The Fighting Seabees

***SOME SPOILERS*** One of John Wayne's best WWII movies has him in charge of the first Seebee construction battalion in the Pacific building airfields and port facilities for the US Navy and Air Force as well as fighting off hundreds of wild eyed and charging Japanese soldiers. Things at first didn't go too well from the men of the Wayde Donovan, John Wayne, Corps. Construction Company. Searving the US military in the Pacific their easy marks for Japanese snipers who pick off the unarmed construction workers. while the US Army and Marine Corps. are busy fighting the main Japanese forces on the many islands contested by in that theater of war. Demanding to be armed and part of the US military, not contract workers, has Donovan's men incorporated into the Army. Donovan's Seebees are then sent fully armed to island X-214 to build a base for the US Navy to refuel it's war-ships. Right from the start Donovan doesn't have the discipline thats demanded of him and is men by engaging the enemy. When told by his superior Lt. Cmdr. Yarrow,Dennis O'Keefe, to stay in the barracks and, in what looks like an American version of a Bonzai charge, Donovan has almost his entire construction company wiped out by the invading Japanese forces! Donavon, now a Lt. Commander, also screws up an ambush that the US Army had set up to stop the Japanese. That resulted in his, and Yarrow's, girlfriend war corespondent Constence Chesley, Susan Hayward,to be gunned down but not killed by a wounded Japanese soldier. Back in the states Donovan tries to make amends with the US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Yarrow and Constance over his bullheadedness on the battlefield that cost scores of US military and Seebee's lives. His relationship with Constance is handicapped by her also being in love with Wayde's commander Lt. Cmdr. Yarrow who, unlike Wayde,is a handsome and refined spit and polish Annapolis Navy man. Given a second chance to show his, and his Seebees, worth on the field of battle Wayde Donovan's construction battalion is sent ashore on island X-371. Not only to build a fuel depot and airfield but to defend if against a possible Japanese invasion of the island. Rip roaring battle scenes, some of the best ever put on film without the benefit of computer enhancement, makes "The Fighting Seebees" stand out among the score of war movies released during WWII by the major Hollywood studios. In fact the film was released by Republic Pictures which only specialized in low budget B and C movies up until then. Taking heavy casualties from Japanese fire Donovan decides, against orders, to take it, the fight, to em' and organizes another Banzai-like charge on the Japanese forces, which seems like a full division, that are invading island X-371. The US forces, Army & Marines, deafening the island are badly chopped up with Lt. Cmdr. Yarrow seriously wounded in the fighting and Donovan's Seebees are on the verge of being overrun by the fanatical Japanese troops. Having nothing but earth-moving and construction equipment to fight off the hoards of highly motivated and heavily armed Japanese troops supported by tanks the Seebees still hold on to the fuel tanks that's desperately needed for the US Navy Task Force in the area. Donavan told by the wounded Lt. Cmdr. Yarrow that he'll see to it that's he's court-martial-ed if he survives this action takes matters into his own hands. With a steam shovel loaded with explosives Donovan drives it into one of the fuel tanks causing it to explode and smoke out and drive into the open the attacking Japanese troops, their then mowed down by the Seebees and US Army and Marines. Donovan for his bravery got a medal, posthumously, not a court-martial at the end of the film, Let. Cmdr Yarrow gets the girl that both he and Donovan left behind Constance Chesely.

Typical John Wayne fare, with all the patriotic mumbo-jumbo and heroic banter which clearly betrays the picture as upright propaganda. Still, considering that it was released during the course of World War II , it's fairly justified. There is plenty of action including impressive hand-to-hand combat and firefight engagements; surprisingly, the Japanese two-man tanks employed against the Seabees (Construction Battalion)towards the climax definitely resembled the Imperial Japanese Army Type 94 tankettes (wonder how Republic Pictures pulled that one off)! Aside from the combat sequences, however, the corniness and simple, gung-ho dialect, not to mention that trite, Hollywoodesque love triangle gig sends one spiraling. And portraying the Japanese as the quintessential bug-toothed, eye-squinting, bespectacled subhumans constituted a complete turnoff (the profound racial overtones of those days never cease to amaze me; yes, they were our enemies - but what about the stereotypes about Black-Americans and Hispanics?). Frankly, the Japanese are an attractive people, and clearly those extras inside the tanks were N O T...(I had read in some movie book that they were hired from LA' s Chinatown). In any event, if you're ever in the mood for an ordinary World War II flick just for the action, then The Fighting Seabees could very well be a candidate; just for the action, nothing else!!

Typical WWII era movie in terms of fighting the Japs. You will laugh at the subhuman portrayals of the little yellow men especially in the two-man tanks, unless you're Japanese of course. Lot's of simple minded expressions and some buck teeth. It makes you want to see them killed! Basically, any movie with John Wayne is appealing. The man simply commands respect, and the women always love him, especially Susan Hayward who's a doll. Love and War; Usually the best themes for big pictures.

