WWII Pacific Theater Films

[Mortimer 88]

Randomly started listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Supernova in the East. Holy shit - it's damn good.

 

I've listened to a few of his other works, but it's been years. This particular podcast is astonishing - superb storytelling about a subject, I am finding, I knew less about than I thought I did.

 

I am interested in watching some companion films as I move through the podcast. Would appreciate your recommendations.

[Post Oak 20239]

I'm a Dan superfan. If you haven't listened to the WWI or Mongols podcast stop what you're doing and start them now.

Maybe try The Pacific 

[ztejas 43467]

Yeah... I fucking love The Pacific. More than BoB, actually. 

As far as films go - Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are both fairly recent and about that theater. I admittedly haven't seen either.

I did really enjoy Hacksaw Ridge.

Midway was a very recent one that got mixed reviews. I caught maybe a third of it the other day and thought it was pretty meh.

Empire of the Sun is a good one. 

Going foreign - one of my favorite films ever is Ip Man - which is more martial arts than war per se - but is set in Japanese occupied China* during WWII. 

There's an anime film called Grave of the Fireflies about a brother and sister trying to survive in the aftermath of US firebombing of Japan. Very highly regarded. Very heavy. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by ztejas
I have retard

[Mortimer 88]

Yeah, Mongols was amazing. Absolutely. I listened to most of WWI but need to go back and finish it. I don't think it was completed, at the time - also fantastic.

I loved Band of Brothers and I think I trailed off at the beginning of The Pacific for some reason. I have HBO Max, so that is at the top of the list.

I watched Thin Red Line the other night and thought it was damn good. Hadn't seen it since it was released in theaters (1998).

I'm not one for the kitschy Hollywood stuff but I've been wanting to check out Pearl Harbor (I've seen it before - when it was first released in 1991), just for the action sequences.

There are classics like Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) that I plan to check out, as well.

I haven't seen Midway (2019), so I want to check that out even if it looks like another Hollywood glossing over of events.

I want to check out Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Bataan (1943). I might have seen those as a kid but can't remember anything about them.

[Mortimer 88]

Going foreign - one of my favorite films ever is Ip Man - which is more martial arts than war per se - but is set in Japanese occupied China* during WWII. 
There's an anime film called Grave of the Fireflies about a brother and sister trying to survive in the aftermath of US firebombing of Japan. Very highly regarded. Very heavy. 

Awesome - that's what I'm looking for

[Js1 85372]

28 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Yeah... I fucking love The Pacific. More than BoB, actually. 

As far as films go - Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are both fairly recent and about that theater. I admittedly haven't seen either.

I did really enjoy Hacksaw Ridge.

Midway was a very recent one that got mixed reviews. I caught maybe a third of it the other day and thought it was pretty meh.

Empire of the Sun is a good one. 

Going foreign - one of my favorite films ever is Ip Man - which is more martial arts than war per se - but is set in Japanese occupied China* during WWII. 

There's an anime film called Grave of the Fireflies about a brother and sister trying to survive in the aftermath of US firebombing of Japan. Very highly regarded. Very heavy. 

I also liked The Pacific more than BoB. Hacksaw Ridge was great too. 

[RPM 26322]

They Were Expendable

Run Silent, Run Deep

 

[Upgrayedd 5814]

River Kwai

Tora Tora Tora

Original Midway 

1941

[South Austin 52518]

Big fan of The Pacific. The last three episodes are powerful.

[SimonBolivar 10958]

6 hours ago, Upgrayedd said:

River Kwai

Tora Tora Tora

Original Midway 

1941

One of the finest documentaries. 

[Chad Fuck 17684]

Yeah, Mongols was amazing. Absolutely. I listened to most of WWI but need to go back and finish it. I don't think it was completed, at the time - also fantastic.

I loved Band of Brothers and I think I trailed off at the beginning of The Pacific for some reason. I have HBO Max, so that is at the top of the list.

I watched Thin Red Line the other night and thought it was damn good. Hadn't seen it since it was released in theaters (1998).

I'm not one for the kitschy Hollywood stuff but I've been wanting to check out Pearl Harbor (I've seen it before - when it was first released in 1991), just for the action sequences.

There are classics like Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) that I plan to check out, as well.

I haven't seen Midway (2019), so I want to check that out even if it looks like another Hollywood glossing over of events.

