Trivia / Midway (1976)

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• Actor-Shared Background: Like her character Haruko Sakura, the late Christina Kokubo was born in America to Japanese parents.
• All-Star Cast: Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchum, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, James Coburn, and Toshiro Mifune among many others.
• Dueling-Stars Movie: Henry Fonda and Charlton Heston are arguably two of the most iconic leading men of all time.
• Fake Nationality: Some of the featured Japanese characters are portrayed by Japanese-American actors (including James Shigeta, Pat Morita, John Fujioka, Clyde Kusatsu, Dale Ishimoto, Conrad Yama, Robert Ito, Seth Sakai and Sab Shimono). Toshiro Mifune is the only main actor to be actually from Japan.
• Looping Lines: Paul Frees re-recorded Toshiro Mifune's lines during post-production.
• Re-Cut: Shortly after its successful theatrical debut, additional material was assembled and shot in standard 4:3 ratio for a TV version of the film, which aired on NBC. A major character was added: Susan Sullivan played Ann, the girlfriend of Captain Garth, adding depth to his reason for previously divorcing Ensign Garth's mother, and bringing further emotional impact to the fate of Captain Garth. The TV version also has Coral Sea battle scenes to help the plot build up to the decisive engagement at Midway. In total, this version is 45 minutes longer.
• Role Reprise: Henry Fonda portrayed Chester Nimitz in the 1965 film In Harm's Way and reprised that role 11 years later in Midway. Toshiro Mifune portrayed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in the 1968 film Admiral Yamamoto and reprised that role 8 years later in Midway.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early in development, the film was to be shot in both English and Japanese like its spiritual prequel Tora! Tora! Tora!. This concept was dropped after a deal couldn't be worked out with a Japanese production company to have a Japanese-speaking director and cast attached.
  • John Guillermin was attached to direct, but left to make King Kong (1976) instead.

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