A Brilliant Conflict

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I saw this movie when it came out.Sure it's flawed and riddled with clichés, but there's really only one reason to watch it and that's Mickey Rooney and his flippant comments when he gets wounded and confronted by the Japanese.Baked potatoes and you can eat them with the jackets on.That entire scene stuck in my mind all these years and I am re-watching the movie while I type this.The music is quite good.But if you're looking for a war movie that's accurate or reflects reality, this one isn't it.James Mitchum's character reminds me of one of those guys who questions everything and contributes nothing.By the end of the movie, you're rooting for him to get killed just so he'll shut up.Kind of like some liberals out there.

A squad of Marines arrives at the Philippines, in October 1944. Their mission is top secret; but, if you have some background knowledge, you'll know it has to do with United States General Douglas MacArthur's impending return. The film's Captain is quickly killed off, and handsome "second in command" Sergeant Hugh O'Brian (as Steve Corey) takes over. A distant, no-nonsense hero, Mr. O'Brian was self-described gigolo (servicing a forty-year-old divorcée) as the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He clashes with ill-advisedly red-capped Private James Mitchum (as James Grenier), who has no combat experience. Mr. Mitchum, who also narrates the story, is needed for his radio transmission expertise.The main conflict is between O'Brian and Mitchum; the film's message about war and heroism is haphazardly told. The film's most obvious fault is that nothing much is done to make any of it seem like it takes place in 1944. The Marines look and act like they could be fighting in Vietnam; this may, or may not be part of the point; it isn't clear. Perhaps, it was felt an authentic filming location (Philippines) would be enough. A nice opening introduces the cast, then neglects most of them. Veteran Mickey Rooney (as Ernest Wartell) and beautiful Tisa Chang (as Miyazaki) play the only noteworthy supporting characters.**** Ambush Bay (6/13/66) Ron Winston ~ Hugh O'Brian, James Mitchum, Mickey Rooney, Tisa Chang

Just picked up this DVD for a song. Yes, the acting is wooden, the characters are archetypes of classic WWII yarns, and the blood was obviously red paint. But this film does include two nice touches: the cinematography, and the music score. I thought I recognized the music: Richard LaSalle was the composer for "Ambush Bay" and many of his music cues from this film turned up as incidental music on most of producer Irwin Allen's TV projects throughout the 1970's. The "Land of the Giants" series used a lot of his music in the later episodes.Oddly, in a peculiar coincidence, "Ambush Bay" co-script writer Ib Melchoir was a noted sci-fi film scribe, having penned "The Time Travelers" (1966), and is credited with creating the idea for producer Irwin Allen's "Lost In Space" (for which he was not given credit). And the tie-in is that composer LaSalle contributed scores to both "Time Travelers" and "Lost in Space" (sometimes fact IS stranger than fiction).

This terrible old war movie was "owned" by a local Tv station and they showed it at least once a month when I was a kid(before cable, only three stations to choose from!) I noticed how the same three Japanese soldiers kept getting killed throughout the entire movie! We were very lucky to ever win this war, since those "dead" Japanese would keep coming back to life! This could almost qualify this as a "Zombie" movie!