View Full Version : Back To Bataan (1945)


ethanedwards
January 20th, 2006, 09:19 AM
BACK TO BATAAN

PRODUCED BY ROBERT FELLOWS
DIRECTED BY EDWARD DMYTRYK
MUSIC BY ROY WEBB
RKO RADIO PICTURES

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/backtobataan2LC-1.jpg..http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/CIN01166_N017-1.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/Wayne_Back_to_Bataan_TC-1.jpg..http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/back_to_bataan-1.jpg

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
After the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese in World War II,
Col. Joseph Madden of the U.S. Army stays on
to organize guerrilla fighters against the conquerors.


Full Cast
John Wayne .... Col. Joseph Madden
Anthony Quinn .... Capt. Andrés Bonifácio
Beulah Bondi .... Bertha Barnes
Fely Franquelli .... Dolici Dalgado
Richard Loo .... Maj. Hasko
Lawrence Tierney .... Lt. Cmdr. Waite
Philip Ahn .... Col. Coroki
'Ducky' Louie .... Maximo Cuenca
Leonard Strong .... Gen. Homma
Paul Fix .... Bindle Jackson
Abner Biberman .... Japanese captain at schoolhouse
Vladimir Sokoloff .... Señor Buenaventura J. Bello
Alex Havier .... Sgt. Bernessa (as J. Alex Havier)
John Miljan .... Gen. Jonathan Wainwright ('Skinny')
Harold Fong .... Prince Ito
Benson Fong .... Officer making broadcast
Erville Alderson .... (uncredited)
Robert Clarke .... Soldier (uncredited)
Edmund Glover .... (uncredited)
Kenneth MacDonald .... Maj. McKinley (uncredited)
Michael Mark .... Chief of Police (uncredited)
Ray Teal .... Lt. Col. Roberts (uncredited)
Bill Williams .... (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Ben Barzman (screenplay) and
Richard H. Landau (screenplay)
Æneas MacKenzie (original story) (as Aeneas Mac Kenzie) and
William Gordon (original story)

Produced
Robert Fellows .... executive producer
Theron Warth .... associate producer

Original Music
Roy Webb

Cinematography
Nicholas Musuraca (director of photography)

Trivia
As the script for the movie was being written, the battle for Bataan was still being fought. The screenwriters were constantly updating the script based on the latest news from the front.

The character Andres Bonifacio played by Anthony Quinn is supposed to be the grandson of Andres Bonifacio, a leader of the Philippine revolt against Spain in the late 19th century. The real Andres Bonifacio's only child died of smallpox, so he had no grandchildren.

The first 10 notes of "Lupang Hinirang", the Philippine National Anthem was played during the vehicular ambush scene against the Japanese by the Philippine Guerrillas

The Bataan of the film's title refers to both the World War II Battle of Bataan and the place Bataan which is a Central Luzon region province on Luzon island in the Philippines which occupies the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on the island.

This is one of a handful of feature film movies that have featured the story of the World War II Battle of Bataan. They include Bataan (1943), So Proudly We Hail! (1943); They Were Expendable (1945) and Back to Bataan (1945).

The movie took one hundred and thirty days to shoot the picture, i.e. about one third of a year or four months.

As John Wayne refused to use a stunt-double in the movie, director Edward Dmytryk and screenwriter Ben Barzman wrote scenes for Wayne with dangerous stunts so that Wayne would want to use a stuntman. Not even this deterred Wayne who still did the stunts.

The state of the war in World War II was an ever-changing dynamic and two thirds of the way through production, the American invasion of the Philippines took place. As such, script changes and re-writes needed to be made to keep up to date with the current status of the war.

Goofs
* Revealing mistakes: Plugs can be seen in the barrels of the Thompson sub-machine guns which make them fire fully automatically with blank rounds.

* Miscellaneous: When the Australian radio officer types the message he's receiving from the Phillippines, he spells the word "organization" using the American spelling, with a "z". An Australian would use the British spelling - "organisation", with an "s" - although it is possible he simply wrote "z" because he was quickly transcribing the Morse Code signal sent by the Americans.

