User reviews

Moving warlike production set on the Philippines plenty of Japanese and a crew of Marines battling an important base on the Pacific . The picture is divided in 4 chapters : first , second , third and fourth day . During WWII , October 1944 , a commando is assigned a dangerous mission on the Philippines Islands already inhabited by stranded Japanese forces , they have 38 hours to get their objectives . The Americans are commanded by a captain but he early dies and a sergeant (Hugh O'Brian) rules over soldiers . The group is formed by First Sergeant Steve (Hugh O'Brian) , 2ª Sergent (Mickey Rooney) , Sgt. William (Pete Masterson) , Corporal Alvin Ross (Henry Lauter) , Cpl. Parrish (Amsterdam) , Pvt George (Tony Smith) , Capt. Alonzo (Clam Stadler) and the starring James Grenier , a soldier without experience(James Mitchum , the tale is narrated under his point of view by voice in off) . At the beginning the Marines are successfully in wiping out Japanese . But they are spotted and descended upon by enemies forces ; meanwhile suffering casualties , exhaustion, encounters until execute their mission and to be rescued by a ship . They must go to the other side of the island until Panpassan at a Japanese resort , a 'House of tea' where contact a spy called Miyazaki who has top information and transmit it by radio . Then , the daredevil sergeant and the rockie radio-man soldier (James Mitchum) find themselves vying during the escape . The group must try to survive enemy that undergo a chase and a mini-war , as they fight all by themselves and finally find how wrong his misconceptions are . At the end the survivors endeavor to blow up a pivotal Japanese installation .

This is a Schenck-Zabel-Hal Klein Production realised thru United Artists and written by Ib Melchor , a Sci-Fi expert ; being well photographed by Emmanuel Rojas . Flag-waver wartime movie with a typical crew of Marines battling the 'yellow menace' and retrieve a messenger . The film packs warlike action, thrills, drama and is quite entertaining . The story contains a brief studio character seeking human frailty beneath surface heroism . Splendid Hugh O'Brian as tough sergeant , in one of the best roles and James Mitchum -who bears remarkable resemblance his father Robert- is fine , no thanks to mediocre script . Director Ron Winston's skill with the thrills overcomes the artificiality of the story . A cool cast, nice direction from Winston with riveting climax and enhanced by energetic score by Richard La Salle make this a must for wartime fans . The picture was filmed entirely on actual locations in the Republic of the Philippines . The producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the Philippine government and its armed Force . Thanks to the U.S. Department of Defense , U.S. Navy , Marine Corps and Coast Guard , for their invaluable assistance , the producers extended thru United Artists .

Others movies concerning the wartime sub-genre about American soldiers battling Japanese on the Pacific islands and Philippines during the WWII are the following : Guadalcanal diary(43)by Lewis Seiler with Anthony Quinn and Lloyd Nolan ; the classic Sands of Iwo Jima(1949) by Allan Dawn with John Wayne ; Beachhead (1956)by Stuart Heisler with Tony Curtis and Frank Lovejoy ; None but the brave, directed and starred by Frank Sinatra; and Between heaven and hell(1956) with Robert Wagner, among them.

For standards of movie making decades later, the movie has its flaws but if you look past that, the plot is good and so is the acting. I enjoyed the nostalgia look at war movies where it was made close / somewhat close to when it happened and present day mannerisms, colloquial expressions and revisionist haven't taken too much of a overriding theme.

The actors in this movie are thin which to me reflects what a true soldier living on rations would look like, they don't use foul language in every sentence nor do they talk about sex. The plot shows Americans with dedication to duty, callous to the death around them and respect for each other except for the character, Pfc James Grenier, played by James Mitchum. As you watch the movie you go from disliking Grenier to rooting for him as all of the members of the mission are killed off.

Much of this film takes place in the dark. So it is impossible to make out what is going on,which is rather frustrating. However what I did see looked cheap and cheesy. The Mitchum character was simply ridiculous. Why was he wearing a red cap in the jungle. Its all very predictable and second rate.

