Fantastic!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Go for Broke was the slogan of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the most decorated infantry unit in the US Army during World War 2. It was comprised almost entirely of Japanese American soldiers many of whom were harassed after the widespread racial paranoia affecting white Americans after the attack of Pearl Harbor. US citizens of Japanese descent who lived in California, Oregon, and Washington were even put in internment camps for security concerns despite the fact that none had a record of treasonous activity. This film is a tribute to those who served in the 442nd. Lieutenant Michael Grayson (Van Johnson) is a veteran soldier newly commissioned as an officer. His first assignment as an officer sees him at Camp Shelby, Mississippi where he is put in charge of a platoon of Japanese American recruits. Grayson has a typical racial fear of Nisei (even though his own commanding officers tell him to get over it.) Moreover he is disappointed not to have joined his old battalion, the 36th Infantry Division. Grayson and his men have a rocky relationship at first. Eventually they get shipped out to Italy where the 442 begins to show that it can hold it's own against the Wehrmacht. The rest is typical. Grayson warms up to his men, they warm up to him, etc. This isn't to say that this part of the film is bad, it's just nothing that needs explaining. I admire this film for it's positive representation of Asian Americans which had been rare in its era of cinema. Moreover, the film shows us real soldiers (many of the actors were vets themselves) who each have a distinctive personality. We really feel for these characters. It's a well made movie so it earns my recommendation.

*Spoiler/plot- 1951, The story of 442nd American Nisei WW2 regimental combat team work in Italy and France. Also their saving the 36th Texas Division 'Lost Battalion' from the 'Black' Mountains of France near the border with Germany.*Special Stars- Van Johnson*Theme- Valor and bravery comes in every culture, color or race.*Trivia/location/goofs- Hollywood film. Copyright free. Some actual newsreel footage was included in this film along with Hollywood studio scenes. The 442nd American Nisei WW2 regimental combat team was the most decorated military unit during WW2.*Emotion- An enjoyable and rather significant story to come out of WW2 about the injustice and ignorance about Japanese Americans post Pearl Harbor attack.

With tomorrow being Memorial Day, I decided to finally watch this movie about the 442nd regiment consisting of Japanese-American soldiers who volunteered in order to escape the internment camps their families were sent to after Pearl Harbor. Van Johnson is their superior officer who initially isn't crazy about leading them since he's from Texas and wants to go with the regiment consisting of men from his background, not to mention skin color. I'll stop there and just say that while there were some exciting battle scenes and some gently humorous ones as well, I didn't think the script spent enough time with Johnson and his Asian-American men in showing how he gradually came to admire and like them. At least not in the natural way I expected as part of me seemed to think the transition seemed abrupt when he met with one of his Texas-bred colleagues who expressed his prejudices more blatantly causing him to punch him. Maybe I was thinking too much of that scene as I did find touching many of those men's situations especially the one with the pig he kept for a pet. And there is a rousing sense of pride in seeing everyone, regardless of skin color or culture, banding together to fight for the common good. So on that note, Go for Broke! gets a recommendation from me.

Being a third generation Japanese-American (Sansei), and having my parents interned in the camps, this movie has a special place in my heart. Robert Pirosh did an incredible job in getting so much information about the Japanese- American situation: the camps, the differences between the Hawaiian and State- side Japanese (Kotonks and Kanakas), the different views of the war and even using a Japanese curse word as a password! I was so impressed and pleased with the results.The movie follows the exploits of the 442, the first all-Nisei (Japanese- American) Regimental combat team in WWII. In early 1942, all the Japanese- Americans in California, Seattle, Oregon and Hawaii were uprooted from their homes and put into camps. All the volunteers were from the 10 internment camps throughout the western states. They felt that this was the only way to prove to the U. S. that they were as patriotic as anybody else, in fact most of them were American Citizens! Since they had nothing to lose, but their lives, their motto was "GO FOR BROKE!" and that's what they did. They are today the most decorated battalion in the history of the U.S. military and proved something that they shouldn't have to be proved, that they were Americans!Van Johnson is used as the "white man" foil, to show how the rest of the country looked at the Japanese-American, and he does a great job. He starts off as a bigot, but as he begins to understand and respect his troops, he becomes one of them. There's a funny scene where one of his men call him "BAKATARE",which is a curse word close to "Damn, stupid...." and tells him that the soldier is being very polite, he's bowing as he says this. This film has everything: humor, action, great characters and... truth!