In 1945 US Army Rangers raid the Cabanatuan Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, rescuing its POWs. The film flashes back to March, 1942, and the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines.
As U.S. Army troops under General MacArthur struggle to hold on at Bataan against the Japanese, Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne) orders one of his officers, Captain Andrés Bonifacio (Anthony Quinn), to shape up. Bonifacio has been under a strain because his sweetheart Dalisay Delgado (Fely Franquelli) is apparently collaborating with the Japanese, broadcasting propaganda over the radio.
Later, Madden is picked to slip through the lines to organize Filipinos to fight as guerrillas against the Japanese occupation. His commanding officer lets him know that Delgado is actually using the propaganda broadcasts to secretly transmit valuable information to them, but he is ordered to reveal that fact to no one, not even Bonifacio.
Madden makes contact with one group of Filipino resistance fighters, but as they set out on their first mission, they encounter middle-aged American school teacher Bertha Barnes (Beulah Bondi). She and her students join the guerrillas after the Japanese hang Buenaventura Bello (Vladimir Sokoloff), the principal of her school and a dear friend, for refusing to take down the American flag.
Setting out on their first mission to destroy a Japanese gasoline dump, Madden and his men stumble upon the Bataan Death March and realize that Bataan has fallen. Many of the Filipinos lose heart, so to boost their will to fight, Madden finds and engineers the rescue of Captain Bonifacio from the Death March. Bonifacio happens to be the grandson of Andrés Bonifacio, a national hero. It works. For their first mission, the guerrillas go to the Filipino village and hang the Japanese officer who ordered the killing of Bello. During the next year, Madden and his guerrillas attack Japanese outposts, supply depots, military airfields, and other installations.
Major Hasko (Richard Loo), one of the Japanese commanders, attempts to appease the local population by staging a semi-independence ceremony to reduce popular support for the Filipino resistance. Madden, Bonifacio, and the guerrillas attack the ceremony, where Dalisay finally reveals her true alliance during her radio broadcast: She urges her people to rise up against the Japanese. Most of the Japanese troops are killed in the raid, but a young Filipino boy named Maximo Cuenca (one of Barnes' students) is captured. After being beaten, he agrees to lead the Japanese to Madden's hideout. However, as they near that spot, Maximo, sitting in the front seat of a Japanese transport truck, suddenly grabs the steering wheel, sending it careening down a mountainside. He later dies in the arms of Miss Barnes.
Colonel Madden is ordered out of the field, leaving Captain Bonifacio in command of the Filipino resistance. Several months later, in October 1944, Bonifácio and his group travel to Leyte, where rumors are circulating of the impending American invasion to liberate the Philippines. After arriving on a beach in Leyte, Bonifacio is reunited with Madden who has arrived by submarine along with Lt. Commander Waite (Lawrence Tierney), a U.S. naval officer. Waite tasks Bonifacio and Madden with a mission of taking and holding a small village to block Japanese reinforcements from repelling the impending landing of American forces that are due within 24 hours.
By trickery, Madden, Bonifacio, and their men engage and defeat the Japanese garrison in a fierce pitched battle. Two enemy soldiers, however, get away on a motorcycle and spread the alarm. Japanese tanks and soldiers attack. The defenders manage to knock out most of the tanks, but are on the verge of being forced to retreat. Just when all seems lost, American reinforcements and tanks arrive and turn the tide of battle.
The film ends with another short montage, this time showing several of the actual released Americans from the Cabanatuan prison camp.
As the film opens, the credits roll over actual film clips from January 30, 1945, of POWs being freed from Cabanatuan, a Japanese prisoner of war camp.[1]
Production
Producer and future production partner of John Wayne Robert Fellows had previously made two war films with fictional characters based on true incidents in the War in the Pacific: Bombardier, based on the Doolittle Raid, and Marine Raiders. He also produced the John Wayne westernTall in the Saddle for RKO. Fellows strongly believed that an account of the initial defeat and guerilla resistance of the American and Filipino forces, as well as MacArthur's return, would be a splendid tribute and a profitable film. Fellows contacted the Office of War Information, and the American military also agreed and provided their assistance.[6]
The film took 130 days to shoot because of the rapidly changing Pacific war news of the time. Two thirds of the way through filming, the invasion of the Philippines occurred, forcing several script changes and rewrites in order to keep up with current events.[7] The Raid at Cabanatuan and release of American prisoners was also rapidly incorporated into the screenplay, with scenes recreating the 6th Ranger Battalion attacking the Japanese prison camp. This action sequence is placed at the beginning of the film, while there are appearances by actual, recently released, American POWs inserted for dramatic effect at the end.