This is one of those modest films about life in the Marine corps during War time. Directed by Ron Winston, it's depiction is that of a select group of specialized soldiers, sent on a top secret mission to destroy a specific target which threaten the U.S. Navy's amphibious assault. The movie stars tough guy Hugh O'Brian as 1st Sgt. Steve Corey. Mickey Rooney follows as Gunnery Sgt. Ernest Wartell, as an equally tough as nails non-com who is convincing as a career soldier. James Mitchum is interesting, though irritatingly naive as Pfc. James Grenier who joins the elite group at the last minute. Their mission is dangerous, indeed nearly impossible as they are required to land on a heavily guarded island held by the Japanese, traverse a dense jungle and to destroy their radar station controlling a hidden underwater mine field awaiting the unsuspecting Americans. Despite the minor flaws in the film, the acting is top notch and the drama is consistent with true war like Military action. The movie is easily recommended to war buffs and fans of the main stars. ****

I have seen the movie before years ago on TV and I don't remember much about it from that time. However, this time the first thing I notices all through out the film was-WHATS WITH THE HATS! Each character wore a different style or color hat. I guess the producers wanted the audience to be able to distinguish each actor by the color and style of the hats. Hugh O"Brian was a former Marine so he probably refused to wear an unauthorized COVER (see I did use the right term). His had the symbol in the front. In addition, Mitchem wore jeans. I can't see a real Marine doing that and I also can't see a real Marine talking in such a disrespectful manner. He would have gotten that beaten out of him the first day in boot camp. Me being a gunnut I did notice the man with the M! Garand having the side mounted scope on it (M1D). That really surprised me. When the story opened and the comment was made that the man was an expert with the Garand, he would have carried a M1D and sure enough in the story he did and he used it. All in all it was a good war movie. It was not Platoon but good.

A squad of Marines arrives at the Philippines, in October 1944. Their mission is top secret; but, if you have some background knowledge, you'll know it has to do with United States General Douglas MacArthur's impending return. The film's Captain is quickly killed off, and handsome "second in command" Sergeant Hugh O'Brian (as Steve Corey) takes over. A distant, no-nonsense hero, Mr. O'Brian was self-described gigolo (servicing a forty-year-old divorcée) as the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He clashes with ill-advisedly red-capped Private James Mitchum (as James Grenier), who has no combat experience. Mr. Mitchum, who also narrates the story, is needed for his radio transmission expertise.

The main conflict is between O'Brian and Mitchum; the film's message about war and heroism is haphazardly told. The film's most obvious fault is that nothing much is done to make any of it seem like it takes place in 1944. The Marines look and act like they could be fighting in Vietnam; this may, or may not be part of the point; it isn't clear. Perhaps, it was felt an authentic filming location (Philippines) would be enough. A nice opening introduces the cast, then neglects most of them. Veteran Mickey Rooney (as Ernest Wartell) and beautiful Tisa Chang (as Miyazaki) play the only noteworthy supporting characters.

**** Ambush Bay (6/13/66) Ron Winston ~ Hugh O'Brian, James Mitchum, Mickey Rooney, Tisa Chang

Ambush Bay is not a bad little WW2 "B"movie auctioneer. It blends your standard Pacific theatre war movie, with the old horror trope of our heroes being knocked off one by one letting us wonder who might survive if any at all. Unfortunately that concept is pretty much immediately undermined by the director choosing to use an unneeded narration, which should give the alert viewer a strong hint as to the final outcome. Ambush Bay is full of little positives and negatives, such as this.

It was filmed entirely on location in The Philippines, where the story is set, which is definitely a bonus for a clearly low budget feature. But then there is quite a bit of not particularly well-lit night-time cinematography in the jungle, during which it's pretty difficult to clearly see what action is occurring.

The story involves an elite unit of American marines undertaking a secret mission (Is there any other type?) to a Japanese - held island. They are to make contact with an American spy with vital information which may well affect the result of the war in the Pacific. The trouble is the spy works in a Japanese "tea-house" (pleasure resort for soldiers) and the Americans have no clue to the spy's identity, except a code-name. And beginning with their landing on the island they begin to suffer casualties.

Most associated with the movie had television pedigrees: director Ron Winston, (This was his debut cinema release.) lead, Hugh O"Brian and many of the support cast, including James Mitchum (Yes, Robert's son! The physical resemblance is there, but that's where it ends. Where Dad made acting look easy, Junior makes it look trying.) The arguable exception is Mickey Rooney, who whilst putting in a welcome appearance, is the least likely physical specimen one might expect to see on a mission such as this.

