Marines, Let's Go (1961) User Reviews

Shore Leave For Gyrenes

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 13 June 2006]

Marines Let's Go is a film about a group of leathernecks on leave in occupied Japan just before the outbreak of the Korean War. It's the usual hijinks you find in service comedies. Tom Tryon and David Hedison went on to have some substantial careers.

Tom Reese is the leader of the group, I imagine because Raoul Walsh couldn't get Lee Marvin for the part. Reese is the sort that seems to be only happy in combat. The kind us poor civilians should give a wide berth to.

The film should have ended right when the Marines are put on alert and the leaves canceled. It was an average enough comedy, but it got kind of silly when it turned abruptly serious during the beginning of the Korean War. Ruined the film, the combat situations were hardly convincing.

No wonder Raoul Walsh couldn't get any name players for this one.

Not one of the better war movies

[whatshisfacesoutpost · 3/10 · 24 July 2011]

I rated this a 5 overall. The first 1/2 of the movie is a 2 and the last 1/2 a 5 so I settled on a 3 overall because of the fact I am IN it! I was an engineer aboard one of the PAPa boats when landing on the beach in one of the war scenes. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have rated the last half a 9 but probably a 6. If I had a choice of movies to be in this would not be one of them! The first of the movie is a very dull view of a bunch of drunken idiots who make fools of themselves in Japan. THE SECOND HALF DOES HAVE SOME DECENT war scenes when they hit the beach. The movie was filmed while the NAVY was doing maneuvers while in the P I Islands. They didn't have to pay for actors or the NAVY to film the maneuvers.

Bill MM2 US NAVY 1961-67

Don't waste your time.

[browser-4 · 1/10 · 26 April 2007]

joebat23 was overly kind in his grading of this movie, it is absolutely terrible. The plot couldn't even be called sophomoric, the acting was atrocious and the reasoning of the characters was juvenile. Add to this the incredibly bad dialog and an "Intelligence department" that can't figure out what is going on when it should be painfully obvious and you have a movie that makes those Police Academy movies seem like high art worthy of a Nobel Prize.

The only reason I can think of to watch this movie is that a relative is in it and even then I don't think you should lest you lose any regard you have for that relative.

Oh, if you are expecting any even halfway decent battle scenes, forget it.

Bad movie

[joebat23 · 1/10 · 15 December 2006]

The script was bad and the acting was bad. It was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn't funny -- I would call it verbal slapstick, juvenile. I would expect 13 year olds to act like this, maybe, but not adults, not even in a comedy. The dialogue was unbelievably stilted. There wasn't a realistic moment in the film. All the Asians in the film were presented as caricatures. I tuned in to AMC part way through the film, actually not too long after it started, and kept watching it mainly to see the credits at the end. I didn't realize it would last another two hours. Another annoying aspect was the martial music they played non-stop. MASH, which debuted a few years later, was the movie they were trying to make but fell far short of.

Are you kidding me?

[herrwh · 1/10 · 7 June 2020]

Caught the movie while surfing, and would've kept on looking except they mentioned they were going to Yokosuka Japan for leave. Having been stationed in Yokosuka the year it was released, I had to stick around to see if they'd show any part of it. The movie kept mentioning the Ginza, which of course, is in Tokyo. They probably were trying to refer to Honcho Street in Yokosuka, which was the main sailor bar street, and was definitely not the street they showed at night in the movie. When they entered an alleged Yokosuka bar, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Instead of a small, dingy, crowded bar with tables, booths and bar girls hustling fleet sailors for drinks, it was like a 50's night club in America, complete with tablecloths and lamps on tables with a stage and chorus girls. IOW, nothing like any of the bars I saw in the two years I was stationed there. We base sailors, at the Naval Communications Station there had our own bar, the Bar Midnight, which was an all-night bar, not subject to cinderella liberty rules, as were the Honcho Street bars. My first question was 'Why name Yokosuka as a destination city for leave, which they constantly referred to as 'furlough', an Army term..If you arrive by ship, perhaps, but Tokyo would've been the destination for R&R from Korea, not Yokosuka. There was a Marine barracks on the base, but their main duty was guarding the Main Gate, running the Brig and firing the 105 mm howitzers at ceremonies, not running an 'intelligence unit' on base. And come to think of it, I don't remember ever seeing a Marine Shore Patrol unit off-base. My second question was 'Who the hell wrote this . . . crud?' A very derivative movie, nothing original or truly funny.

One of the Worst Movies I Have Ever Seen

[Mg6 · 1/10 · 16 March 2020]

Geez, this thing was awful. The acting was horrid. The writing was pathetic. I am not sure how this thing got made. I think it was supposed to be a comedy, but the intellectual level is kindergarten at best. I know some people say you have to not take some movies seriously, I get that and can often do that. But when they are this bad you just find your jaw dropping in amazement at how it somehow finds a way to get worse and worse. Terrible movie!

Entertaining Service Comedy/drama/war film

[hogwrassler · 7/10 · 4 July 2020]

This 1961 movie about marines during the Korean War turns up on the Fox Movie Channel several times a year. It has excellent color and was directed by Raoul Walsh. Tom Tryon and David Hedison were bigger name "hunks" at the time and got first and second billing. But genuine tough guy Tom Reese is the real star here. Reese mainly did supporting villain roles during his career but he is excellent and really carries the movie. Reese and another genuine tough guy, Roy Jensen, have one of the best screen fist fights of all time. The timing and throwing of the punches and the sound effects of the landing blows really get the viewer's attention. Linda Hutchins is fourth billed and shows off a real sexy side. One negative is that all the bad people that the heroes encounter in Japan are anglos. All the Japanese are portrayed as good and decent, if a somewhat naive people. The brothel madame Is a blonde with a German accent. The bar owner who has his customers rolled and robbed is an American. The girl seen picking the pocket of a marine appears to be American. The woman trying to convince her marine boyfriend to desert is an American. All the nastier girls in the nasty bar are anglos. Clearly stereotyping but it's all in fun, I guess. The combat scenes are good and the characters are all interesting. Tom Reese showed he could carry an action film and handle every scene well. It's worth watching the next time it turns up on FMX.

Fairly Good Movie

[rojobaron-197-234498 · 7/10 · 19 April 2020]

I enjoyed this film. The weakest aspect was the acting. The plot for most of the movie (the Japan holiday portion) was entertaining with plenty of comedy relief. That comedy relief was tempered by a healthy dose of 50s stereotyping for both the Japanese and the Marines. It was less predictable than I expected. The battle scenes showed some great action shots of early jet launches (in color) from the aircraft carriers which were well done and the Air Force air to mud scenes with the fighters were good. Overall I had few problems with this movie after taking in to consideration the time period and obviously low budget. Sit back and enjoy a few laughs

Marines in Occupied Japan Party Until Shipping Out to Korea

[sbox · 6/10 · 29 April 2001]

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Marginal film which shows U.S. Marines trying to have a ball in Japan. They chase girls, drink booze, and con a local hotel owner into letting them room. Most of the film's fun is watching our various marines get into trouble. Two thirds of the film is all fun. The film turns serious towards the end.

Could have been a lot better, but I was entertained for most of it. Six out of Ten.