The Fighting Seabees

The Fighting Seabees
theatrical poster
Directed by	Edward Ludwig
Produced by	Albert J. Cohen
Written by	Borden Chase Aeneas MacKenzie
Starring	John Wayne Susan Hayward Dennis O'Keefe William Frawley
Music by	Walter Scharf Roy Webb
Cinematography	William Bradford
Edited by	Richard Van Enger
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release dates	March 10, 1944 (1944-03-10)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million

The Fighting Seabees is a 1944 war film starring John Wayne and Susan Hayward. The picture portrays a heavily fictionalized account of the dilemma that led to the creation of the U.S. Navy's "Seabees" in World War II. The supporting cast includes Dennis O'Keefe and William Frawley, and the movie was directed by Edward Ludwig.

Plot

Wedge Donovan (John Wayne) is a tough construction boss, building airstrips in the Pacific for the U.S. Navy during World War II. He clashes with his liaison officer, Lieutenant Commander Robert Yarrow (Dennis O'Keefe), over the fact that his men are not allowed to arm themselves against the Japanese. When the enemy lands in force on the island, he finally takes matters into his own hands, leading his men into the fray. This prevents Yarrow from springing a carefully devised trap that would have wiped out the invaders in a murderous machinegun crossfire, with minimal American losses. Instead, many of Donovan's men are killed unnecessarily.

As a result of this tragedy, Yarrow finally convinces the US Navy to form Construction Battalions (CBs, or the more familiar "Seabees") with Donovan's assistance, despite their mutual romantic interest in war correspondent Constance Chesley (Susan Hayward). Donovan and many of his men enlist and receive formal military training.

The two men are teamed together on yet another island. The Japanese launch a major attack, which the Seabees barely manage to hold off, sometimes using heavy construction machinery such as bulldozers and a clamshell bucket. When word reaches Donovan of another approaching enemy column, there are no sailors left to oppose this new threat. In desperation, he rigs a bulldozer with explosives on its blade, intending to ram it into a petroleum storage tank. The plan works, sending a cascade of burning liquid into the path of the Japanese, who retreat in panic, right into the sights of waiting machine guns. However Wedge is shot in the process and dies in the explosion.

Cast

• John Wayne as Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan
• Susan Hayward as Constance Chesley
• Dennis O'Keefe as Lt. Cmdr. Robert Yarrow
• William Frawley as Eddie Powers
• Leonid Kinskey as Johnny Novasky
• J.M. Kerrigan as Sawyer Collins
• Grant Withers as Whanger Spreckles
• Paul Fix as Ding Jacobs
• Ben Welden as Yump Lumkin
• William Forrest as Lt. Tom Kerrick
• Addison Richards as Capt. Joyce
• Jay Norris as Joe Brick
• Duncan Renaldo as Construction worker at party
• Wally Wales as Lt. Cmdr. Hood

USN Composite Squadron 68 aerial and rearming sequences, Lt. Raymond Anderson, Flight Leader

Production

The bulk of the outdoor location footage for The Fighting Seabees was filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif., widely considered to be the most heavily filmed outdoor filming location in the history of the movies and television. The production took over virtually the entire 500-acre location ranch for a period of time in 1943, constructing extensive sets on both the Upper Iverson and the Lower Iverson. Palm trees were brought in to transform Iverson's rocky Western landscape into a version of the Pacific islands where the movie's action was set. A massive landing strip was constructed on the Upper Iverson to simulate the takeoffs and landings of warplanes, as well as enemy bombing raids on the U.S.-built installation. On other parts of the movie ranch Quonset huts, observation towers, large fuel tanks and other props were built, with the construction process in many cases filmed and featured as part of the movie. Graphic scenes depicting tank battles, sniper attacks and hand-to-hand combat were filmed in the Iverson Gorge, Garden of the Gods and other sections of the movie ranch, in one of the largest productions in the ranch's history.

William Frawley, who later portrayed "Fred Mertz" in the television series I Love Lucy, appears in The Fighting Seabees as Eddie Powers.

See also

• John Wayne filmography

External links

• The Fighting Seabees at IMDb
• The Fighting Seabees at AllMovie
• The Fighting Seabees at the TCM Movie Database
• Photos and details on production of "The Fighting Seabees" on the Iverson Movie Ranch
• Iverson Movie Ranch: History, vintage photos.