Gung Ho (1986)

35% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
46% of users liked it
(6,650 ratings)

Michael Keaton stars as a wheeler-dealer who hopes to save a failing Pennsylvania automobile-assembly factory from having to close its doors. Keaton persuades a Japanese auto firm to reopen the factory, retrain its staff, and streamline the operation. It isn't long before the American-born workers… More Michael Keaton stars as a wheeler-dealer who hopes to save a failing Pennsylvania automobile-assembly factory from having to close its doors. Keaton persuades a Japanese auto firm to reopen the factory, retrain its staff, and streamline the operation. It isn't long before the American-born workers grow to resent the disciplinary demands of their new Japanese bosses, setting the stage for a comic clash of cultures. The day is saved when it turns out that the poker-faced owner of the auto company possesses a really strange sense of humor. Gung Ho was later spun off into a short-lived TV sitcom, starring Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap fame. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Ron Howard
Written By: Edwin Blum
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 14, 1986 Wide
On DVD: Jul 16, 2002
Studio: Paramount Home Video

Critic Reviews

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine
Its tone swings violently from pratfall to preachment, from an indictment of featherbed laziness to an extended beer-commercial celebration of the mythical American worker.
Variety Staff, Variety
Drawn from real life, the conflict between cultures is good for both a laugh and a sober thought along the way.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
It's more cheerful than funny, and so insistently ungrudging about Americans and Japanese alike that its satire cuts like a wet sponge.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
A disappointment, a movie in which the Japanese are mostly used for the mechanical requirements of the plot, and the Americans are constructed from durable but boring stereotypes.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Keaton is lovable, as usual, but he comes across as a dumb jerk. This was an obvious attempt at 1930s-type social comedy. Social it may have been; comedic it wasn't.
Derek Adams, Time Out
The hero, though funny, is ultimately unsympathetic, securing through his cosy pacts nobody's position but his own, while the upbeat ending justifies strike-breaking. With comrades like this, who needs class enemies?
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Delivers plenty of laughs and cross-cultural insights in this drama about the contrast between American and Japanese attitudes toward work.
, Film4
Howard appears to have learnt surprisingly little about comic timing during his long tenure on Happy Days, leaving his star with little to do but force an inane grin and hope for the best.
Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium
The stereotypes are too broad for comfort, despite some funny moments.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
The sort of movie that makes you understand why you don't much see Keaton anymore.
Jonathan R. Perry, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
Ron Howard has as much business lamenting the death of the Rust Belt as Russ Meyer adapting Shakespeare -- and it shows.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Check it out again and tell me if it still stands up. Keaton's performance aside, there's not much worth seeing.

Read all 12 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

xGary X

Half hearted culture clash comedy packed with racial stereotypes and (surprise surprise) life lessons. The fact that the arrogance of the US workers wavers when they come to understand their japanese counterparts gives the film some small merit, but it's horribly contrived and… More
Half hearted culture clash comedy packed with racial stereotypes and (surprise surprise) life lessons. The fact that the arrogance of the US workers wavers when they come to understand their japanese counterparts gives the film some small merit, but it's horribly contrived and just plain unfunny.
Dean M

Michael Keaton hasn't reckoned just how few laughs will stem from the idea that the Japanese are hard-working automatons while Yanks take a more relaxed view of the work ethic.
Lee K

Good auto makers movie,Micheal Keaton is very underated.

Cast

            Michael Keaton as Hunt Stevenson

            Gedde Watanabe as Kazhihiro

            George Wendt as Buster

            Mimi Rogers as Audrey

            John Turturro as Willie

            Sô Yamamura as Sakamoto

            Sab Shimono as Saito

            Rick Overton as Googi

            Clint Howard as Paul

            Jihmi Kennedy as Junior

            Michelle Johnson as Heather

            Rodney Kageyama as Ito

            Rance Howard as Mayor Zwart

            Kim Chan as Member of Board

            Bill Dalzell III as Irwin

            Martin Ferrero as Crandall

            Jean Speegle Howard as Lady in Market

            Thomas Ikeda as Instructor

            Tommy Lafitte as Union Member

            R. Scott Peck as Union Member

            Joseph Pilato as Union Member

            James Ritz as Tony

            Frank Seals Jr. as Umpire

            Patti Yasutake as Umeki

            William S. Bartman as Union Member

            James Cash as Mayor's Aide

            Tak Kubota as Failed Executive

            Jerry Tondo as Kazuo

            Benny Marino
            
See full cast

Gung Ho (1986)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

xGary X

Dean M

Lee K

Cast

Trailers & Clips