I want to check out Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Bataan (1943). I might have seen those as a kid but can't remember anything about them.

If you liked “The Thin Red Line” do yourself a favor and read the book, along with “From Here to Eternity.” The movie is really similar in setting and title only.

Also “The Naked and the Dead.”

You will not be disappointed. I read both in Graham’s “WWII in literature and film” class at UT. Top shelf.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

7 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

One of the finest documentaries. 

It's a bit controversial in some camps...

[SimonBolivar 10958]

22 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

It's a bit controversial in some camps...

It was a different world back then, but rest assured that one day Eddie Deezen will be considered funny again. 

[kevwun 15795]

Pretty much every WWII sub movie is good.

[lateshow 1304]

12 hours ago, Mortimer said:

Yeah, Mongols was amazing. 



 

Where were you able to find that? I've listened to some of his on Apple Podcasts, but there is only a handful available. 

[Guest Lobo]

2 hours ago, kevwun said:

Pretty much every WWII sub movie is good.

I would agree.  My memory is getting foggy when it comes to movies (and a bunch of other shit), but are there are Pacific Theater Sub movies?  All the ones I'm thinking of are either German, or U.S./British in the Atlantic/North Sea/Medi.  I mean, the operations carried out by the Pacific Subs is amazing and integral to the island campaigns, but I can't think of any movie that gets into all that.  There were some critical battles between subs and Japanese surface fleets at Coral and Phillipine Sea.  there's gotta be one movie out there, but the fact we can't think of it probably suggests it wasn't very good.  I dunno.  Could be something fun to search for on this cold weekend on streaming.

[Hate 20109]

1941. It’s a great look into the American psyche after Pearl Harbor.

[RPM 26322]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

My memory is getting foggy when it comes to movies (and a bunch of other shit), but are there are Pacific Theater Sub movies?

JFC are you serious?

Run Silent, Run Deep

Operation Pacific

Destination Tokyo

Up Periscope

Torpedo Run

Gung Ho! (more of a Marines flick, but subs play a big role)

I'm sure there's more, but that's off the top of my head.

[Guest Lobo]

Yeah, that's why I said my memory was getting foggy.  I've seen "Run Silent, Run Deep" many times, I should have remembered that one, kicking myself.  

I know it's unAmerican to say, and I like John Wayne westerns, but never got into his war pictures so cross off Operation Pacific.  I vaguely remember a few of those others by name now.  But nothing stands out.  

James Garner was underrated (always enjoyed watching his old films with my father), I'll give "Up Periscope" a try.  Odds are I saw it as a kid, but it looks good for a cold weekend inside movie. 

Pos rep for the rec.  Like I said, I just can't recall old films like I used to be able to.  My encyclopedic knowledge withers.  I can't remember shit from the 2010's or the 1950's.  Soon the 2000's and 1960's will tumble inward.  It's all compressing from both ends until all I'll remember is 1980's "Airplane!"  

 

[kevwun 15795]

17 minutes ago, RPM said:

JFC are you serious?

Run Silent, Run Deep

Operation Pacific

Destination Tokyo

Up Periscope

Torpedo Run

Gung Ho! (more of a Marines flick, but subs play a big role)

I'm sure there's more, but that's off the top of my head.

How could you forget Operation Petticoat?

[RPM 26322]

12 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I like John Wayne westerns, but never got into his war pictures so cross off Operation Pacific. 

Not so fast. The story includes the real story of Commander Howard W. Gilmore, captain of USS Growler who famously gave the order "Take her down!" while mortally wounded on the flying bridge. He won the MOH. 2 other actual events involving the USS Darter and USS Dace are in the film, too. 

It's full of a bunch of romantic hokum, but otherwise very watchable. A good tier 2 sub film.

[Guest Lobo]

John Wayne love stories are even more awkward to watch ever since 12 year old me saw him in 'Rio Bravo' telling Angie Dickinson she didn't need a rig like that to sing and I thought, "No, you idiot...tell her to keep it on and have her pick some stuff up off the floor.  We don't have cable in my house...I need this!"  

But you seem like you know what you're talking about cinematically, so I'm gonna do "Up Periscope" on Saturday or Monday night and if there's time, sneak in "Operation Pacific."  Thanks for the recs. 