* Revealing mistakes: A long shot of the truck carrying the Japanese soldiers and the boy Maximo driving along the mountain road is repeated twice (the truck is seen passing in front of a hill headed toward the right of the screen, then the same shot is repeated a few seconds later).

* Revealing mistakes: Miss Barnes asks Col. Madden if, after he avenges the hanging of Senor Bello, he would erect a sign in his honor quoting a Filipino poem that mentions several kinds of trees, including a cypress. Madden and his men do so, but the on the sign the word cypress is erroneously spelled "Cyprus", like the Mediterranean island.

* Factual errors: When we first see Miss Barnes addressing her school, she says that the agreement between the United States and the Philippines had set the date of Philippine independence for July 4, 1946. In fact, the original 1936 agreement between the two countries had set the date of Filipino independence for 1944. But the advent of World War II made it necessary to delay independence until after the war was over. The Philippines did become independent on July 4, 1946, but that was not the date set in the agreement Miss Barnes alluded to.

* Continuity: During the climatic battle, we see Quinn crawling through the mud with his Thompson as a Japanese truck is bearing down on him. Wayne peppers the truck with machine gun fire, causing it to crash. A second later you see Quinn join up with Wayne and he's perfectly clean.

* Factual errors: Imperial General Headquarters regarded Homma as not aggressive enough in war (resulting in the high cost and long delay in securing the American and Filipino forces' surrender), and too lenient with the Filipino people in peace, and he was subsequently removed from his post on June 9th 1942 and returned to Japan. In the movie when they are discussing the possibility of Filipino independence with Dalisay Delgado, Homma, would have been in Japan at this point in time.

Memorable Quotes
Maj. Hasko: I send out 100 men, they find nothing. I send out ten men, they don't come back.

Maximo Cuenca: [a poor student dying in his teacher's arms after heroic action] Miss Barnes, I'm sorry I never learned how to spell "liberty".
[dies]
Bertha Barnes: [tearfully] No one ever learned it so well.


Filming Locations
Philippines
Tarzana Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Previous discussion:-
Back To Bataan (http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=858)

chester7777
February 4th, 2006, 02:50 AM
Another war movie from my childhood days! :rolleyes:

I remember on Saturday mornings, they would have these movies one after the other for us kids to look at, along with Laurel & Hardy, the Little Rascals, the Lone Ranger, and the 3 Stooges. No wonder I'm not quite as sharp as I could be :headbonk: .

In watching this movie as an adult, I think it is a good basic story that JW does well in. It seems to have been a little more difficult to acquire, although that is not the case anymore, as it is available at Deep Discount DVD (http://www.deepdiscount.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/productID/2463EF4C-CED4-4DE4-8663-FC5243F8B9B3/) as well as at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Back-Bataan-John-Wayne/dp/B000O599MQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274189303&sr=8-1) (cheaper at Deep Discount, and of course free shipping).

Chester :newyear:

etsija
March 11th, 2007, 12:41 PM
Stupid script, not very good direction, so forgettable that after seeing it yesterday I have already difficulties remembering Back to Bataan. Duke just looks angry through the film.

Popol Vuh
March 12th, 2007, 10:46 AM
Stupid script, not very good direction, so forgettable that after seeing it yesterday I have already difficulties remembering Back to Bataan. Duke just looks angry through the film.
I completely disagree. My favorite JW war movie(I haven't seen The Longest Day yet). I saw it nearly two years ago and I still remember the main storyline. I wanted to see it again before commenting on it, but it will be some time before I start seeing them for the second time.

