Midway (1976)
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50% of critics liked it
(12 reviews) -
71% of users liked it
(6,895 ratings)
An expensive war epic, Midway emulates The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! in attempting to re-create a famous World War II battle from both the American and Japanese viewpoints. The 1942 battle of Midway was the turning point of the War in the Pacific; the Japanese invasion fleet was destroyed,… More An expensive war epic, Midway emulates The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! in attempting to re-create a famous World War II battle from both the American and Japanese viewpoints. The 1942 battle of Midway was the turning point of the War in the Pacific; the Japanese invasion fleet was destroyed, and America's string of humiliating defeats was finally broken. Though the battle itself was sufficiently dramatic to fill two films, Midway also has plotline involving the mixed-race relationship between Ensign Garth (Edward Albert), son of Navy Captain Matt Garth (Charlton Heston), and Haruko Sakura (Christina Kokubo), a Hawaiian girl of Japanese descent. The real-life personages depicted herein include American Admirals Nimitz (Henry Fonda), Halsey (Robert Mitchum) and Spruance (Glenn Ford), and Japanese Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune, his voice once again dubbed by Paul Frees, whom Mifune personally selected for the job). For its original road show release, Midway was offered in the "Sensurround" process, which electronically shook and vibrated the audience's chairs during the battle sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Jack Smight
- Genres
- Documentary, Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics
PG,
- In Theaters
- Jun 18, 1976 Wide
- Studio
- MCA Universal Home Video
Critic Reviews
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Richard T. Jameson, Parallax View
To make an uninvolving movie out of one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War may seem a dubious challenge, but there's no denying Universal their full credit in meeting it.
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James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
Rather dull, although certainly elaborate enough
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Dan Fazio, Citysearch
Charlton Heston at his restrained yet forceful best.
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Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com
has the decency to devote the majority of the film to the actual events, and not get bogged down in a fictitious, smarmy love affair.
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Scott Weinberg, Apollo Guide
If the movie drags a bit in the dramatics department, that's probably because the filmmakers were shooting for 'accuracy' over 'emotion'.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Charlton Heston
as Capt. Matt Garth
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Henry Fonda
as Adm. Chester W. Nimitz
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James Coburn
as Capt. Vinton Maddox
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Glenn Ford
as Rear Adm. Raymond A. Spruance
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Hal Holbrook
as Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort
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Toshiro Mifune
as Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto
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Robert Mitchum
as Adm. William F. Halsey
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Robert Wagner
as Lt. Cmdr. Ernest L. Blake
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Christina Kokubo
as Haruko Sakura
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Monte Markham
as Cmdr. Max Leslie
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Kevin Dobson
as Ensign George Gay
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Glenn Corbett
as Lt. Cmdr. John Waldron
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Gregory Walcott
as Capt. Elliott Buckmaster
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Edward Albert
as Lt. Tom Garth
- Beeson Carroll
- Clyde Kusatsu
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Larry Csonka
as Cmdr. Delaney
- Erik Estrada
- John Fujioka
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Christopher George
as Lt. Cmdr. C. Wade McClusky
- James Ingersoll
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Dale Ishimoto
as Vice Adm. Moshiro Hosogaya
- Robert Ito
- Steve Kanaly
- Lloyd Kino
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Biff McGuire
as Capt. Miles Browning
- Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita
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Ed Nelson
as Adm. Harry Pearson
- Kip Niven
- Bennett Ohta
- John Bennett Perry
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Dennis Rucker
as Ens. Mansen
- Seth Sakai
- Tom Selleck
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James Shigeta
as Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo
- Yuki Shimoda
- Sab Shimono
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Robert Webber
as Rear Adm. Frank J. "Jack" Fletcher
- Alfie Wise
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Conrad Yama
as Adm. Nobutake Kondo
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Dabney Coleman
as Capt. Murray Arnold
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Cliff Robertson
as Cmdr. Carl Jessop
- David Macklin
- Phillip Richard Allen
- Kurt Grayson
- Kevin Michael Richardson
