Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Josh Gillam ★★★

  Hugh O’Brien, Mickey Rooney and James Mitchum star in this war drama about a group of US marines on a mission in the Philippines.

  O’Brien has a lot of presence as the tough commanding officer, and Mitchum, who’s the spitting image of his father here, adds a human side to the story as the young soldier who serves as the audience surrogate. The film was shot on location, giving it a sense of authenticity not usually found in its more stagey predecessors.

  However, plot takes quite a while to get going, and the supporting characters aren’t very developed. When the mission actually starts, the pace and tension increase significantly, and while it uses a lot of familiar tropes I thought it was a solid and entertaining World War 2 drama.

• 

  Review by Ben Hibburd ★★

  Ambush Bay is directed by Ron Winston. It tells the story of a Marine unit on a Japanese-held island in the Philippines, that tries to hook up with local Filipino guerrillas. The film sees Hugh O'Brian star as Sgt. Corey. Mickey Rooney as Sgt. Wartell and James Mitchum as Pvt. Grenier. In terms of acting they all do a decent job. However their character development rarely goes beyond typical war film cliche.

  The direction is nothing to get excited about it mainly consists of steady cams that point and shoot. The score is one of my biggest gripes with the film. It's incredibly loud and obtrusive, which kept pulling me out of the film. On a positive note the film…

• 

  Review by Chris Poggiali

  Solid WWII actioner with U.S. Marine patrol dispatched to the Jap-occupied island of Siargao to locate a Japanese-American spy who has uncovered a plan to thwart MacArthur's return to the Philippines (Contrary to what's written in two of the reviews posted here, the mission has nothing to do with Marines trying to "hook up with" or "help" Filipino guerrilla fighters). Except for the scene where Jim Mitchum rubs camo paint all over his face and then strolls into the jungle wearing a bright red baseball cap, this is pretty good stuff -- the type of tough, violent studio programmer that played well with others and looked great on a big drive-in screen.

• 

  Review by jamawive ★★

  So you're a specialized group of marines on a mission in Japanese-held island territory. The clueless doofus in your platoon, who is also the tallest, and who happens to be played by Robert Mitchum's painfully less talented son James, is wearing a red hat. A RED HAT. In jungle warfare. It nearly matches the bright red finger paint they use for blood in this movie. Many chiseled jaws speaking trite lines do nothing to elevate this. Not even the presence of Mickey Rooney, who mercifully underplays, gets it up there.

• 

  Review by mosquitodragon ★★★½

  I was trying to figure out how this movie - which seems to have been largely forgotten by everyone - even made it onto my watchlist. I think it was actually one I heard Quentin Tarantino mention when he was talking about the kinds of movies that inspired his own "guys-on-a-mission" homage, Inglourious Basterds.

  At first the film felt like it might not be something I would be able to get into. I remember my Dad watching WW2 movies a lot when I was a kid, and apart from one or two like Where Eagles Dare, they tended to be pretty dry affairs, and I figured this might be something of that ilk. But although it starts out a little…

• 

  Review by Jordan Etzig ★★★

  I liked this, but I feel like sometimes a voice over is unnecessary and takes away from the overall enjoyment of the film. This would be one of those times.

• 

  Review by James Franklin

  One of those rare WW2 movies that doesn’t feature swastikas, but instead follows a group of Marine Raiders searching a Japanese held island for someone with valuable intelligence.

  Plot’s next to nonexistent, dialogue’s what you’d expect, action scenes more so. Something I recorded on Memorial Day and would expect to see playing that weekend.

• 

  Review by STEPHEN TUBBS ★★

  They don't get much more routine than this - no surprises at any stage.

• 

  Review by Tulsa ★★

  Men on a Mission Film. Eigentlich eher ein Söldner Film, ohne dass es sich um Söldner handelt. James Mitchum darf den kleinen Revoluzzer in der Truppe spielen, Hugh O'Brien der harte Anführer und Mickey Rooney spielt was er immer spielt. Der Rest darf nicht sprechen sondern nur sterben.

  Puh der war nicht so gut.

• 

  Review by Vic Parratt ★★

  "Why didn't we shoot?"
  "Because we're not here."

• 

  Review by QED ★★

  This WW2 action film stars Hugh O'Brian, Mickey Rooney and James Mitchum. A group of American marines are sent to the Philippines on a secret mission days before the planned re-invasion.

  It is hard to find much to like about this film as it is littered with a poor dialogue, at best average acting and a weak plot. There is very little tension in the plot, the characters are one dimensional and uninteresting for the most part. Ultimately there are a ton of better films in this genre so I would just say clear.