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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 2252
Released: October 30, 2001 |
| Our Price: $8.34 |
| Used Price: $7.52 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/02/2003 Run time: 132 minutes Rating: Pg
Description of Midway (Collector's Edition):
Six months after the Japanese destroyed the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Americans discovered the Japanese were planning to seize the Naval base at Midway Island--a perfect staging point for invading Hawaii or the mainland. Outnumbered four to one, the Americans won a surprise victory and shattered the backbone of the Japanese Imperial Navy. This 1976 film feels more like a history lesson than a drama, but World War II buffs will appreciate the attention to historical fact (especially the way in which fate and a few bad decisions turned the tide), as well as the generous use of actual battle footage. The all-star cast includes Robert Mitchum, James Coburn, and Cliff Robertson in cameos and a whole slew of familiar TV faces in supporting roles. Hal Holbrook is fun as an oddball intelligence officer. --Geof Miller
Midway (Collector's Edition) Reviews:
Movie Versus Reality 
2009-12-05 - The movie fairly accurately portrays the crucial battle of Midway in the early days of WWII, and the effect on operations of the "fog of war." The Japanese started the operation with inadequate intelligence, and the failure of their seaplanes to refuel at the French Frigate Shoals was devastating for their intelligence (for want of a nail, the shoe was lost, etc). The movie reflected the emergence of Japan as a world naval power, yet demonstrated without commenting on them several major deficiencies of Japanese Naval airpower. The first example was the failure orf the Japanese Combat Air Patrol to adequately defend their own carriers, instead rushing off in pursuit of the American aircraft, and leaving their ships naked to attack by follow-on American dive bombers. In the movie we see Admiral Chuichi Nagumo turn to his Air Operations officer, Commander Genda Minoru, and ask what has happened to their Combat Air Patrol. Genda explains they have taken off in hot pursuit. This was a common occurrence among Japanese pilots. The event also reflects the poor quality of Japanese aircraft radio communications, often showing them using hand signals. They viewed air combat as an individual sport and not a team effort. When Admiral Nagumo decides to change of armament on his aircraft the movie clearly documents them striking the aircraft below to the hangar deck to change armament and for refueling. American aircraft, on the other hand performed these tasks on the flight deck, a safer procedure and less time consuming operation. Additionally, American carriers had many more safety features such as self-sealing aviation gas storage tanks, and the use of carbon dioxide to flush fuel lines after refueling aircraft. Japanese aircraft carriers lacked these features, and the movie shows them uncontrollably burning. Finally, American sailors were (and still are) better trained in damage control; Japanese sailors received little training. The American carriers were also constructed with other features which allowed for destroyers and cruisers to come along side and assist in fire fighting, again, features lacking in the Japanese carriers. In addition to what the actors said and did, the movie demonstrated a lot in the background that made the movie an excellent tribute to not just to the fliers involved, on both side, but especially to the Naval designers of the American carriers. For more complete information on Japanese Naval Air Power I recommend "Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941," available from Amazon.
Great flick
2009-10-26 - I took my father to see this movie in theaters back when it was released in the 70's. He was a Marine who served in the Pacific and told ne how important this battle was. I needed to have it in my collection.
Must See
2009-10-16 - This movie must be played on Memorial Day if you have any family members that served in the US military. It's one of the last of the great WWII movies but it's more than that. This movie has great actors, great acting, is fairly curret, tells a national story, and gives us a glimpse at WWII, and it has Charlton Heston who plays a Navy Captain (Colonel) involved in the Midway defense.
If you don't know, Midway was the defining battle of WWII. Until that point, the Japanese Navy had been advancing steadily (although the battle of Coral Sea slowed them down) but after Miday (where Japan lost), the Japanese Navy began a decline that led to the end of the war.
The movie is surprisingly current and is pretty easy to follow. Its not as dated as some of the movies of that time (to me, some of them are unwatchable). This is a good movie, tells the story of this giant battle where so many Americans and Japanese perished near island of Midway.
The movie is interesting in that it shows the movie from the perspective of both sides and it touches on some of the Japanese concentration camps in the US. It's a movie that tells us quite a bit if we pay attention.
The acting was first rate and although not perfectly correct from a historical standpoint, it comes pretty close.
It's a definite, must own for any collection.
Happy Hubby! 2.0
2009-09-27 - My husband (me, too!) LOVES the old war movies with the acting greats. I was worried about purchasing a DVD issue of a film made so long ago because of the technology available at the time(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005N5S3/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title). The quality is fantastic. The audio is easily manipulated through our home theater settings. I hope all my future purchases of these types of movies are as pleasing! This same comment goes for my other DVD purchase as well :)
Midway (Collectors Edition) 
2009-09-20 - When the movie was made, which I believe was somewhere in the sixties, it was real fun to watch, especially for us war buffs. I had not seen it since and enjoyed it tremendously. I have no doubts that I will see it again many times. It is considerably better than the DVD "The Battle of Midway"