This is one of only 10 movies out of hundreds that He made that John Wayne actually dies or is killed in. The other nine are not seen that often on TV---but people cannot believe that "The Duke" even died or was killed in any of His movies. The list contains both westerns & action movies from almost all decades. 40s--50s--60s & 70s. The list includes: The Wake Of The Red Witch, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Cowboys, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist, The Alamo, Reap The Wild Wind. It is widely know of a story which was told By a person who was there on the Tonight Show of the night that a man bragged of making Wayne back down in a Hotel lobby that He & Wayne were staying at while filming a Movie. A film crew member heard the boast & went too Wayne's room too inform him of the mans claim. Wayne walked up behind the man & In His most recognisable voice said "I Hear You Made Me Back Down From A Fight Pilgrim"--at which the man passed out in shock.

I think you have to take this for what it is : A propaganda flick from the home front in the midst of WW II, and a vehicle for the "Commanding movie general" of the home front, John Wayne (not serving one minute due to disabling restrictions). Based from his behaviour in this movie, they were definitely better off w/o him, constantly disobeying orders and military rules for his own stubborn character drives, fiddling with his co officer's romance, but finally liberating himself in an suicidal act to defeat the "bug eyed monkeys". Good action, naive story, a lot of flag waving = 6 out of 10 at best.

Saying this film is "propaganda" is not an insult. No, it was deliberately crafted to encourage Americans that we can and will win the war if we stand firm. And what better image of this than the ever-vigilant John Wayne--the embodiment of the Hollywood image of heroism. This film reminds me a lot of The Flying Tigers, though the plot isn't so melodramatic. It's about a crew of civilian engineers sent overseas to do construction for our troops (such as building runways and other projects). BUT, the evil Japanese in the movie take advantage of the fact that these are unarmed civilians and butcher them at every opportunity. So, what is The Duke and his trusted pals to do? Take up arms and use their own equipment when necessary to beat the stuffing out of the Japs! Yes, guys with bulldozers and clubs NEVER could have inflicted the casualties you witness in the movie, but man if it isn't entertaining to watch--particularly the explosive ending.

This movie is one of my favorite John Wayne movies for all the wrong reasons. The Duke here is portrayed as a dull witted hothead until he bends to the will of the Navy, which, of course, in 1944, could do no wrong on the silver screen. The caricatures of the Japanese soldiers as grinning psychopaths who lived to take American lives seems ridiculous even when compared to other period movies. The film shows a medium close up of each Japanese sniper and tanker who then proceeds to grin for a full second before taking aim to kill yet another American, often unarmed civilian Americans at that! (Spoiler Warning!) The climactic scene has the Great American Hero so hacked off at the Japanese Army that he hops into a bulldozer and destroys an entire Japanese assault column and it's tanks as if pushing so much rubbish off the road! This one will never go into archives as the greatest war film of all time, but, is amusing in it's way as propaganda that approaches ridiculous in its depictions.

About the stupidest war movie ever made, but boy did I eat it up as a kid! This movie put a whole lot of glamour into building shacks and paving airfields so it really is excellent propaganda. My experience with this film is watching it in bits and pieces as a kid growing up. This is, in my opinion, probably William Frawley's best picture. I love the battle scenes with him on a bulldozer blasting Japs, its an American icon for me. I just started watching some of it sans thirty plus years later on TCM and it is sooooo stupid I just had to comment on it here. I'm actually thinking of the real life civilians that were captured on Wake Island and their horrific life and execution in Jap captivity, that movie is totally unwatchable for me after I learned of those facts. Anyway, I was attached in real life shortly with Seabees waiting for my next assignment and I was making sandbags and painting old shacks, thats the real Seabees. That and talking with some whose unit were killed while in morning formation in the middle east, some of whom went on door to door combat missions with Marines. The Seabees are quasi ground troops for the Navy, with skills that are necessary to establish beachheads and airfields and ports. They do a hard unglamourous job, but they do have a great cohesion among themselves and I'm sure they are proud to have the name Seabee, no doubt in part to being associated with this John Wayne comic book tale and that great fight song that you hear in the beginning (and that cool bee mascot with the machine gun). The movie is great for kids maybe like it was for me but wont stand for anyone now other than war movie junkies. When they are on island X something the whole combat compliment is Navy, where were the Marines? Hey I know my place in this military system and I know they are the ones who are their to fight on land. I'll do my fighting in the sea and the air, thats why I joined the Navy, lol. 7 of 10 for the gung ho propaganda tale and the way its told. It must have had them lining up to enlist.

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.

Like all these ww2 propaganda films it was rubbish. Full of overblown heroics and racist name calling. I see lots of reviews saying movies like this were a product of their time. Well so were the propaganda movies the Nazis and the Japanese were putting out but I don't see anyone say what good films they were. Propaganda isn't just to bolster moral it's also supposed to engender hatred and demonize the enemy. It's OK to kill them because they are hateful and inhuman. Their soldiers don't have loved ones like ours they're just meat bags who deserve to die. We have wars today but nobody in their right mind would try to portray them as movies like this one and others of it's ilk does. People are far too sophisticated to buy this "war is glorious" rubbish. If it proves anything it's that people back then must have been pretty gullible to buy such nonsense as the true face of war.