Ben Barzman's screenplay emphasized Filipino nationalism as much as American patriotism. A Filipino school principal, who reminds a Filipino schoolboy of Philippine nationalism, is later ordered by the Japanese conquerors to take down the American flag in the schoolyard. When he refuses to do so, the Japanese hang him from the same flagpole, his body draped by the stars and stripes.
Back to Bataan was Wayne's first encounter during the filming with Americans with open Communist sympathies and beliefs. Barzman and director Edward Dmyrtyk were outspoken about their communist views.[8] When Wayne heard that Barzman and Dmytryk were openly belittling the religion of the film's technical advisor, Colonel George S. Clarke (who had commanded the 57th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts during the Battle of Bataan and was roughly Wayne's real life counterpart), and mocking him with renditions of the Internationale, he confronted Dmytryk, asking him if he was a communist. Dmytryk replied that he was not, but if "the masses of the American people wanted communism, it would be good for our country".[9] Though Dmyrtyk denied he was a communist, Wayne felt that he was by his use of the word "masses".[10] By contrast, Barzman's wife Norma recalled Wayne being friendly with her husband, with Wayne hugging him and calling him a "goddammned communist", to which Barzman jokingly replied that Wayne was a "fascist".[11] Wayne also developed a friendly relationship with Dmytryk, respecting his talents as a director. The actor was genuinely perplexed as to why Dmytryk, who was well-paid and enjoying the fruits of American democracy, would have such sympathy for communism, asking him, "Jeez Eddie, what's your beef with America?"
During filming, Dmytryk and Barzman found out that Wayne had refused to use a stunt double. So they collaborated in writing scenes that they thought would force Wayne to insist on using a stunt double. Wayne was required in one scene to be lifted into the air by a leather harness, simulating being blown up by an explosion. In another, Wayne and Quinn had to enter an icy pond and remain underwater for a lengthy time, each breathing through a reed. Wayne did the stunts, but as he drank a bracing whiskey beforehand, he told Barzman, "You better be goddamn sure we don't find out this is something you dreamed up out of your little head as a parting gift".[9]
In her book The Star-Entangled Banner, author Sharon Delmendo views Back to Bataan as Wayne acting as a stand-in for General Douglas MacArthur. He has to face the wrath of his Filipino officers asking him "where are the American forces?" He is later ordered to leave the Philippines only to return, like MacArthur, when the invasion finally happens.[12]
Bataan - a 1943 film about a small rearguard defending a bridge against the Japanese, starring Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan.
Further reading
Fojas, Camilla (2014). Islands of Empire: Pop Culture and U.S. Power. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN9780292756304., esp. pp. 44–54.
Hawley, Charles V. (2002). "You're a Better Filipino Than I Am, John Wayne: World War II, Hollywood, and U.S.-Philippines Relations". Pacific Historical Review. 71 (3): 389–414. doi:10.1525/phr.2002.71.3.389. JSTOR10.1525/phr.2002.71.3.389.
Related Research Articles
Edward Dmytryk was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s noir films and received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for Crossfire (1947). In 1947, he was named as one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who refused to testify to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in their investigations during the McCarthy-era Red Scare. They all served time in prison for contempt of Congress. In 1951, however, Dmytryk testified to the HUAC and named individuals, including Arnold Manoff, whose careers were then destroyed for many years, to rehabilitate his own career. First hired again by independent producer Stanley Kramer in 1952, Dmytryk is likely best known for directing The Caine Mutiny (1954), a critical and commercial success. The second-highest-grossing film of the year, it was nominated for Best Picture and several other awards at the 1955 Oscars. Dmytryk was nominated for a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures.
The Battle of Bataan was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Japan during World War II. The battle represented the most intense phase of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II. In January 1942, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission is a non-fiction book written by Hampton Sides. It is about the World War II Allied prison camp raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines.
The Alamo Scouts was a reconnaissance unit of the Sixth United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. The unit is best known for its role in liberating American prisoners of war (POWs) from the Japanese Cabanatuan POW camp near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines in January 1945.
The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Marton Csokas, Joseph Fiennes with Motoki Kobayashi and Cesar Montano. The principal photography took place from July 4 to November 6, 2002, but its release was delayed several times from the original target of fall 2003. The film received negative to average reviews from critics and was a commercial failure.
Captain Juan Pajota was involved in the Raid at Cabanatuan, an action which took place in the Philippines on 30 January 1945 by US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas and resulted in the liberation of more than 511 American prisoners of war (POWs) from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan.