Regards
Popol Vuh

Senta
March 20th, 2007, 06:48 AM
I like this movie too. Can't say that it is my favorite war movie (favorite is Sands...), but pretty good for me.
Regards,
Senta

arthurarnell
March 20th, 2007, 02:38 PM
Hi

It is worth while studying the facts surrounding the making of the film. From director Edward Dmytryk down to the screenwriter Ben Barzman were thought to be reponsible for making life as difficult as possible for John Wayne. Their treatment of the US Colonel who was acting as the technical advisor convinced John Wayne that he was in the middle of a communist plot.

it was also Barzman who concieved the idea of Wayne and Quinn being immersed in freezing water with boulder placed on their body breathing through straws. it took a couple of takes which resulted in Wayne and Quinn freezing.

For an insight in the making of the film one should read The Trail Beyond Volume IV December 2002 edited by Tim Lilley. Many of John Wayne biographies give an account of the making of the film.

Regards


Arthur

dc65
April 18th, 2007, 10:21 PM
Just watched this one, found it packaged with Bataan. I thought it was a decent film, and I think that the Duke looked great with his stubble for most of the movie. You don't usually see him with any facial hair! I thought the part where the mortar blows him out of the trench was pretty cool.

Maybe not his best war movie, but not bad.

WaynamoJim
May 12th, 2007, 11:13 PM
Always been one of my favorite war movies, period. I think I first saw it as kid at the drive in. And the beginning of the movie, when they attack the POW camp and free the prisoners? Well, I believe that is the supposed to be the same campaign as the movie The Great Raid. You could almost say The Great Raid is the sequel to Back To Bataan.

DukePilgrim
May 28th, 2007, 12:56 PM
Watched Today Excellent War movie with very good script and action.

Two points of Trivia from the last battle sequence

John Shirt goes from wet to dry a couple of times despite being in a paddy field and then falling back into the water again. Obviously continuity problems.

When the Japanese tank comes towards them the music is familar it is segment from the chase sequence of Max Steiner score from the King Kong 1933 movie. RKO being economical as usual!!

Apart from that great movie


Mike

gt12pak
June 25th, 2007, 05:12 PM
Just watched this one last night. I actually thought it was a good movie, especially with the actual POW's in the movie. Duke actually did all his own stunts even though the person responsible for the stunts tried to make them more difficult so Duke would have to have a stunt double.

The Ringo Kid
September 11th, 2007, 06:26 PM
I've seen this movie a number of times throuout the years - probably about 15 or so times. This movie is one of my top most favorite War movies. I like it for a number of reasons such as: I thought it had excellent interaction between Duke and Anthony Quinn (who is another favorite actor of mine) and it also had Paul Fix in it.

True, it's not the best of war movies but, it's one of my favorites and most watched. I also liked the fact that the Duke had facial stubble. As well, I just liked the "theme" of the whole movie.

chester7777
September 27th, 2007, 10:57 AM
We haven't seen this film in quite a long time . . . must be time to bring it out again!

In the meantime, I see I also haven't put up any posters either, so thought I'd take this opportunity to do so.

2100

The only difference I see between the above poster and the 1950 reissue below is that in this second one, John Wayne's name is much more prominent, at the top of the poster.

2101

Lt. Brannigan
September 29th, 2007, 04:23 PM
This is also one of my favorite War films, heck it's an awesome action picture too.

Lance71
November 24th, 2007, 10:24 AM
If you are able to, try to view the scene in which Duke is blown out of the fox hole in slow montion.
You can clearly see the cable lifting Duke up and dropping him a few feet away.

I recall reading somewhere that they also used to trick of jolting the camera to get the effect of explosions.

Lance71
November 24th, 2007, 10:25 AM
of course I meant slow "motion"...sorry for the typo

kilo 6
May 25th, 2008, 08:23 PM
I thought the action was consistant and good. I remeber reading about tension on the set.

