History Film / Midway1976

* {{Irony}}: Admiral Nimitz has an InfoDump speech about how he grew up on the Texas Prairie where a life at sea seemed both literally and figuratively distant. Though the town where he grew up, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_Texas Fredricksburg]], is about 200 miles from the large Naval Base in Corpus Cristi. The Naval Academy makes a concerted effort to accept students from every state, many from much farther away from any sea port than where he grew up.

* {{Irony}}: Admiral Nimitz has an InfoDump speech about how he grew up on the Texas Prairie where a life at sea seemed both literally and figuratively distant. This is a little bit of ArtisticLicenseHistory though as his family had been seafarers in Germany before immigrating to America two generations before. Likewise the town where he grew up, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_Texas Fredricksburg]], is only about 200 miles from the large Naval Base in Corpus Cristi. Also the Naval Academy makes a concerted effort to accept students from every state, many from much farther away from any sea port than where he grew up.

%%* BattleEpic

%%* CoolPlane: All of them!
%%* CoolShip: See above.

** There's no known footage extant from the carriers of either side (though famously there is from Midway Island itself)[[note]]Filmed by Creator/JohnFord and his unit, that's right, John Ford was within 200 miles of the battle, but only got land footage (which still won an Oscar). WhatCouldHaveBeen[[/note]]. The Japanese carrier ''Akagi'' had a newsreel cameraman named Teiuchi Makishima onboard, but his footage of the attacks on the carrier ''Kaga'' and the vessel he was on were lost when he abandoned ship. There's perishingly few photographs of the Japanese ships from the battle at all, taken almost entirely from B-17s. Frustratingly, pictures were taken from an ''Enterprise'' dive-bomber during the actual attack, but short on fuel, the plane landed on the first carrier it could find... which wound up being the ''Yorktown''. Shortly thereafter, the ''Yorktown'' was sunk and the pictures lost.

** "They [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] [[NotSoDifferentRemark like samurai]], [[WorthyOpponent these Americans]]." According to eyewitnesses, [[TruthInTelevision Nagumo said those exact words about the men of Torpedo 8]], though unlike the movie, the real Admiral is said to have been [[ManlyTears moved to tears]] as he said them.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/ToraToraTora'', about the attack on Pearl Harbor, which employed a similar bifurcated Japanese/American style and similarly strove for realism. However, the filmmakers learned some lessons from ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' (which was a box-office bomb) by using (a lot) more star power, artistic license with history, and adding in a fictional lead character for dramatic effect. ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' was almost a documentary.

* OldSchoolDogfight

** 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 smoking jacket and slippers around the codebreaking office, he was neither insomniac nor unhygienic.

* ForegoneConclusion: Since this takes place during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, we already know that the U.S. will defeat the Japanese in the Battle of Midway.

The AllStarCast includes Creator/HenryFonda as Nimitz, Creator/GlennFord as Spruance, Creator/ToshiroMifune as Adm. Yamamoto, Creator/HalHolbrook as Rochefort, and Creator/RobertMitchum as Halsey. A pre-stardom Creator/TomSelleck has a bit part...as does Hall of Fame NFL fullback Larry Csonka.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: 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.

** 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 smoking jacket and slippers around the codebreaking office, he was neither insomniac nor unhygienic.

** Admiral Nagumo feels the weight most and is nervous and indecisive

** Yamamoto points out that the United States has enormous industrial strength and that their only hope for Victory is to wipe them out before they can start mass producing on a larger scale.
* {{Irony}}: Admiral Nimitz has an InfoDump speech about how he grew up on the Texas Prairie where a life at sea seemed both literally and figuratively distant. This is a little bit of ArtisticLicenseHistory though as his family had been sea farers in Germany before immigrating to America two generations before. Likewise the town where he grew up, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_Texas Fredricksburg]], is only about 200 miles from the large Naval Base in Corpus Cristi. Also the Naval Academy makes a concerted effort to accept students from every state, many from much farther away from any sea port than where he grew up.
* 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.
* MoodWhiplash: The Japanese go from being masters of the Pacific Ocean to having 3/4ths of its fleet sinking within half an hour.

* ScottyTime: For the trap to work, the Americans need the ''Yorktown'' in working condition after Coral Sea. Problem: the ship is so damaged the engineers say it would take months to repair. Incredibly, they still get it in working condition within ''three days'' just in time for the battle, and its involvement proved critical. This is exactly what happened in RealLife.

** There's no known footage extant from the carriers of either side (though famously there is from Midway Island itself)[[note]]Filmed by Creator/JohnFord and his unit, that's right, John Ford was within 200 miles of the battle, but only got land footage (which still won an Oscar). WhatCouldHaveBeen[[/note]]. The Japanese carrier Akagi had a newsreel cameraman named Teiuchi Makishima onboard, but his footage of the attacks on the carrier Kaga and the vessel he was on were lost when he abandoned ship. There's perishingly few photographs of the Japanese ships from the battle at all, taken almost entirely from B-17s. Frustratingly, pictures were taken from an Enterprise dive-bomber during the actual attack, but short on fuel, the plane landed on the first carrier it could find... which wound up being the Yorktown. Shortly thereafter, the Yorktown was sunk and the pictures lost.

* HopelessWar: Adm. Yamaguchi: "A few hours ago, we filled the sky with our planes. Now we win, or lose, with six fighters and ten torpedo planes."

For the 2019 film, see ''Film/{{Midway|2019}}''.

A war film from 1976 about the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Midway. Directed by Jack Smight and screenwritten by Donald S. Sanford, it is a grand production with such stars as Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/HenryFonda. It has 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.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midway_9145.jpg]]

A war film from 1976 about the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle of Midway. It was a grand production with such stars as Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/HenryFonda. 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.

* StarCrossedLovers: Garth's son Tom and Haruko.

** "They [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] [[NotSoDifferent like samurai]], [[WorthyOpponent these Americans]]." According to eyewitnesses, [[TruthInTelevision Nagumo said those exact words about the men of Torpedo 8]], though unlike the movie, the real Admiral is said to have been [[ManlyTears moved to tears]] as he said them.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midway_9145.jpg]]

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

For the 2019 film, see [[Film/Midway2019 here]].

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

* HopelessWar: Adm. Yamaguchi: "Once, we filled the sky with our aircraft. Now we win or lose with six fighters and ten torpedo planes."