starring Michael Keaton as car manufacturer Hunt Stevenson, whose car company was bought out by a Japanese firm. So, he tries to rally his American workers together to work at the plant for lesser pay and being subjected to harsher work conditions and schedules by the Japanese managers.There is plenty of comedy relief in the film, from culture clashes to slapstick humor. There's also bits of heroism in the film, including Hunt's town's survival being contingent on the car company staying afloat and including Japanese company manager Oishi Kazihiro (Gedde Watanabe) showing honor to his boss, colleagues and family in getting the car making job done.Overall, an entertaining film with touches of Americana and Japanese cultures.Grade B+

This was my second favorite Michael Keaton flick from the Eighties, "Beetlejuice" was the first. I always liked Keaton for his wisecrack manner and facial language, for me one of the best. Watching today the picture has lost some of it's vibe from three decades ago. Times change and tastes change, so I guess that accounts for most of my sentiment. The culture clash between American and Japanese workers is at the heart of the story here, and how mid-level managers Hunt Stevenson (Keaton) and Oishi Kazihiro (Gedde Watanabe) direct their approach to work. Americans are industrious and competent, but by the Eighties, the demands of family life often took priority. Whereas for the Japanese, work is the defining characteristic of one's life and other considerations are not allowed to intrude. The picture seems to take a fairly well balanced approach in bringing each side over to the other's point of view. I had forgotten most of the supporting players here. Mimi Rogers, George Wendt and John Turturro had modest roles supporting Keaton, and after a while I came to realize that a different name was used for Watanabe's character every so often, like Kazoito and Takahira. In his own inimitable style, Keaton called him Kazmania and my own personal favorite, Kazmonaut. Well like the man said, it's not brain surgery. The ending of the picture seems to come together out of left field to reward the citizens of Hadleyville for pulling out a win in the fourth quarter like Hunt promised. It's a little convoluted and feels forced, but if you're a Michael Keaton fan, it ought to work well enough for you.

"Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling. Honest, industrious citizens were classed as bloodsuckers if they asked to be paid a living wage, and praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed." - Kurt Vonnegut Ron Howard's "Gung Ho" stars Michael Keaton as Hunt Stevenson, a factory worker at an auto plant in Hadleyville, Pennsylvania. When the plant is purchased by Assan Motors, a Japanese company, Hunt becomes a liaison between Japanese bosses and American workers.For most of its running time, "Gung Ho" is a slick, well-shot and funny feature. Here, Japanese capitalism is shown to be dangerously obsessed with production, exploitation and servitude. In contrast, American workers and bosses are shown to be slovenly, lackadaisical and overly individualistic, traits which hamper corporate profits.By the film's end, however, Howard reveals "Gung Ho's" quite sinister message: the worker of tomorrow is better off if he adopts a mixture of Eastern and Western values. Work hard, increase production and put your job first, and mega-corporations won't fire you, abandon you and go seeking cheaper labour elsewhere. But don't work too hard; after-all, an alive worker is a good worker.That this is not only a form of social blackmail, and a false binary – the worker forced to choose between two types of the same exploitation – doesn't occur to Howard. That capitalism's many contradictions means that it must, in aggregate, lead to bankruptcy, debt, unemployment, downsizing, lowered wages and unemployment regardless of "efficiency" or "the behaviour of the worker", doesn't occur to him either. Co-starring Mimi Rogers, the film quite cleverly positions its audience to sympathise with what would otherwise be deemed racial stereotypes.7.5/10 - Worth one viewing.

Wow, it's been years since I last saw this movie. Watching it in 2008 is certainly different than watching it in 1986. Initially I didn't' think I would make it through the movie. Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) was so obnoxious, arrogant and disrespectful that I found it hard to watch him. He embodied every negative stereotype of Americans. If that wasn't bad enough, once the small American town's finest workers were shown the image only got worse. On the opposite spectrum the Japanese were presented as emotionless, robotic workaholics. The movie wasn't even all that funny, I only hung in there because of the nostalgic value of it. And I'm glad I continued the watch.Just like boxing, judges are swayed by how you finish the round. This movie went from about a three up to the seven I rated it because of the ending. The end was excellent. You always want a harmonious ending and this was just that. It was great that the town got to keep there jobs and keep the factory, but what was most special was the marriage between the Japanese customs and values and the American customs and values. It was a mediocre movie that ended on a high note.