Midway *** (1976, Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Edward Albert, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Robert Mitchum) – Classic Movie Review 6254

Director Jack Smight’s 1976 World War Two movie is a detailed, intense re-creation of the heroism at the Battle of Midway in1942, when a small, under-prepared, outnumbered US Navy task force daringly counter-attacked and defeated a large Japanese fleet on the strategic island, six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The movie is muddled mixture of drama and quasi-documentary, over-using contemporary newsreel footage and under-using the all-star cast, who are rather lost in the vast scale of the proceedings. But ocasionally ‘you-were-there’ urgency and dynamic sequences emerge.

Making most impression are Charlton Heston as Captain Matt Garth, Henry Fonda as Admiral Chester W Nimitz and (very briefly) Robert Mitchum as Admiral William F Halsey. It also stars Glenn Ford, Edward Albert, James Coburn, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Cliff Robertson and Robert Wagner.

Also in the cast are Robert Webber, Glenn Corbett, Christopher George, Monte Markham, James Shigeta, Ed Nelson, Tom Selleck, Kevin Dobson, Pat Morita, Dabney Colman, Erik Estrada, Steve Kanaly, Bill McGuire, Gregory Walcott, Kip Niven, Robert Ito, Dennis Rucker and Ken Pennell.

It is written by Donald S Sanford, shot in widescreen by Harry Stradling Jr, produced by Walter Mirisch, scored by John Williams and designed by Walter Tyler.

It was originally shown in cinemas in Sensurround sound to lend extra realism to the battle scenes.

Harry Stradling Jr (1925–2017).

RIP Harry Stradling Jr, two-time Academy Award-nominated cinematographer on 1776 and The Way We Were, who died on 17 October 2017, aged 92. His most recent of 47 credits is Caddyshack II (1988).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6254

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