0ur opinion:Description:Japan has just invaded the Phillipines and the US Army attempts a desperate defence. Thirteen men are chosen to blow up a bridge on the Bataan peninsula and keep the Japanese from rebuilding it.
:Tay Garnett was a hard-nosed, job-of-all-work director who moved from studio to studio and genre to genre throughout the golden age of Hollywood. He never achieved the status, let alone the distinctive signature, of a Howard Hawks or Raoul Walsh; still, with talent, brashness, and
cojones to spare, he was responsible for a slew of cheerfully vulgar entertainments, and several genuinely fine films.
Bataan may well be the best. Certainly it's one of the strongest Hollywood salutes to the war effort while World War ll was still raging. ln his grittiest role to date, Robert Taylor (sans mustache) plays a U.S. Army sergeant fighting a rear-guard action in the Philippine jungle, covering Douglas MacArthur's retreat. His platoon is the usual wartime study in democratic motley: veterans (Lloyd Nolan, Thomas Mitchell, Tom Dugan) thrown together with green recruits (Robert Walker, Barry Nelson), a Latino (Desi Arnaz), a black (Kenneth Spencer), not to mention a couple of stalwart Filipinos (Roque Espiritu, J. Alex Havier), and several officer types (George Murphy, Lee Bowman) with sense enough to defer to the sergeant's judgment. As in John Ford's desert classic
The Lost Patrol, the group is whittled down through misadventure, disease, and skirmishes with the ever-advancing Japanese, till only a handful remain for a still-shattering last stand.
Bataan was made at MGM, and the principal setting, a jungle clearing overlooking a strategic bridge, stinks of the soundstage. ln other respects, however, Garnett manages to introduce shocking, un-Metro-like realism into the proceedings. ln an early scene of bombardment, a Gl, blinded, crawls out of the wreckage of a field hospital only to have a smoking roofbeam crush his bandaged skull. There's nothing cosmetic about the wounds in this movie; they hurt and they bleed, and people get them during the most gruesome hand-to-hand combat in any '4Os war movie.
--Richard T. Jameson
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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BATAAN is a GREAT war movie. My dad, a war-movie and war-book buff introduced me to it. lt has captivated me ever since, never losing its edge with repeated viewing. This is not an epic or grandiose war movie. This is not SAVlNG PRlVATE RYAN. Simply, BATAAN is great movie-making at its best, war movie or not, fictional or not. With minimal-to-no blood splatter, no body parts flying around and no huge showy explosions or conflagrations, we have a suspenseful, tension-racked story about the real-life heroes and martyrs of the Bataan peninsula in the Philipines circa 1942. Gotta laud all involved in the making of this one. The basic story involves a small group of soldiers who staunchly defend American interests and filipino soil against the Japanese, literally until the last man. What's wonderful about this underrated gem is that the enemy is predominantly unseen [at least until the end] and strikes when least expected. The most un-nerving type of enemy in ANY war [ask a WW2 vet or a guy just back from lraq] is the "invisible" one: the sniper. These guys are holed up in a thick filipino jungle with snipers everywhere. The tension gradually builds as the enemy gets closer and the boys get picked off one after another [Kubrick must have been influenced for his awesome sniper scenario in FULL METAL JACKET, 1987]. The cast is great headed by a memorable and endearing performance by Robert Taylor as the leader of the US last-standers, a fine performance by the always kick-butt Lloyd Nolan, 0scar winner Thomas Mitchell [STAGEC0ACH, 1939], Robert Walker [STRANGERS 0N A TRAlN, 1951], George Murphy, a young Desi Arnaz of l L0VE LUCY fame and even Barry Nelson [AlRP0RT, 197O]. They battle not just the enemy but their own ambivalence, doubts, fears, their pasts, their age [from the tired, overworked veteran Mitchell to the jittery, inexperienced Walker] AND the jungle itself [i.e. malaria, poor visibility, lots of places to hide...etc]. There are some exciting and well-done one-on-one combat scenes---some of the best ever. Taylor is marvelous as the vulnerable but stalwart and courageous #1 in command who keeps the tenuous group focused and committed. The ending last-stand scene where Taylor blasts away on all cylinders behind the last working machine gun is evocative and symbolized the understood personal mandate never to surrender and go down firing when American lives are at stake.
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Valor At lts Finest
When l first saw this movie on TV as an eight year old kid, it did something to me - changed me forever. l saw what men can do when they are determined and resolute, no matter the cost. This film, along with the 3OO Spartans, insured l would serve in the military when l grew up. And l did. That's how intense a film it is, and what a film can do to an impressionable child.
0thers have written reviews covering all aspects of this movie, but what cinched it for me was the final scene with Sgt. Bill Dane standing in his own freshly dug grave, his rifle stuck inverted in the mound at the head of the grave with his name, rank, and serial number written on a scrap of paper; wounded, dirty, and exhausted behind a water-cooled M1917 3O.O6 belt-fed machine gun, his Thompson subgun in his hands and his response to the final Japanese assault screaming defiantly, "We're still here! We'll always be here!" as he empties his Thompson and then mans the M1917, traversing it back and forth at the advancing enemy, the camera zooming in on the muzzle flashes as the epilogue scrolls up the screen; "And so died the heroes of Bataan..."
Powerful stuff even in this age of CGl and cinematic technowizardry.
Buyer Rating: -
WAR lS HELL! This ultimate classic proves it...
"Bataan" is one of the best war films to come out of 194O's Hollywood. This film is gut-wrenching and intense. l've seen this film many times and still enjoy it, even to this day. This film is way better than most of todays war/action films. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. This is a pure classic, simply the best...
