History Film / Midway

Not to be confused with Creator/RolandEmmerich's own 2019 adaptation of the battle.

The AllStarCast included Creator/GlennFord as Spruance, Creator/ToshiroMifune as Adm. Yamamoto, and Creator/RobertMitchum as Halsey. A pre-stardom Creator/TomSelleck has a bit part.

** He has a whole entourage of fellow BunnyEarsLawyer s around him. ...which really isn't how either Rochefort or the rest of his Codebreakers were in Real Life. While Rochefort was known for wearing a bathrobe and slippers around the codebreaking office, he was neither insomniac nor unhygienic.

* BatmanGambit: It is suspected that the code word AF means "Midway". Therefore Midway is instructed to radio in the clear that it is short of fresh water in the hope that the Japanese intercept it and radio it back. The Japanese fall for it and the US Navy had the confirmation they needed to doom its enemy.
** ...which is TruthInTelevision. To avoid risking the Japanese picking up on this, the orders were sent to Midway via an underwater telegraph line (the island was settled in 1903 to install part of the original trans-Pacific telegraph cable, in fact).

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Rochefort head of US codebreakers
** He has a whole entourage of fellow BunnyEarsLawyer s around him.
*** ...which really isn't how either Rochefort or the rest of his Codebreakers were in Real Life. While Rochefort was known for wearing a bathrobe and slippers around the codebreaking office, he was neither insomniac nor unhygienic.

* HeroicSacrifice: On both sides.
** It evens includes a ''ship'': the ''Yorktown'' takes a beating from Japanese dive-bombers, but stays afloat despite suffering three direct hits. Later the same day, a second wave of Japanese torpedo planes mistake it for an undamaged carrier and attack it, sparing the ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'' from serious damage.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Lampshaded. An American pilot in VT-8 says that their commander, Lt. Cdr. John Waldron, has a better chance of finding enemy ships by virtue of having Sioux ancestors.
** Waldron really did bring this up frequently. There may have been some truth to this, as he really was half-Sioux (Gordon Prange, in his book "Miracle at Midway", says Waldron claimed to be one-eighth Sioux; and Walter Lord, in his book “Incredible Victory”, refers to a ‘streak’ of Sioux heritage to which Waldron liked to attribute his battle intuition), and he broke formation and led his men straight to the Japanese Fleet (Torpedo 8 was the only Hornet squadron to find the enemy that morning). He and 28 of his men died in their attack.

* TranslationConvention: Except for Toshiro Mifune, most of the actors playing the Japanese are Asian-American actors like Pat Morita and their dialogue is all in English.

** Waldron really did bring this up frequently. There may have been some truth to this, as he really was half-Sioux (Walter Lord, in his book "Incredible Victory", says Waldron claimed to be one-eighth Sioux) and he broke formation and led his men straight to the Japanese Fleet (Torpedo 8 was the only Hornet squadron to find the enemy that morning). He and 28 of his men died in their attack.

*** ...which really isn't how either Rochefort or the rest of his Codebreakers were in Real Life.

* AirstrikeImpossible: Infamously, Torpedo 8's attack on the Japanese fleet, with no escort or dive bomber support.[[note]]In theory, an attack on an enemy fleet would be carried out by torpedo bombers at low altitude, dive bombers from above, and escorting fighters dealing with the enemy air support, in order to divide the defenders' attention, but the American planes ended up separated that day[[/note]] During the battle, Torpedo 8 was effectively wiped out, with all 15 planes destroyed and only one man out of 30 surviving. Two other torpedo squadrons fared little better that day, even with fighter support. Torpedoes of the day required the bomber to fly slowly at low altitude in order to properly release the torpedo, all while enemy AntiAir gunners and fighter escorts did everything they could to blast them out of the air.

One version has the Battle of the Coral Sea as an add-on. This is a very long version but worth your time.

The campaign is shown from both sides perspective and shows the Japanese as honorable and brave enemies. History is mostly followed though there are some inaccuracies notably Kamikaze's being used at Midway; while it was not unknown throughout the war for downed planes of both sides to crash into an enemy ship in a TakingYouWithMe gesture Kamikazes were never official policy even in Japan until toward the end, and they would have been fairly rare. It may be a case of being betrayed by the StockFootage, as most of the color footage filmed in World War II was late in the War, and scenes from Leyte Gulf and the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa (when Kamikazes were in use) are used for this battle. This has something to do with the fact that there is zero special effects budget for this movie.

[[quoteright:332:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midway_9145.jpg]]

* TheBigBoard: The commanders on both sides use these as they plan their moves and counter moves.

** It evens includes a ''ship'': the ''Yorktown'' takes a beating during the Japanese reprisal but stays afloat against all odds. On the following day, returning Japanese planes mistake it for an undamaged carrier and attack it, sparing the ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'' from serious damage.

