Go For Broke

Just rolled the movie of the day, it's on the Combat Classics 50 Movie Pack. Didn't read much about this film, only thing that caught my eye is that it was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar. So that's interesting. Pretty excited to dive into it.

Here's the IMDb page: Go For Broke, On that page they also have the full movie for instant watch.

Review: Go For Broke is about the 442nd Army Division and their combat exploits throughout Western Europe. The 442nd was an all Japanese-American regiment which, for obvious reasons, caused them to be less than trusted. They, however, against adversity and rampant racism proved to be invaluable in the Italian and French Front.

After having finished Go For Broke, I can see why it was nominated for that Oscar. The writing was well done and at times, rather comical. The movie had some definite comedy elements which, though present, never overpower the films main genre, action. The action is well done and the cinematography is used perfectly to show off the action.


Pros:

Comedy: Comedy helps to break up the monotony of pretty much all war movies, especially older ones.

Racism: You might be saying, "How is racism a Pro?" Really the reason it's on here is the lack of racism. When you think of a Japanese Army regiment with Caucasian officers in 1943, you'd expect to find some racism, to say the least. However, the few times the film actually does show this racist element, it's kept contained and never used extensively.


Cons:

Character Development: The only development truly present in the movie is the main character's differing opinion towards his platoon. In the beginning of the film he wanted nothing to do with a Japanese-American platoon. However, near the end of the film he wouldn't want to be with any other platoon. And that's the extent of character development. Yes I know war movies probably shouldn't have much character development, however, this film had so little, I noticed it continuously throughout the film.

Pigs: I highly doubt any army would let a soldier keep a pet. Let alone a pig. Tommy, the soldier who "owns" the pig, at some points talks about how precious little food he has. Yet he keeps a fat piece of pork around. Oh well, he eventually hands it over to a poor French family anyway. So I guess it served some purpose.

FINAL SCORE:

7/10

I'm far from a modern military buff or a war movie buff. However, I found the characters in this film to be likeable and the writing was well done. Like I said prior, had there been more character development this would be a higher score.


Purchase "Go For Broke":

Amazon

Oldies

Combat Classics 50 Movie Pack
Or watch it free here (in much lesser quality):

Go For Broke