The Fighting Seabees

Picked this up as a cheap DVD as I am a sucker for 40's/50's WW2 films.

Taken as a bit of propaganda and entertainment, and not reflecting in any way historical fact, it achieves it's aim. IMO, it is not up to the standard of some of Wayne's other WW2 films of this period such as Sands of Iwo Jima and They Were Expendable.

It is somewhat disjointed, but I can imagine it having a positive effect on recruitment for the US Forces. Some earlier threads have commented on the reasons why Wayne did not have active war service. Whatever the reason, I would think he had a more positive effect on by being on film rather than seeing active service.

John Wayne is the boss of a civilian construction company building for the Navy in WW2. While working on a remote Pacific island the attacking Japanese forces interrupt construction and Wayne must convince the Government to let his men help the Navy fight back; thus the world renowned 'fighting Seabees'. This is a very good war drama and a fine cast that also features Susan Hayward, Dennis O'Keefe and William Frawley.

Ended up being a pretty good war film. A bit more acting cred for John Wayne than in his Westerns, which is fine. Some really good combat scenes, by the standards of the time. And Susan Hayward provided the much-needed eye candy. Sitting here in the hyper-polarized polity of today, it's a little hard to wrap one's mind around the wartime unity. And yes, I noticed the depictions of Japanese soldiers that are considered racist in today's oh so sensitive times. But it's never fair to judge personages or art from the past by a politically correct standard of which they knew nothing. Sort of like criticizing Jesus for admonishing slaves to obey their masters.

I was a "Seabee" w/ MCB 4, from 1964-1970!! In basic training in Port Hueneme California, during our first week of training we were marched to the post theater, and were shown this movie. We for the most part thought it was a good movie, but thought it might have been a little overplayed as a promotional thing to peak our interests in becoming a "SeaBee!? ..Well after two full tours in Viet Nam, with my battalion! I have come to the realization. That this is one of the few Wayne war movies of the WW2 time frame that is as close to accurate as they could portray a unit of the Armed Forces! A bunch of Construction workers doing their damndest to get a job done no matter the adversity or dangers ! the only real link they had to being in the military was the fact they were wearing uniforms! they Build and Fight! and Party hard !! just as we did and as the Bees still do !!

Werner's rather tepid 6 out of 10 evaluation of THE FIGHTING SEABEES notwithstanding (I'd have given the film much higher, but that is just opinion), the allegation that Wayne failed to perform military service during World War II owing to "disabling restrictions" is simply not true. Accounts vary in accounting for his lack of military service, but none of them have to do with disabilities of any kind. As a married man with four children, he was exempt from the draft. His daughter Ayssa reports that Wayne was eager for military service but that pressure from Republic Pictures (with whom he was making enormously profitable films) convinced him not to volunteer for military service. A less flattering picture emerges from Gary Wills JOHN WAYNE'S America: THE POLITICS OF CELEBRITY in which evidence seems to indicate that Wayne (who was no physical coward by any stretch of the imagination) made a complex decision based on his growing stature in the film industry, his value as a propaganda symbol, his increasing paycheck, and the fact that he found film-making so rewarding. Whether an outside observer finds this an appealing portrait or not, there is ample evidence to suggest that Wayne always regretted thereafter not having served on active duty.