This is a movie i have started to love over time. What makes it fascinating for me is, that it does not tell again the heroic victories, but the early defeat the USA suffered, when it was hit left-footed by the Japanese attacks. This is a story about actually expendable small PT-Boots trying to slow down the Japanese advance on the Philippines without much of a success. Strong action on sea interwoven with a love story and very good character development by Robert Montgomery and John Wayne, accompanied by the then awfully young Cameron Mitchell and Marshal "Daktari" Thompson. And along is a whole crew of John Fords character stock, lead by Ward Bond. And above all is the Glory in Defeat, that is epitomized by the old shipyard owner, who refuses to leave his home even in the face of certain death by the advancing Japanese. The Love story is, to some extent, redundant, but that goes with it. Black and White, sometimes with continuity lost or hard to track, but nevertheless a timeless epic. 7/10.
Review of They Were Expendable