** Waldron really did bring this up frequently. There may have been some truth to this, as he really was half-Sioux and he broke formation and led his men straight to the Japanese Fleet (Torpedo 8 was the only Hornet squadron to find the enemy that morning). He and 28 of his men died in their attack.

** Invoked at the Japanese briefing as a photo of Halsey is passed around and Halsey's dangerous warlike virtues are described

** "They [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] [[NotSoDifferent like samurai]], [[WorthyOpponent these Americans]]."

->'''''If you're looking for the defunct video game developer, see MidwayGames.'''''

A war film from 1976 about the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Midway. It was a grand production with such stars as Creator/CharltonHeston and Henry Fonda. It had two intertwining threads, one following the Battle itself and the other following the fictional American officer Captain Matt Garth whose son is a fighter pilot who is at this inconvenient time engaged with Haruko Sakura, a Nisei ("second generation," an American child of Japanese immigrants) girl.

* ActorAllusion: Halsey tells Nimitz, played by Henry Fonda, "You once told me, 'When you're in command... command!'". This is similar to Fonda's line in ''Film/FortApache'' to John Wayne, "When you command this regiment, and you probably will, command it!"

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Matt dies trying to land his plane after the final run against the last Japanese carrier. On the bright side, his son survived and it's implied he and his Japanese-American girlfriend will remain together]] As for the battle itself, America crushes the Japanese fleet essentially dooming their empire as they cannot replace their ships and crews as well as the Americans can.

* LeaveNoSurvivors: At one time Genda reports that Japanese fighters are "wave-hopping after the survivors." He says it so matter-of-factly that you [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar almost miss]] the fact that he takes it for granted that his men will be shooting men swimming in the water.
** He's really talking about shooting down surviving American torpedo planes flying at very low level, aka "wave-hopping".
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Lampshaded. An American pilot in VT-8 says that their commander, LtCdr John Waldron, has a better chance of finding enemy ships by virtue of having Sioux ancestors.

* {{Mooks}}: Averted. Japanese sailors are just as human as Americans in the movie and the only difference is that they are more formal in conversation.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Harry, bigot and Captain Matt Garth's self made ''former'' friend, while not seen again after he reluctantly helps the Sakura family. He no doubt had this reaction upon [[spoiler: learning of Matt's death off screen]].

* StockFootage: Most of the combat footage you see is real, taken by Navy cameramen, but is actually footage from battles later in the Pacific War. Very little if any is actually from the Battle of Midway itself which took place in 1942. Most scenes depicting attacks on ships (both American and Japanese) are taken from 1944-45 Kamikaze attacks. One plane returning to the ''Yorktown'' that crash lands and falls apart is a famous 1944 carrier landing on the ''Essex''. They also reused a lot of footage from ''Film/ToraToraTora'' (which miffed the that film's director), as well as combat footage from war films by EijiTsuburaya such as ''Storm over the Pacific'' and ''Attack Squadron''.

* YouAreInCommandNow: Halsey is ill and recommends Spruance for command of his part of the fleet. [[TruthInTelevision This really happened]].

* ActorAllusion: Halsey tells Nimitz, played by Henry Fonda, "You once told me, 'When you're in command... command!'". This is similar to Fonda's line in ''FortApache'' to John Wayne, "When you command this regiment, and you probably will, command it!"

* HistoryMarchesOn: Lots of the operating details as shown don't stand up (the Japanese planes were below decks, though fully fueled and the torpedo planes armed, when the Dive bombers caught them. Tone number 4 was late launching, but that was why it found the Yorktown (it was off its planned course, another float plane had flown by and missed the American ships completely). The Akagi attack was very nearly bungled (a grand total of 3 planes attacked Akagi, 1 hit and 2 damaging near misses, one close enough to jam the rudder). The Japanese were about half an hour from launching a strike, not 5 minutes, when they were hit. And let's just say Fuchida has been found to have been ''economical'' with the truth.

* KatanasOfTheRisingSun

* [[YanksWithTanks Yanks With Carriers]]

* WorldWarII

* StockFootage: Most of the combat footage you see is real, taken by Navy cameramen, but is actually footage from battles later in the Pacific War. Very little if any is actually from the Battle of Midway itself which took place in 1942. Most scenes depicting attacks on ships (both American and Japanese) are taken from 1944-45 Kamikaze attacks. One plane returning to the ''Yorktown'' that crash lands and falls apart is a famous 1944 carrier landing on the ''Essex''. They also reused a lot of footage from ''[[ToraToraTora Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'' (which miffed the that film's director), as well as combat footage from war films by EijiTsuburaya such as ''Storm over the Pacific'' and ''Attack Squadron''.