Todos São Valentes

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 I really liked the gentle irony of Pirosh' contrasting the idyllic, outdated guidebooks to Italy and France that Grayson reads with the prosaic reality of war-torn countries.

This little-known film is an interesting dramatic study of real life Japanese-Americans who volunteered to fight for their country despite the interment of their families back in the 'States. Their amazing heroism and patriotism is shown in contrast to the rascism and general mistrust they are shown by white members of the US army that they encounter. Racial issues such as their treatment compared to German-Americans or Italian-Americans are dealt with, but not in a heavy handed way. The dialogue is surprisingly believable and interesting, and even amusing. The battle sequences are good but nothing like Saving Private Ryan - this is a 1950s film, after all. All WWII film buffs should make a point of seeing this film, which sometimes appears on the History Channel.

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.

I have known about this film since I was young, but it was not until a "dull drab army day" overseas did I actually get to view it. I was impressed with the film. It was nice to see a film from the 1950's talk about ethnic/race relations in a positive way. I thought the message that World War Two was a war for all Americans was good. The film showed that it didn't matter what ethnicity, race, or creed you are, freedom is for all, that all discrimination is barbarism and immoral. It was really encouraging to see the Lieutenant's change of heart and mind by the end of the film. I also, thought it was good that the film was not preachy. Some of the light humor was also well done. Overall I would recommend this film to anybody. This film is based on true events and true people. I would like to thank all those men and women who served our nation in that war. All gave some, and some gave all. This film was a tribute to one group of soldiers that many have not heard of.

Although somewhat conventional in comparison to most of the great WWII film dramas, Go For Broke remains important as the only Hollywood acknowledgement of the 442nd, and the bravery of the Japanese-Americans who fought with it.

One of my grandfather's brothers was in the 442nd himself, and can still recall tales of basic training and serving in Italy.

I am bothered, however, by the fact that the cover on the video box does not show a single Japanese-American face, and the description does not really explain the historical significance of the events portrayed.

Hey Ted Turner, get your guys together and rectify this problem!

Dwight Sora