JohnChisum
December 8th, 2008, 10:28 AM
IMO a good War Movie. I don't know many war movies about the phillipine resistance during WW 2 so it's good that people learn something about it too. IMO it's a solid movie with good directing and good acting of John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. Of course John Wayne looks a bit angry during the whole movie. It's war, he is in the jungle and not on a picnic. :thumbs_up:

ethanedwards
December 8th, 2008, 10:49 AM
JohnChisum
Re: Back To Bataan (1945)
IMO a good War Movie. I don't know many war movies about the phillipine resistance during WW 2 so it's good that people learn something about it too. IMO it's a solid movie with good directing and good acting of John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. Of course John Wayne looks a bit angry during the whole movie. It's war, he is in the jungle and not on a picnic


Hi

It is worth while studying the facts surrounding the making of the film. From director Edward Dmytryk down to the screenwriter Ben Barzman were thought to be reponsible for making life as difficult as possible for John Wayne. Their treatment of the US Colonel who was acting as the technical advisor convinced John Wayne that he was in the middle of a communist plot.

it was also Barzman who concieved the idea of Wayne and Quinn being immersed in freezing water with boulder placed on their body breathing through straws. it took a couple of takes which resulted in Wayne and Quinn freezing.

For an insight in the making of the film one should read The Trail Beyond Volume IV December 2002 edited by Tim Lilley. Many of John Wayne biographies give an account of the making of the film.

Regards

Arthur
It's worth noting Arthur's post.
It is well known that Duke didn't like Dmytryk's political stance,
and this resulted in Duke being put 'through the mill'

William T Brooks
January 11th, 2009, 08:16 AM
Just watched this film again and I think that it is a Good Film to watch and tells you a Litte about World War 2 and was taken from a True Story !
Chilibill:cowboy:

ZS_Maverick
January 11th, 2009, 02:16 PM
I know Duke did better war movies, like "The Longest Day" and "Sands of Iwo Jima". But "Back to Bataan" is my personal favorite of his WWII movies. It was interesting how the film featured actual participants of the battle, and how the screen writers had to make constant updates based on news from the war front, because the actual battle was going on during the writing. Of course Duke is in top form in this one.

JohnChisum
January 17th, 2009, 07:06 AM
One of the good things about Back to Bataan is that it shows the Phillippines Resistance. Don't know many movies about them. The only I've in my mind is The great Raid with James Franco. In fact the Resistance were very strong and occupied some regions during the war. The character of Anthony Quinn was fictional.

Maybe it's not the best war movie but it's more entertaining than many others.

WaynamoJim
January 28th, 2009, 10:33 PM
One of the good things about Back to Bataan is that it shows the Phillippines Resistance. Don't know many movies about them. The only I've in my mind is The great Raid with James Franco. In fact the Resistance were very strong and occupied some regions during the war. The character of Anthony Quinn was fictional.

Maybe it's not the best war movie but it's more entertaining than many others.

What about American Guerilla In The Phillipines with Tyrone Power. Pretty darn good flick itself.

JohnChisum
February 14th, 2009, 02:41 AM
What about American Guerilla In The Phillipines with Tyrone Power. Pretty darn good flick itself.
Have to watch this! :shades_smile:

The Ringo Kid
May 10th, 2010, 11:33 AM
I just saw a few great movie stills for Back To Bataan for sale on ebay. I think im going to try for them. One pic also has Anthony Quinn in it.

The Tennesseean
May 11th, 2010, 03:26 PM
It's a shame that folks can't use good sense when making statements about JW movies they don't care for. BTB wasn't a bad movie at all, and while the script might seem corny by today's standards, it was "swell" in 1945! My dad, a WWII Navy veteran (USS Jerauld - APA 174) said that was the language of the day, and folks his age agree. The direction was NOT John Ford, but it wasn't Mac Sennett, either. I suppose it's just a matter of taste, but now I'm stating MY opinion! Thanks for reading!!

badger
May 15th, 2010, 02:30 AM
This is one of my favorite Duke films as well. I thought it was a good story and also taught me about propaganda in WW2 (as in the constant brainwashing of the Phillipine people to lay down their guns)
You need films like this to keep history alive and I thought JW was well cast in it. I ve watched it 4 times now and enjoyed it each time http://www.dukewayne.com/images/editor/smilie.gif

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