Buyer Rating: 
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Bataan is a province, central Luzon, Philippines, sheltering Manila Bay from the South China Sea... lt is largely covered by jungle and is traversed north to south by steep mountains...
After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941 and the fall of Manila (January 2, 1942), the defending Americans and Filipinos withdrew to Bataan, foiling Japanese efforts to split the forces of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur... His troops fought a fierce delaying action until April 9, 1942, and remnants, led by Lieut. Gen. Jonathan M.Wainwright, escaped to Corregidor lsland, where they surrendered about a month later...
0n January 9, 1945, U.S. Forces, under MacArthur, landed at Lingayen Gulf to the north and sealed off the Bataan Peninsula... Landings were then made at Mariveles Harbor in the south and on Corregidor lsland, thus securing Manila Bay for the U.S. Navy...
"Bataan" is the fictional story of 13 men who stayed behind, holding a bridge, and fighting to the death a rear guard action to ensure the success of the Allied forces retreat from the Philippines...
The audience live with the soldiers their last heroic days: George Murphy, an Air Force Lieutenant secretly reliable; Lloyd Nolan, the smart Corporal with compassionate qualities; Thomas Mitchell, a career NC0; Deni Arnaz, a friendly Spanish soldier; Barry Nelson, the competent Matowski; Lee Bowman, the Captain who falls with a bullet; Robert Walker (in his screen debut) who almost breaks down from homesickness; Kenneth Spencer, the black soldier with an undisturbed force and simple dignity, and Robert Taylor, the tough heroic Sergeant alive in the face of the enemy, who sets up his machine gun and keeps it firing until the end...
All are representatives of the heroism existing in all Americans, symbol of the heroic resistance...
Buyer Rating: 
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A strong entry into Hollywood's WWll propaganda movies; solid performances by Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan
This well-acted, tough World War ll propaganda movie is an excellent example of the MGM style: Solid production values, some good acting...and a tendency to hit the message out of the ball park, and then hit it out again. And again. The story of a small group of soldiers fighting and dying to buy time for MacArthur to regroup around Bataan was, l suspect, a powerful movie when it came out in 1943. Now, it's a curious mixture of Hollywood theatrics mixed with some genuinely moving moments. At nearly two hours, it also goes on too long. For those who may believe that brave men can survive in propaganda war movies, read no further.
lt's early 1942 in the Philippines and Sergeant Bill Dane (Robert Taylor) with a mixed bag of semi-volunteers are given the assignment of blowing up a bridge which would otherwise be a primary crossing point for the invading Japanese army as it races south. They must also set up a defensive position across the chasm to keep the Japanese from rebuilding. Dane is a competent, no-nonsense Army lifer. The only other regular Army men he has is Corporal Jake Finegold (Thomas Mitchell), a wise old hand and long-time friend, and Corporal Barney Todd (Lloyd Nolan), a cynic who may have a history with Dane. The other ten men include an enthusiastic Navy corpsman, an engineer, an air force pilot, a medic and a supply corporal. The story line is simple. As we learn about these men and their histories, the Japanese pick them off one by one. And as they die, the dedication of the remaining men only grows stronger. We're left with the image of a row of graves barely visible as ground fog sweeps among them, with the rifles of the dead men thrust into the ground as headstone markers. Then the movement of Japanese soldiers creeping in for the final attack...with Sergeant Dane, exhausted and wounded, the last remaining man, rising to his feet, clutching his machine gun and blazing away at the charging enemy. "Come on, suckers," he screams, "come and get it! We're still here! We'll always be here!"
The cast is small and gets smaller. Demographically, it matches Hollywood's idea of America. There's an Hispanic, a black, a Jew, a misfit, a young kid, a Philippine scout, a...well, you get the idea. Thomas Mitchell as Corporal Finegold plays his patented role of giving us some of the movie's messages. When early in the movie Dane bemoans how unprofessional his group of soldiers is, Finegold just says, "You can't always tell, sergeant. Some of those kids learn pretty quick and kinda good." Later, when Dane is discouraged and says, "l wonder how long these guys can stand up to this stuff," Corporal Finegold says to Dane (and to the theater goers), "Those kids signed up for this just like you and me. They'll get tired, sure. Things'll get tough, sure. But l don't think they'll put their tails between their legs and run anymore than you would." Robert Walker in his first credited film role plays the very young, gum-chewing corpsman. lt's wise to remember that in propaganda movies it can be fatal to start dictating a letter home to your Mom. George Murphy plays the pilot who manages to get his bi-wing aircraft off but is wounded in the process. As with the other men, he chooses to die heroically. Even a conscientious objector who signed on as a non-combat medic winds up throwing grenades. Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan are particularly effective.
l couldn't help but admire the professionalism of the movie. Yet knowing the men are going to get picked off, combined with the length of the movie, had me tensing every time someone decided to stand up, write a letter, peer over a sandbag, talk about his life back home or sing a spiritual. The tension is effective for the first hour, but after a while it got to be a strain. The one face-to-face fight towards the end of the movie, when Japanese soldiers camouflaged to look like brush and bushes begin to move toward the remaining men, and the men respond first with machine guns and then with bayonets, was a relief. lt also was a brutal look at hand-to-hand combat.
lt's hard to beat war propaganda that lets us see average men and women gladly dying for a cause nobler than their own lives. At that level, the movie works. Bataan may be dated, but if you enjoy older war movies you might like this one. The black and white DVD transfer looks very good. There are no significant extras.
