Not much to report here as it is a John Wayne movie with all the usual trimmings. But this one could be divided into two parts. First, it's a war picture with John Wayne, and he seldom disappoints. He is brave and fearless and leads his men , in this case a submarine crew. Second, it's a love story, as he tries to win back his ex-wife (Pat Neal) and, let's face it; love stories are not Duke's long suit. He is in the love scenes but she carries the ball, and he is along for the ride.I felt the love angle dragged the picture down to an unacceptable level, as too much time was spent on it. Additionally, there was not much chemistry between the two and the heavy lifting was left to Ms. Neal. As a result, I divided my rating into two parts; war scenes a seven and the love scenes a five; my final rating is six. I include my star rating in the heading as the website no longer prints them.

A good-natured, charming and lively patriotic movie, of a chivalrous spirit, with Wayne in uniform, as Duke (lieut. Comdr.), a cardboard character among cardboard characters, either on his submarine 'Thunderfish' or on shore, rescuing nuns, negotiating with dishonest Hawaiians, claiming his love, looking clueless, self-righteous and stubborn, checking torpedoes, in the middle of the Japanese Imperial Navy, or of a salon of babies; in each of these occasions, he looks conveniently dignified, as an ideal navy officer, and is being given the occasion to avenge his mentor. A vehicle for uplifting militarism, smoothly directed by Waggner, who had the subtlety of mentioning 'G. W. slept here' and of peppering the dialogue with lines about movies, so it also has this meta dimension, with warriors on a submarine watching a movie about submarines. The funny scenes also have the chivalrous spirit. The romance plot is blunted by the edifying zeal, of undeniable hypocrisy. So, an assemblage of patriotic and populist clichés about competing, winning, etc., unpretentious fun for the unpretentious audiences eager to see Wayne doing his role; but as it may be unfair to require this movie to be what it wasn't even meant to, another possible take on it would be: watching Wayne playing a navy officer, in one of the mediocre and watchable movies made in the '50s, no sillier than many of the standard comedies and musicals, so good for an evening watching Wayne, gentle and chivalrous fun, meant to be appreciated by a perhaps not very pretentious audience.One can't reduce Wayne's understanding of the movies to the sheer banality of this, but it certainly is a way he enjoyed being shown on the screen, the icon of his ideal self. It made me yearn for something less phony. But when one sees Wayne's name on a war movie's credits, one also knows what to expect.Also in the cast: Patricia Neal, Ward Bond.

It's hard to decide which genre provided John Wayne the greater opportunity to showcase his talents - the "Western" or the "War Movie". Clearly, he excelled at both (and had more than a few opportunities to demonstrate it). Personally, I've always been a greater fan of his westerns, but when this film appeared on one of my favorite cable channels this afternoon, I found myself willingly drawn in. Although a lot of its elements are standard WWII fare, Operation Pacific still demonstrates why the genre has proven so successful to Hollywood.This one includes all the cliches - the tragedy of lives lost for a just cause (in this case, the war in the Pacific), the heroism of the men who gave up their lives for that cause (here it's a submarine crew based out of "Pearl"), and the women forced to wait patiently while the men they loved went into harm's way.Although a lot of this seems outdated and stereotyped some 50 years later, the movies that were made during and immediately following WWII nevertheless reflect the ideals and values that drove an entire nation (and generation) to act and feel as it did. My own father, who was a Navy man during the war, was a big fan of John Wayne. I have to believe that Wayne personified some of the very same values my father had come to embrace as a youth and during his time in the military. For me, this adds some validity and perspective.I know this is not considered to be Wayne's best war film (and admit to not being an enthusiastic student of the genre), but I'm confident that it's a good example of why these films were (and remain) so popular.

A very good WW2 movie. John Wayne is 'Duke' Gifford, an ultra devoted commander that leads his submarine crew up against the best the Japanese can put in the water or in the air.Ward Bond plays 'Pop' Perry, Gifford's mentor and growing naval legend. A young Patricia Neal portrays the love interest. Fleshing out the cast is Cliff Clark, Philip Carey, Martin Milner and Jack Pennick.If you love submarine movies, this is one of the better ones.