We get very little characterisation in Ambush Bay. Many of the soldiers are killed off, before we even know their names, some it has to be said, in rather silly fashions, for supposedly elite combat troops. Speaking of fashions, I'm not sure why some of them seemed to be wearing baseball caps. It never seemed to be explained. Mitchum's is the most developed character, playing a duck out of water. Drafted into the mission involuntarily because of his radio communication skills, he completes the old trope of a rookie soldier thrown into a situation beyond his control.

Ambush Bay doesn't aim high (even that title??) but what it does do, it does OK. There is plenty of action (some of it, literally unbelievable), a fair degree of suspense and I have to say, that I have seen far worse in terms of entertainment value.

Excellent majestic, dramatic location filming in the Philippines is wasted on 'Ambush Bay's' cliché crippled script and on its other, ginsu production values (e.g., very fake-looking fake blood, amateurish explosions, racks upon racks of 1966-modern electronics suites pretending to be WWII Japanese gear, shabbily unsynched post-production dubbing of spoken Japanese over the moving lips of the Filipino actors portraying them). It also doesn't help this film that most of the raiders - those who are given no character development beyond the opening scene's terse narration of each man's combat specialty; and the most laughable of these is for Mickey Rooney's character who is "expert" with a Thompson submachine gun). The DVD image and sound transfer are, however, surprisingly good.

Since I first saw 'Ambush Bay' on late-night TV (in the Age Before Cable), and many times thereafter, I've always loved the cheesy scene of the wounded Mickey Rooney sassing his Japanese interrogators before he grenades them along with himself. It's one of the cheesiest bravado scenes ever to have been captured in celluloid - and yet it's the chief reasons I watch this almost painfully cheesy movie every few years or so. That scene, indeed the entire film, is like a 1960's censors'-toned-down-for-macho-blue-language echo of men's pulp magazines, which usually bore full-color cover illustrations that depicted bosomy Nazi women whipping bare chested virile Yanks, or inscrutable sloe-eyed Japanese women bent on seducing square-jawed, and always Caucasian, G.I.s) of the 50's and 60's (see James Lileks's website for amusing samplings thereof). I might add that a man of Rooney's abbreviated stature may not have met the marines' minimum pre-WWII height requirement, which thus casts doubt on the script's revelation that his character is a "career" marine: all I know is that I've NEVER seen a Gunnery Sergeant so short as Rooney's - so diminutive is Rooney that the Thompson gun he brandishes nearly equals his gnomish height. Yet he gives a good effort despite the script's wince-provoking haplessness.

Though the marines in the film speak the most lines, it's the Filipino actors (the ones playing Filipinos, not the ones badly playing Japanese) who achieve something like verisimilitude. Plainly, some of those actors, and many of the Filipino extras, retained vivid memories of their pitiless WWII subjugation and occupation by the Japanese.

The storyline isn't worth recounting at all, except to say that it's nearly as improbable as that of 'The Guns Of Navarone' - but at least 'The Guns Of Navarone' profited from its nearly high-camp capacity to, again nearly, lampoon itself as it plays out. But 'Ambush Bay' neither has, nor attempts, any such wittiness, overt or underlying, and thus its worst, thoroughgoing flaw is that it takes itself much too seriously. The other inherent flaw is in the plot: the notion that a fixed minefield could have somehow defeated or deflected the massive 1944 U.S. invasion of the Philippines is beyond risible.

At least the prop crew got all the personal weapons on both sides, and those "beach camouflage" (that's what the pattern was officially called) gyrene uniforms, right. We even see some Japanese troops toting and firing U.S. M1903 Springfield rifles: which is factual since the Japanese captured large numbers of these when they took the Philippine archipelago in 1942, along with considerable stocks of the proper ammunition for them.

Hugh O'Brian - never a contender for acting awards - is stiff, stolid, and wooden almost to point of petrification, and it doesn't help his performance that he was given awful dialogue to try to speak convincingly; in a few instance in 'Ambush Bay,' though, it seems he would have been a perfect casting choice had Hollywood decided to adapt DC Comics' nigh-superhero Sergeant Rock character to the cinema. James Mitchum inherited precious little of his father's superb talent: here as Grenier he's just gawky, awkward, sorely unconvincing every time he recites a line; his only - and scant - saving grace here would seem to be appears to have been a natural, relaxed athleticism.