Margaret Elizabeth Doolin "Peggy" Utinsky was an American nurse who worked with the Filipino resistance movement to provide medicine, food, and other items to aid Allied prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II. She was recognized in 1946 with the Medal of Freedom for her actions.
Camp O'Donnell is a former United States military reservation in the Philippines located on Luzon island in the municipality of Capas in Tarlac. It housed the Philippine Army's newly created 71st Division and after the Americans' return, a United States Army camp. During World War II, the reservation was used as a prisoner-of-war camp for Filipino and American soldiers captured by Japan during its successful invasion of the Philippines. About 60,000 Filipino and 9,000 Americans were housed at the camp. During the few months in 1942 that Camp O'Donnell was used as a prisoner-of-war camp, about 20,000 Filipinos and 1,500 Americans died there of disease, starvation, neglect, and brutality.
Robert Lapham was a reserve lieutenant in the US Army in World War II. He served in the Philippines attached to the 45th Infantry, evaded capture in the spring of 1942, and organized and led one of the largest and most successful guerrilla armies on the central plains of the northern island of Luzon. He was promoted to major by war's end, age 28, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Douglas MacArthur. Lapham was the third person, after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and MacArthur, to receive the Philippine Legion of Honor. Historian Norling says that Laphams's Luzon Guerrilla Army Force (LGAF) was probably the most efficient of the many guerrilla armies on Luzon. The U.S. Guerrilla Affairs Division commended Lapham for having the best-disciplined guerrilla organization.
Robert W. Prince was an officer in the United States Army's elite 6th Ranger Battalion. In 1945 he was chosen personally by Lt. Col. Henry Mucci to plan the rescue at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines.
Behind the Rising Sun is a 1943 American war film based on the 1941 book Behind the Rising Sun written by James R. Young. Later-blacklisted Edward Dmytryk directed the film, and it stars Margo, Tom Neal, J. Carrol Naish, Robert Ryan and Gloria Holden.
Ben Barzman was a Canadian journalist, screenwriter, and novelist, blacklisted during the McCarthy Era and known best for his screenplays for the movies Back to Bataan (1945), El Cid (1961), and The Blue Max (1966).
Fely Franquelli was a Filipino dancer, choreographer, and actress. Franquelli became known in the international dance scene in the 1930s.
Samuel Charles Grashio was a United States Army Air Forces pilot who was captured by the Japanese in World War II. He survived the Bataan Death March and participated in the only successful mass escape from a Japanese prison camp.
Ray C. Hunt was a staff sergeant in the United States Army Air Forces stationed at Nichols Field in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, under the command of Ed Dyess. After the surrender at Bataan, where he fought as an infantryman, he was forced to take the Bataan Death March with many other American and Filipinos. During the March, he escaped and fled into the hills. He eventually became a noted guerrilla leader on Luzon, where he served for three years behind Japanese lines. Hunt was promoted to captain by guerrilla leaders during that time.
During the Japanese occupation of the islands in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement, which opposed the Japanese and their collaborators with active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years. Fighting the guerrillas – apart from the Japanese regular forces – were a Japanese-formed Bureau of Constabulary, the Kenpeitai, and the Makapili. Postwar studies estimate that around 260,000 people were organized under guerrilla groups and that members of anti-Japanese underground organizations were more numerous. Such was their effectiveness that by the end of World War II, Japan controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.
The Cabanatuan American Memorial is a World War II memorial located in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija in the Philippines. It is located on the site of what was once Camp Pangatian, a military training camp which operated for twenty years until it was converted into an internment camp for Allied prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation.
Bataan Rescue is a 2003 television documentary film about the Raid at Cabanatuan. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it begins with the Fall of Bataan in 1942 up to the titular event in January 1945, where more than 500 prisoners of war were liberated from a Japanese camp in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. Directed by Peter Jones and written and produced by David Axelrod, the film first aired on PBS in the United States on July 7, 2003.
↑ Henares, Larry M. (November 23, 1990). "Tet wins his lonely battle". Manila Standard. Kagitingan Publications, Inc. p.14. Retrieved November 27, 2022. A stupid, ignorant scriptwriter made Anthony Quinn play the part of Andres Bonifacio Jr., son of our hero who actually never sired a child.
↑ p. 258 Roberts, Randy and Olson, James Stuart John Wayne: American 1997 University of Nebraska Press
↑ p. 115 Davis, Ronald L. Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne 2001 University of Oklahoma Press
↑ p. 98 Munn, Michael John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth 2004 Robson Books
1 2 p. 260 Roberts, Randy & Olson, James Stuart John Wayne: American 1997 University of Nebraska Press
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