MIDWAY (1976) **1/2 Not the great triumph that the actual event was, but broadly and ambitiously cast. It does go on a bit but so did the battle, still you can't help but be grateful that the same team didn't try to film something on the Hundred Years War. The great thing is all of the actual footage sewn into the fabric of the film-even if you don't believe that Eric Estrada is doing the heroic stuff depicted it reminds you that someone did. World War II buffs have complained that the strategies aren't sufficiently depicted but I think Jack Smight did a good job weaving in as much as he did. For those who find war boring there are plenty of familiar faces doing the fighting- "Hey, there's Tom Selleck!" "I hope Pat Morita doesn't teach them how to do that weird karate move in a Zero." "James Coburn is more convincing as a mean cowboy than bureaucratic officer." "Which one's Glenn Ford?" "I wonder what Jane thought of Henry Fonda doing a war hero in '76." "Did you ever see that Bronson flick that Toshiro Mifune was in?" You'd think after acting all this stuff out Charlton Heston would have a more mature position on weapons, but at least he came around on internment.
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