On the whole, however, viewers knowledgeable about WWII history will find 'Ambush Bay' historically lacking; and anyone familiar with the canons of scriptwriting and production technique will find its flimsy plot, hackneyed dialogue, and ginsu special effects almost unendurable. But watch it for the Classic Cheesiness in that one Mickey Rooney suicidal bravado scene, for the lovely location photography, and for some serious and fairly impressive acting by the Filipino actors whose performances, one can't help construing, benefited from their having had their hearts in this story that purports to tell, at least obliquely, of the ordeal they endured and the feats of sacrifice and fortitude they achieved throughout Japan's WWII tyrannization of them and their islands.

A crack team of US Marines is sent to one of the small Phillipine islands because there's an agent there who's got some big news, but can't get it out. Almost from the beginning Captain Clem Stadler is killed in some contact with a Japanese patrol. That leaves command of the mission to fall on Sergeant Hugh O'Brian.

Ambush Bay managed to hit all the war movie clichés without a miss in its running time. One of the most prominent was the new guy on the mission, in this case radioman James Mitchum. He was a last minute replacement and with the exception of Mickey Rooney, he's not well regarded by the seasoned Marines on the mission.

I can't say what it is or how the team deals with the information, but let's just say they've got one big old surprise cooked up for Admiral Halsey's task force.

The movie was shot entirely on location in the Phillipines and the scenery is quite lush. I'm sure that the promise of a tropical vacation might have induced a few of our American players to work in this film.

I feel either ambushed or just plain bushed right about now.

The criteria presented regarding this movie is correct, except for the comment on the US M4 Sherman. In all wars, including the Second World War, forces from all sides wind up capturing enemy equipment. M3A1 Stuart light tanks of US manufacture were caputred by the Japanese in the Philippines (in Bataan) during 1941 and subsequently pressed into their service. The tank depicted in the movie could have been captured during the Guadalcanal campaign as the island kept continuously changing hands, shipped to the Phillipines and assigned to serve whatever division occupied those islands. Simple as that. There are records that show a few Sherman tanks were INDEED captured during the entire Pacific War.

RELEASED IN 1966 and directed by Ron Winston, "Ambush Bay" stars Hugh O'Brian, James Mitchum and Mickey Rooney as Marines on a covert mission on a Japanese-held island in the Philippines where they must hook up with local Filipino guerrillas in preparation for MacArthur's invasion.

The first 45 minutes or so are typical jungle warfare from the perspective of 60's filmmakers, not bad, but kinda meh. However, things perk up with the Teahouse sequence and the introduction of Miyazaki, played by the beautiful Tisa Chang, which adds human interest to the proceedings with O'Brian effective as the laconic hero. There are some war movie clichés, but the action's muscular and the movie emphasizes self-sacrifice for the greater cause with some fairly potent melancholic pieces.

Another reviewer puzzlingly criticized the film as a cheap remake of "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) when the storyline isn't anything like that heralded film. They both take place in the jungle and involve Allies fighting Japanese, that's it. The score has similarities, so what?

THE MOVIE RUNS 109 minutes and was shot in Luzon & Metro Manila, Philippines. WRITERS: Marve Feinberg & Ib Melchior.

GRADE: B-

I saw this on a crappy B&W TV in 1969 or so at around the age of 8. It always stuck in my head as my favorite war movie as a child. I lived in the middle of the city, San Diego, but there were miles of wooded canyons directly behind my house, and in the 60's we all played soldier. It was always WWII, even though it was the middle of the Vietnam war. In watching this for the first time in over 50 years, I know why I liked it as a kid. It has the exact feel of me and my friends running around the bushes in the canyons playing war. I have always remembered the Mickey Rooney grenade/potato scene. Has not come up yet as I type this, but has always been imprinted in my brain. I am surprised how this is all filmed on location, and not in a studio where it could have looked like Gilligan's Island. Seeing it on widescreen and in color gives away some of the shear stupidity of this movie, like the red hat. But hey, for a kid watching on an old TV 50 plus years ago, it is one of the great WWII movies ever made.

The setting is an unnamed, Japanese-held island in the Philippines during the second World War. A marine unit arrives to carry out a mission; they will make contact with a Japanese double agent and ultimately work to relay critical information. Hugh O'Brian is Steve Corey, the crusty, tough-as-nails Sergeant and second-in-command who must take charge when the units' captain (Clem Stadler, also the movies' technical advisor) is written out of the story very early on. James Mitchum plays James Grenier, a relatively green radio man who feels ill-prepared for his situation (he was a last-minute replacement for a man who fell sick). Grenier also narrates. And Mickey Rooney is Ernest Wartell, a reliable weapons expert.

