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They Were Expendable
Sign in to save1945 film by John Ford, Robert Montgomery
OverviewAI-generated
They Were Expendable is a 1945 American black-and-white war, drama, and action film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by John Ford and Robert Montgomery, with John Ford also serving as producer, the movie stars Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, and Jack Holt. The screenplay was written by Frank Wead and Norman Corwin, and the music was composed by Herbert Stothart. Joseph H. August served as director of photography, while Malcolm Brown was the production designer.
The narrative is set in the Philippines during the Pacific War and World War II. The film has a runtime of 135 minutes and was originally released in English. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Netflix, with availability on video on demand and platforms such as Philo and TCM. The work was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound.
Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
6.5After a demonstration of new PT boats, Navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.
Cast
- Robert Montgomery as Lt. John Brickley
- John Wayne as Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan
- Donna Reed as Lt. Sandy Davyss
- Jack Holt as General Martin
- Ward Bond as "Boats" Mulcahey, Chief Boatswain's Mate
- Marshall Thompson as Ens. 'Snake' Gardner
Themes
- navy
- based on novel or book
- world war ii
- pearl harbor
- philippines
- pacific war
- pacific theater
- bataan
- 1940s
- corregidor
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- action film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Main subject
- World War II
- Director
- Robert Montgomery
- Screenwriter
- Norman Corwin
- Cast member
- Vernon Steele
- Composer
- Herbert Stothart
- Producer
- John Ford
- Production company
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Cinematographer
- Joseph H. August
- Narrative location
- Philippines
- Duration
- 135
- FilmAffinity ID
- 694097
- Distribution format
- video on demand
Show 6 more facts
- publication date
- 1945-12-31
- title
- They Were Expendable
- color
- black-and-white
- production designer
- Malcolm Brown
- distributed by
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- review score
- 92%
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0