I think I've been craving Sub movies lately because my grand-uncle was a submariner at the very tail-end of the war and occupation/supply chain efforts immediately thereafter (Gato-class, IIRC).  And he's getting way up there and nobody can visit him during pandemic except his "girlfriend."  Up until last year, he was the head of his submariner veterans group and he traveled all over to events with them.  He's so damned nice that if I talk with him about shit I saw in movies, he'd just smile and nod.  My other relatives would light up, "Oh that fucking film?  Let me tell you how much bullshit is in that picture...inaccurate Hollywood crap you ask me!"

Those guys have always been a different breed, but particularly in WWII---that was just a different cut of servicemen.  We also had another grand-uncle who was a sailor...on a submarine...in WWII...in the North Atlantic.  Let's just call him "Uncle Kriegs"  His film recommendations were mostly from a guy named Joseph.  

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

Back in the 70's, my elementary school football coach, E.G "Ox" Emerson, used to pull out his stach of old football and WW II Pacific theater films on cold rainy days when we couldn't practice.  The football films sucked unless he ran the projector backwards.

But the WW II films were awesome totally politically incorrect.  I can still hear the narrator saying "look at that Jap destroyer blow".  When my mom picked up my brother and I and asked us what we did for practice, we would tell he we watched a bunch of WWII "Jap films."  Good times.

Funny thing is that was only 30 years after the war ended.  That would be like our kids watching Gulf War I films. 

[BabaYaga 15301]

Dan is fantastic.  I've listened to all of his material.  Mongols twice.  Both Hardcore and Hardcore Addendum podcasts.  

The single best series of course is The Pacific.  Watch the entire series on HBO.

Then maybe try into get into the books that comprised the series.  Specifically "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge and "A Helmet for my Pillow" by Robert Leckie and "Red Blood, Black Sand"

• The Rape of Nanking is a must read for everyone.  Utterly horrific.  
• Then read upon Unit 731.  It puts almost anything done in Nazi Germany to shame.  "Unit 731 - Testimony by Hal Gold"
• Flags of Our Fathers is another great read (or audio book).  All about Chichi Jima, the adjacent island utilized by the Japanese for their communications to Iwo Jima.  Details Japanese cannibalism of US downed airmen, George Bush Senior being shot down over the island being rescued by a US sub.....just wild stuff.  Reads like a action movie.  

If you have not visited the Pacific WWII Museum in Fredericksburg, you HAVE to go.  It's fantastic.  

[Deej 76818]

5 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

Back in the 70's, my elementary school football coach, E.G "Ox" Emerson, used to pull out his stach of old football and WW II Pacific theater films on cold rainy days when we couldn't practice.  The football films sucked unless he ran the projector backwards.

But the WW II films were awesome totally politically incorrect.  I can still hear the narrator saying "look at that Jap destroyer blow".  When my mom picked up my brother and I and asked us what we did for practice, we would tell he we watched a bunch of WWII "Jap films."  Good times.

Funny thing is that was only 30 years after the war ended.  That would be like our kids watching Gulf War I films. 

Coach Emerson. Loved when he'd pull out those old game reels.

[Guest Lobo]

5 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

 

• The Rape of Nanking is a must read for everyone.  Utterly horrific.  
• Then read upon Unit 731.  It puts almost anything done in Nazi Germany to shame.  "Unit 731 - Testimony by Hal Gold"
• Flags of Our Fathers is another great read (or audio book).  All about Chichi Jima, the adjacent island utilized by the Japanese for their communications to Iwo Jima.  Details Japanese cannibalism of US downed airmen, George Bush Senior being shot down over the island being rescued by a US sub.....just wild stuff.  Reads like a action movie.  

If you have not visited the Pacific WWII Museum in Fredericksburg, you HAVE to go.  It's fantastic.  

Re:  Unit 731.  If you really want some night terrors, check out the movie "The Men Behind the Sun."  Holy shit.  Josef Mengele tells the New York Times, "Uh, I had to walk out halfway thru, little too disturbing."   

I haven't been out to the Nimitz in probably 5 years.  We used to go twice a year for various events for a decade.  My wife and I have commemorative plaques done for our two paternal grandfathers that served in the theater.  I'll probably need a full weekend next time we go out there just to take it all back in.  

[Captainant 27680]

Tora! Tora! Tora! Is damn near a history book, and is some incredible film making in terms of practical effects. 