Overall, "Ambush Bay" lacks distinction. But whatever it lacks in style and gravitas is compensated by a straightforward, matter-of-fact story (scripted by Marve Feinberg and Ib Melchior) that doesn't get bogged down in messages, subtext, or pretensions of any kind. It's a pretty enjoyable meat-and-potatoes kind of war movie, one with time enough for both adequate action sequences and some character-defining moments for the guys, and Tisa Chang as Miyazaki, the contact unknown by the heroes to be a female. O'Brian and Rooney are fine, Mitchum less effective. Grenier is the type of character who will be seen as annoying and whiny until the inevitable moment near the end where he does redeem himself. Then again, he's not career military like most of the guys; his civilian life didn't get put on hold that long ago. Supporting roles are played by Peter Masterson and Harry Lauter; viewers who've seen enough Filipino exploitation features will recognize Bruno Punzalan, who plays a small part.

Excellent location shooting, a fair amount of gore (albeit with that kind of bright red movie blood we saw so frequently during this era), and rousing music by Richard LaSalle all help in making this reasonably entertaining to watch.

Seven out of 10.

I saw this movie when it came out.

Sure it's flawed and riddled with clichés, but there's really only one reason to watch it and that's Mickey Rooney and his flippant comments when he gets wounded and confronted by the Japanese.

Baked potatoes and you can eat them with the jackets on.

That entire scene stuck in my mind all these years and I am re-watching the movie while I type this.

The music is quite good.

But if you're looking for a war movie that's accurate or reflects reality, this one isn't it.

James Mitchum's character reminds me of one of those guys who questions everything and contributes nothing.

By the end of the movie, you're rooting for him to get killed just so he'll shut up.

Kind of like some liberals out there.

So many rookie mistakes.

Mitchum is the key man, the last minute radio man who is told to protect his radio at all times. Except in the opening frame, he is wearing a dark red hat that he continues to wear during the entire movie. Here is a group of hand selected specialist in full camouflage and this guy right in the middle is wearing a dark red cap.

And the second in command, the sarge knows the exact route of the American invasion fleet. Top-secret restricted information but given to someone on a commando raid. Not that anyone could get captured and tortured.

And the demolition expert doesn't know how to keep his head down.

Need I say more expect to stream it on Netflix and watch it in 15 minutes. I'll let you find the other insults to the Corp. Hollywood and its love of profits to the max.

Don't waste your time

A laconic war movie shot in The Philippines and set there twenty years earlier (not that you'd know it from female lead Tisa Chang's sixties blouse and slacks (the latter tight enough for it to be obvious she's not wearing forties underwear).

A year earlier it would've been in black & white, but local cameraman Emmanuel Rojas renders the local vegetation incongruously pretty in glossy De Luxe Color; although it does enables the blood to be vividly red.

Most of the cast are a terse, taciturn bunch, especially ultra-tough commanding officer Hugh O'Brian; the emotion coming from Bob's boy Jim Mitchum, who also provides the film's narration.

This movie was a painful war drama to watch. Bad special effects particularly the red paint as blood. The acting of James Mitchum is second rate compared to his father, and his red had in the field is just ridiculous for a special ops unit. A true retro C Grade flick!

Just picked up this DVD for a song. Yes, the acting is wooden, the characters are archetypes of classic WWII yarns, and the blood was obviously red paint. But this film does include two nice touches: the cinematography, and the music score. I thought I recognized the music: Richard LaSalle was the composer for "Ambush Bay" and many of his music cues from this film turned up as incidental music on most of producer Irwin Allen's TV projects throughout the 1970's. The "Land of the Giants" series used a lot of his music in the later episodes.

Oddly, in a peculiar coincidence, "Ambush Bay" co-script writer Ib Melchoir was a noted sci-fi film scribe, having penned "The Time Travelers" (1966), and is credited with creating the idea for producer Irwin Allen's "Lost In Space" (for which he was not given credit). And the tie-in is that composer LaSalle contributed scores to both "Time Travelers" and "Lost in Space" (sometimes fact IS stranger than fiction).