"Gung Ho" is a terribly jingoistic film which I do not expect is
shown anymore in the States nowadays since it is also terribly racist.
Randolph Scott plays U.S. Marine Colonel Thorwald who recruits, trains,
and leads a special unit of marines known as his Raiders. The first
part of the recruitment process is to make sure the candidates are
motivated. "Why do you want to join The Raiders?" Randold Scott asks. "My brother was at Bataan. By the time the Japs got through with
him, they didn't find enough of him to bury." The candidate is
accepted. Even as kids often seeing this movie on television, my
brother and I joked, "How would he know that? Did the War Department
send the family a telegram which read. 'The War Department regrets to
inform you that your son, Ralph was killed in action at Bataan.
Unfortunately, by the time the Japs got through with him, we didn't
find enough to bury. In lieu of a body, we are sending you....'" As Randolph Scott as U.S. Marine Colonel Thorwald explains in the
beginning of the film, "Gung Ho" is a Chinese term that means "work
together." Throughout the film, after each of Scott's jingoistic
speeches, the raiders shout in unison, "Gung Ho!" The Japanese soldiers (who, from what I have heard, were mostly
played by Chinese-American actors) in the film are particularly sneaky,
particularly sadistic, and particularly stupid. Walking through the
island jungle on patrol, a squad of Japanese soldiers encounters an
American who had been left coughing and begging for water on the trail.
The leader of the Japanese squad (buck teeth, round eye-glasses,
mustache) sadistically stabs him with his bayonet. An American squad
on patrol encounters three Japanese rag-tag soldiers with their hands
up in surrender. When the Americans let down their guard for a second,
the center Japanese soldier bends over and the other two operate a
machine gun tied to his back to kill the Americans. But Randolph Scott has a plan. He has his men paint an American
flag on the roof of a building in the clearing of the jungle. Then, in
a brilliant piece of tactics, he has his Raiders engage in a hit and
run action against Japanese ground forces. The Japanese counter- attack, vanquish the Americans, and celebrate their victory by taking
over of the house with the American flag painted on the roof just as
the Japanese air force locates it and bombs it. Of course, the
Japanese pilots, thinking they are bombing Americans in a house in the
clearing of a South Pacific island with an American flag painted on the
roof, also have the obligatory sadistic smiles on their faces as they
make their diving swoop and release the bombs, not knowing that the
house is actually filled with Japanese soldiers. I suppose this film was supposed to be a morale builder for
Americans in the early, dark days of World War II. But "Gung Ho" is so
ridiculously racist that even when I was a kid I found it comical and
inspiring of a feeling of, "I wonder what the Japanese are like,
really." So I eventually enrolled as a student at Sophia University,
Tokyo and majored in Japan Studies.
shown anymore in the States nowadays since it is also terribly racist.
Randolph Scott plays U.S. Marine Colonel Thorwald who recruits, trains,
and leads a special unit of marines known as his Raiders. The first
part of the recruitment process is to make sure the candidates are
motivated. "Why do you want to join The Raiders?" Randold Scott asks. "My brother was at Bataan. By the time the Japs got through with
him, they didn't find enough of him to bury." The candidate is
accepted. Even as kids often seeing this movie on television, my
brother and I joked, "How would he know that? Did the War Department
send the family a telegram which read. 'The War Department regrets to
inform you that your son, Ralph was killed in action at Bataan.
Unfortunately, by the time the Japs got through with him, we didn't
find enough to bury. In lieu of a body, we are sending you....'" As Randolph Scott as U.S. Marine Colonel Thorwald explains in the
beginning of the film, "Gung Ho" is a Chinese term that means "work
together." Throughout the film, after each of Scott's jingoistic
speeches, the raiders shout in unison, "Gung Ho!" The Japanese soldiers (who, from what I have heard, were mostly
played by Chinese-American actors) in the film are particularly sneaky,
particularly sadistic, and particularly stupid. Walking through the
island jungle on patrol, a squad of Japanese soldiers encounters an
American who had been left coughing and begging for water on the trail.
The leader of the Japanese squad (buck teeth, round eye-glasses,
mustache) sadistically stabs him with his bayonet. An American squad
on patrol encounters three Japanese rag-tag soldiers with their hands
up in surrender. When the Americans let down their guard for a second,
the center Japanese soldier bends over and the other two operate a
machine gun tied to his back to kill the Americans. But Randolph Scott has a plan. He has his men paint an American
flag on the roof of a building in the clearing of the jungle. Then, in
a brilliant piece of tactics, he has his Raiders engage in a hit and
run action against Japanese ground forces. The Japanese counter- attack, vanquish the Americans, and celebrate their victory by taking
over of the house with the American flag painted on the roof just as
the Japanese air force locates it and bombs it. Of course, the
Japanese pilots, thinking they are bombing Americans in a house in the
clearing of a South Pacific island with an American flag painted on the
roof, also have the obligatory sadistic smiles on their faces as they
make their diving swoop and release the bombs, not knowing that the
house is actually filled with Japanese soldiers. I suppose this film was supposed to be a morale builder for
Americans in the early, dark days of World War II. But "Gung Ho" is so
ridiculously racist that even when I was a kid I found it comical and
inspiring of a feeling of, "I wonder what the Japanese are like,
really." So I eventually enrolled as a student at Sophia University,
Tokyo and majored in Japan Studies.