My grandaddy fought on Midway, and we would watch the old movie all the time at his house. He even had some fragments of a japanese plane that crashed on the island. The new Battle of Midway movie is pretty good and definitely worth watching too. 

It's been a minute since my last watch of The Pacific, this may be a good weekend for that while I'm frozen in

[Biff Tannen 45691]

Have there been any docs or movies about Manzanar?  There probably should be. 

[Biff Tannen 45691]

On another note, my last grandfather passed last week. 96 years old. Was at Tinian and Okinawa. Was walking around either Nagasaki or Hiroshima (not sure which) a week after the bomb with no radiation protection. 
 

Came back to the Panhandle and worked on the railroad until he was 55 and retired. Got paid on his railroad pension for the rest of his life. Well done sir. Very proud of him and his service. 

[BabaYaga 15301]

If we really want to go old school....before he was a master and battled the chosen one, he was a bridge maker.  

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

On 2/11/2021 at 7:40 AM, Chad Fuck said:

If you liked “The Thin Red Line” do yourself a favor and read the book, along with “From Here to Eternity.” The movie is really similar in setting and title only.

Also “The Naked and the Dead.”

You will not be disappointed. I read both in Graham’s “WWII in literature and film” class at UT. Top shelf.

 

 

The Naked and the Dead should be required reading in high school history or lit class.

 

 

[Biff Tannen 45691]

19 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

On another note, my last grandfather passed last week. 96 years old. Was at Tinian and Okinawa. Was walking around either Nagasaki or Hiroshima (not sure which) a week after the bomb with no radiation protection. 
 

Came back to the Panhandle and worked on the railroad until he was 55 and retired. Got paid on his railroad pension for the rest of his life. Well done sir. Very proud of him and his service. 

To add to this, I'm speaking at his virtual memorial tomorrow.  I realized my parents and I interviewed him about his life just after his 90th birthday and I have the recording on my phone.  It's so cool to hear his life story and be able to look back on it all.

[956 Worldwide 34715]

+1 on The Pacific, I also liked it more than BoB. 

The Thin Red Line is one of my favorite movies, period but is not a “war movie” so much as a movie about war. But you kind of need an evening when you are feeling contemplative and some good bourbon on hand.

Empire of the Sun is also not exactly a war movie, but is about experiences in Japanese internment camp. I think it’s Spielberg not at his best necessarily, but above average. 
 

Recently, when Hollywood tackles the Pacific (outside of popcorn movies like Midway), they prefer to use it as a vehicle for exploring moral ambiguity and empathy for everyone caught up in the war, much less so than Europe. I am not sure why, even if you acknowledge that the atomic bomb should spark some serious soul searching, and the unique horror of the Holocaust, the Imperial Japanese Army was a nasty piece of work that needed a thrashing every bit as much as the Wehrmacht did. 

[Horn80 6127]

15 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

The Thin Red Line is one of my favorite movies, period but is not a “war movie” so much as a movie about war. But you kind of need an evening when you are feeling contemplative and some good bourbon on hand.

 

Thought Nick Nolte’s performance in The Thin Red Line should have won him an Oscar.  

[RPM 26322]

3 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

+1 on The Pacific, I also liked it more than BoB.

They are apples and oranges. Both are excellent for different reasons. For me the Pacific showed how we had to drive the enemy into the sea at every battle. At least the Germans could just fall back.

[washparkhorn 9939]

On 2/11/2021 at 11:06 AM, RPM said:

JFC are you serious?

Run Silent, Run Deep

Operation Pacific

Destination Tokyo

Up Periscope

Torpedo Run

Gung Ho! (more of a Marines flick, but subs play a big role)

I'm sure there's more, but that's off the top of my head.

clandestine activities are kept secret, if there were any. 

And good job for any you vets of the Pacific Theater out there or their kids. The family was in the fight back then. My dear old dad was in the CBI Theater. All of you were like brothers to him. Thank you for your service.

[RPM 26322]

3 hours ago, washparkhorn said:

My dear old dad was in the CBI Theater. All of you were like brothers to him. Thank you for your service.

Never So Few, Merrill's Marauders and Objective Burma are some great films that cover that campaign. It was guerilla warfare.

[Guest]

Windtalkers was great subject for a movie.  The execution thereof sucked.

 

[mininghorn88 2293]

1 hour ago, slorch said:

Windtalkers was great subject for a movie.  The execution thereof sucked.

