As a retired infantry 1SG, and a WWII historian I can pic movies apart very easy. But in John Wayne movies I generaly let it fly. Just to see if you are awake can you pic out some of the bloopers in the Dukes war movies?

Brian
Tulalip Wa

I know of a good one in the undefeated when they are travelling back to usa with a truck driving on a road in the background, well tell us about the war movie bloopers.

Undefeated was a western..not a war movie

Brian
Tulalip Wa

i know that its the only one i could think of at this timebut the question is what are the mistakes in his war movies.

hi brianb,

in operation pacafic towards the end he gets wounded in his right shoulder but when he goes to lay down he leans onto that one first now if that was me i wouldn't be able to do that as it would hurt real bad. hows bout that for a fluff in a war movie

cheers smokey

Hey Smokey,
I missed that in "Operation Pacific" completely. I guess I'll have to pull that off the shelf and watch that one tomorrow when I get home. Yes it's my night at the closed out casino again.

Brian
Tulalip Wa

Brian, Sooo.... where do you go to get a job were you get paid to check
out John Wayne websites, you lucky Dog !!! I'm jealous !

Chester :lol:

The Tulalip Casino, Tulalip Washington. We have four supervisors on my swing-grave shift 6pm-6am, three work at the new casino and one at the old casino. So every fourth day of work I sit at a closed out casino, monitor camera's and enjoy this website.

Brian
Tulalip Wa

Hi there. I This post is actually being done by my son, Justin. He is a goofball (his words!) and a submarine nut. He noticed these flaws in John Wayne's Operation Pacific.

1. On surface shots, the submarine is a late war Gato or Balao (both nearly identical on the exterior) submarine, modified with increased AA armament and reduced sail (conning tower) and a 5" gun aft. In submerged shots, it is an early war Salmon/Sargo, Tambor, or Gato sub, with 4" gun forward, no anti-aircraft armament (sans .50 cal MGs which were below decks submerged), and a large, un-cut down sail.

2. In the scene where the USS Thunderfish (the made up sub of John Wayne's command) is under attack by a Japanese plane (which could be a T-6 Texan or SBD Dauntless), a quick clip is showed of a submarine under aerial attack. However, if one looks close, it is easily seen that this is footage shot by a F4F Wildcat from the USS Guadalcanal attacking the German Type IXC/41 U-505 (now on display in Chicago, IL). Normally, this could pass, except the two types of subs share nothing in common.

3.When the USS Thunderfish (see above) engages an unidentified Japanese I-boat, she fires 2 torpedoes. However, only 1 track is seen, and only 1 hits the target.

4. During the early part of the movie, the USS Thunderfish fires 2 torpedoes at a merchantman. However, if one looks carefully, Torpedo 2 (identfied by being behind the first one) overtakes the first torpedo. The Mark 14 torpedo (which has to be the kind used, as the warheads usally failed to explode) had two speed settings. 31 knots, and something on the order of 40. They had said in the movie, when entering information into the torpedo data computer, "Torpedo speed fast". Therefore, they would be traveling about 40 knots, and at the same speed.

5. In the surface action with the Japanese Q ship that had supposedly surrendered (what was called a Kaiboken in World War II) If you look closely, you will see that the submarine has twin 20mm Orelikron AA guns. In the time period of the movie, 1943, only single 20mms were equipped on US subs.

6. On some underwater shots of the US sub (as mentioned above), a German like Submarine net cutter can be seen on the bows. This was done, because the same sub used doubled as the USS Greyback in "Destination Tokyo" and as a German U-boat in "Action in the North Atlantic".

Since we are disecting John Wayne movies, I thought I would also post a few things on "In Harm's Way". Note, this opinion is by my son: "In Harm's Way is the worst naval battle picture ever filmed."

He says this is why.

1. It is obvious that models are used to portray every ship sans US destroyers (see below). However, for some reason, the hulls have been cut down so ridiculously short that the waterline is unrealistically close to the deck. THis is a dead giveaway. Also, where a Brooklyn class Light Cruiser gets hit in the last surface fight of the movie, the deck is split in half, rises up carrying all the glued on superstructure, and then slaps back down, it is unmistakably clear that it is a plastic or resin model.

2. The only outside shots of ships that were real were of the escorting Fletcher class destroyers. However, the ones filmed where late 1950s FRAM antisub modified, which altered their apperance by adding a tripod foremast and 4 guns. A WW2 era Fletcher had 5 guns and a pole mast.

3. In the scene at the beging when everyone is at the party, all the women are in 1960's clothing and hair styles. Bad job in the costume department.

4. In the scene where Kirk Douglas steals a B-25, a simple problem arises. How can a 40 year old Navy Commander be able to steal, let alone FLY a twin engined ARMY B-25 medium bomber. The machine requires two people at the controls for a trained man, let alone a rookie.

5. In the Pearl Harbor scene, there are several flaws. 1, if you are going to attack a navy base, shouldn't you bring a long a few torpedoes? Also, for 8 battleships being there on Dec. 7, I didn't see that many in the movie (Actual count: 0). I mean, if you don't show Battleship Row, that is fine (well, not really, but) at least show the Nevada making for open sea! Right after the raid, the only Brooklyn class light cruiser to sortie from the base (Brooklyn being the class of "Rock's" ship) was the USS Pheonix. However, no submarine attack was made. Also, I could be mistaken, but I am fairly sure that the Japanese I-boat which is filmed attacking is either a Late war Gato, or our friend from way above (refer to my original statement on Op. Pacific # 1).

6. In the part of the movie, after the cruiser has been torpedoed, the crew must blast a door open. The size of the explosion (Which in itself is incredibly fake) would have caused more damage than it helped, and would have killed and/or injured most of the men. It did none of this.

This entire post was made by my son. If you wish to ask him some questions about any of this, his email is TankerAce_42@hotmail.com

Baron,
Hats off to your son..he did some good ID work. His ID work on the so called USS Thunderfish was correct.
The ID of the Tang/Gato/Balao class, and his ID of the Salmon/Sargo/Tambor/Gato class also used in the footage. The Japanese plane was a AT-6/SNJ Texan. Correct on the USS Guadalcanal,the F4FWildcat and the U-505. Your son has a great eye for detail on the Torpedoe attacks and the 20mm Orelikon AA Guns.
As far as In Harms Way again your son nailed the models down to a tea. Very good with the FRAM I and FRAM II mods. As far as Kirk Douglas in the B-25, well the Navy and the Marines both had B-25's...They were called PBJ's which the B-25 was called in the movie. Later B-25's say the B-25G and B-25H were single pilot aircraft due to the 75mm. A B-25/PBJ can be flown by a single pilot with ease. I my self logged 2 hours in a B-25J-22-NA last year at the Arlington Airshow. Also remember Kirk Douglas also played the role of an aviator in the movie. He was wearing Naval Aviator wings. Now if he just flew TBD's,SBD's, or Maybe TBF's or was a F4F, or F6F. And he might even of been a multi-engine patrol bomber pilot. But I think when John Wayne and Kirk Douglas talked on the ole'Swayback just before Dec &th a reference was put out about Kirk being bounced from either the Lex or Sara before working for Roc Torry. A very good posting from your son.

Brian
Tulalip Wa

Fascinating stuff from you war film buffs!
One thing that's funny in Operation Pacific, set in 1943:
JW entertains his sub crew by screening a Cary Grant film, Destination Tokyo - which was made in 1944.