To me, They Were Expendable, is a reminder of just how unprepared America was going into WWII. With the major losses at Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet was so decimated, that the Phillipinnes and the Asiatic Fleet (mostly little better than mothballed WWI ships) had to be abandoned, and the soldiers and sailors left to defend themselves as best as they could. Yet, at the same time the film DID have a message of hope - unlike what has been said in previous posts. The people of the Phillipinnes and Americans were united in a common struggle, there were new advances that would prove themselves in the Pacific War - the PT Boats, and through this struggle the brass in Washington with their WWI mindset saw that the PT Boat, and the submarine would be a decisive addition to fighting the war.
The movie also showed the toll of all the elements in war - the people, the military, those left behind (and they included women and dependants - i.e. the Nurses), and what lay ahead in POW camps, and the WILL to come back and retake the islands and throw the invaders out. As it showed the toll of the old versus the new - perhaps best shown through Russell Simpson, the old man that came to the Phillipinnes when Americans first came there in 1898, and stayed and most likely perished - as the almost worthless Asiatic Fleet also mostly perished. This was a new war, and the old was gone, and a happier time was ended, and it was a salute to those times, yet acknowledging that they were over, and an all out effort would need to be made to turn everything around for victory.
Unfortunately, in the end, the film did get released as the war closed, and Americans were tired of war, and that is the only reason, I believe, that it flopped. I suspect had the war lasted longer, this would have been perhaps the MOST remembered film for WHY are we fighting.
I loved the film, and it certainly showed the spirit, resolve, and will to win of the people, and the indominatable American that can come back from great defeat and in a short short time send the Japs running. We could sure use an extra large portion of that resolve and spirit today methinks.
The Quiet Man