 

Beat me to it. This movie was horribad. It did a great disservice to the Navajo Code Talkers. As excited as I was about the potential of this movie when it came out, my disappointment was 10 fold more.

[Mortimer 88]

Where were you able to find that? I've listened to some of his on Apple Podcasts, but there is only a handful available. 

It has been years - I want to say I listened to it for free, but I'm not sure where. I've had Spotify since I think 2013 or so but I just checked and it's not available there, at the moment. Currently listening to Supernova in the East there.

According to Reddit, you can pay 10 bucks and download Wrath of the Khans off Dan's website ($1.99 per episode). Well worth the money - I haven't heard anything from him that isn't top notch. Good luck.



And a big thank you to everyone for the recs. Really appreciate it.

[washparkhorn 9939]

On 2/12/2021 at 10:48 PM, RPM said:

Never So Few, Merrill's Marauders and Objective Burma are some great films that cover that campaign. It was guerilla warfare.

Thank you RPM. 

[Chad Fuck 17684]

Randomly I watched “Flying Tigers” the other night with Chad Jr. He enjoyed it as did I in a nostalgic way. It’s pure Hollywood/ early war rah-rah propaganda with only the loosest of ties to reality - yes there was a real “Flying Tigers” unit and they did fly airplanes against the Japanese in China - but that’s about as far as it goes.

Reading the back story it turns out it was overlooked by the Oscars for special effects because the voters didn’t realize that many of the flying scenes were models on strings rather than real airplanes. It was considered the CGI of its day in brilliance in this regard. This greatly amused me because the effects - they weren’t so special. Chad Jr. and I had a hearty laugh at them. Of course, he’s seen real P-40s fly so he probably has a better feel for it than the average 8 year old. Still I thought this crowd would find this side note interesting.

[Guest]

Watched the hell out of Baa Baa Black Sheep/ Black Sheep Squadron when I was his age, if he likes that kind of stuff...

[TwiceHorn 31493]

2 minutes ago, slorch said:

Watched the hell out of Baa Baa Black Sheep/ Black Sheep Squadron when I was his age, if he likes that kind of stuff...

Same.  I bet it doesn't hold up very well.

I always loved Corsairs.

[The Original CaliHorn 68]

I would highly recommend reading “Killing the Rising Sun” by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard. The atrocities by the Japanese make the Nazi treatment of the Jewish population look mundane.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

On 2/12/2021 at 8:56 PM, RPM said:

They are apples and oranges. Both are excellent for different reasons. For me the Pacific showed how we had to drive the enemy into the sea at every battle. At least the Germans could just fall back.

Completely different genres. Following Easy co. is a very different viewing experience than watching Pacific (there's a tighter, historical thread that runs thru it that doesn't thru Pacific). The Pacific is more drama at times than war movie. I'm enjoying it, but not nearly as much as BOB.  

Pacific is much more savage in the battle scenes of course. The Japanese were a brutal, inhuman fighting force that had no respect for an enemy, or its own soldiers for that matter IMO.  

My grandfather didn't talk a great deal about his time on the Lexington, but I do remember him talking about wading around in blood red water up to his shins during at least one attack.

[Chad Fuck 17684]

Watched the hell out of Baa Baa Black Sheep/ Black Sheep Squadron when I was his age, if he likes that kind of stuff...

Ditto. That and World at War and G.I. Diary on PBS really piqued my WWII interest back in the day.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

17 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

Ditto. That and World at War and G.I. Diary on PBS really piqued my WWII interest back in the day.

Heeeeey Boying-tonnnnnnn.....

[TexPx 2323]

Once the beach landing is done lots of Pacific battles weren’t as cinematic as Europe. Months of digging enemy soldiers out of caves in the middle of the jungle is not as romantic as liberating Paris.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Guest Lobo]

I dunno, they say Honiara is the Paris of the South Pacific.  

Also-cool idea for a WWII movie because you mentioned fighting in caves...  Allies are clearing Paris, but the Nazis take to the famed underground catacombs of Paris to fight as guerillas.  The Nazis are successful at repelling the Allies.  Until the 6 million Frenchmen buried down there come to life as zombies and eat the Nazis.  It's a real thinkpiece.  

Watched 'Up Periscope' on y'all's recommendation.  pos rep