Go for Broke!

Robert Pirosh wrote his own picture and did a wonderful job of directing it, and 'Go for Broke!', his tribute to Japanese-American volunteers fighting in World War II, is deftly executed with a nice blend of pulse-quickening action and more thought-provoking interludes where white Lieutenant Grayson (Van Johnson), originally prejudiced against the people he is assigned to command, gradually learns to come to terms with the fact that bravery and patriotism are irrelevant to your race or the color of your skin.

That could all be a little too rhetorical for its own good, but Pirosh never over-stresses his point, and his picture is never holier-than-thou. "You see, Sir, I'm from Texas", Grayson says to his superior, but Pirosh lets it go at that and doesn't lash out against Southern bigotry. I really liked the gentle irony of Pirosh' contrasting the idyllic, outdated guidebooks to Italy and France that Grayson reads with the prosaic reality of war-torn countries.

I have watched GO FOR BROKE several times and will do so again at random. It irritates me that I was unaware that we had Japanese American troops fighting in Italy and France until I encountered the technical adviser of GO FOR BROKE at Tyler Junior College in 1977. He was my English teacher, having retired from the Army. Very significant in his army career was his time with the Nisei whom he trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi and went on to the war in Europe with them. He was heart broken over the deaths of so many of his valiant warriors. He said they had saved his life over and over during battle. Sometime later one of the Japanese Americans, Jack Wakamatsu, wrote a book "Silent Warriors" about their experiences. I could not find it locally so contacted the author after finding him on internet. We had several conversations during the three years of acquaintance. He was on the set when GO FOR BROKE was being filmed. He told me that the red headed Texan portrayed by Van Johnson was in real life the technical adviser. Fictitious names were used in the movie. Both the technical adviser and Jack Wakamatsu are now dead. I feel that Van Johnson would be interested in what became of them and I would like to contact him. I have no idea how. GO FOR BROKE is my favorite of Van Johnson movies. I wish there could be a follow up of the lives of those brave Nisei, those fortunate enough to survive, that is. All too many are buried at Epinal near Bruyeres, France not far from where they rescued the surrounded Texas 36th Battalion.

Being a third generation Japanese-American (Sansei), and having my parents interned in the camps, this movie has a special place in my heart. Robert Pirosh did an incredible job in getting so much information about the Japanese- American situation: the camps, the differences between the Hawaiian and State- side Japanese (Kotonks and Kanakas), the different views of the war and even using a Japanese curse word as a password! I was so impressed and pleased with the results.

The movie follows the exploits of the 442, the first all-Nisei (Japanese- American) Regimental combat team in WWII. In early 1942, all the Japanese- Americans in California, Seattle, Oregon and Hawaii were uprooted from their homes and put into camps. All the volunteers were from the 10 internment camps throughout the western states. They felt that this was the only way to prove to the U. S. that they were as patriotic as anybody else, in fact most of them were American Citizens! Since they had nothing to lose, but their lives, their motto was "GO FOR BROKE!" and that's what they did. They are today the most decorated battalion in the history of the U.S. military and proved something that they shouldn't have to be proved, that they were Americans!

Van Johnson is used as the "white man" foil, to show how the rest of the country looked at the Japanese-American, and he does a great job. He starts off as a bigot, but as he begins to understand and respect his troops, he becomes one of them. There's a funny scene where one of his men call him "BAKATARE",

which is a curse word close to "Damn, stupid...." and tells him that the soldier is being very polite, he's bowing as he says this. This film has everything: humor, action, great characters and... truth!

Van Johnson who was MGM's all American GI in many a World War II film, co-stars with a bunch of veterans from 442 Division which was a regiment made up of Japanese-Americans who chose this over internment in the various camps set up for them. The most distinguished member of this regiment is current United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye who lost an arm in Italy during that campaign.

After training the 442nd was assigned to Italy after the Salerno landings, took part in the campaign for Rome, and then was part of the invasion force into Southern France that occurred in August of 1944.

Johnson delivers a fine performance of an officer who is reluctant to soldier and train with this new outfit. His prejudices, honed to a fine edge by Pearl Harbor, weren't exactly atypical of a lot of Americans back then. Over time, he grows to appreciate his troops as men and as fighters.

Having all of those Nisei veterans lends a real ring of authenticity to this film. A few non-veterans were in this as well. Henry Nakamura played Tommy who adopted a pet pig in Italy and bought him to France and he was the comic relief. He made quite a hit and then was in the Robert Taylor western, Westward the Women. I guess he had limited typecasting potential because he disappeared after that.

This is a story of World War II that bears constant retelling and MGM made a fine film to do it with.

This film depicts (for a 50's war flick) the trials of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a group of ALL-VOLUNTEER Japanese-American soldiers that fought in Europe against the Axis forces. The soldiers in this unit volunteered from the concentration, err... internment camps to fight for their and our country. They performed brilliantly and became the highest decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Former Senator Daniel Inouye was an officer in the 442nd, too!

While this is not the most exciting war movie ever made, it is certainly worth adding to a collection, especially since it can be bought in a 2-VHS set with "Gung Ho." Of special note is the scene where two German soldiers are trying to make heads-or-tails of of the Japanese chatter on field phone lines they are tapping.