The Fighting Seabees

This movie is one of my favorite John Wayne movies for all the wrong reasons. The Duke here is portrayed as a dull witted hothead until he bends to the will of the Navy, which, of course, in 1944, could... Full review

Before writing this review I took a quick look at Wikipedia and the article they have on the Seabees. Despite the fanciful story that Borden Chase wrote here about how the service was founded, the Seabees were actually an idea... Full review

Picked this up as a cheap DVD as I am a sucker for 40's/50's WW2 films. Taken as a bit of propaganda and entertainment, and not reflecting in any way historical fact, it achieves it's aim. IMO, it is not up... Full review

I was a "Seabee" w/ MCB 4, from 1964-1970!! In basic training in Port Hueneme California, during our first week of training we were marched to the post theater, and were shown this movie. We for the most part thought... Full review

Saying this film is "propaganda" is not an insult. No, it was deliberately crafted to encourage Americans that we can and will win the war if we stand firm. And what better image of this than the ever-vigilant John Wayne--the... Full review

There should be no doubt that this film is a highly over simplified account of how the U.S. Navy Seabees came into existence. John Wayne portrays the hot headed owner of Donovan Construction Company, who offers his services to the... Full review

This is one of only 10 movies out of hundreds that He made that John Wayne actually dies or is killed in. The other nine are not seen that often on TV---but people cannot believe that "The Duke" even died... Full review

Hollywoodized story of the building crews who went to support the troops and ended up in the shooting war. Realism is virtually absent in nearly every scene so you'll have to enjoy Wayne as Wayne and everyone else as caricature. That... Full review

Hollywoodized story of the building crews who went to support the troops and ended up in the shooting war. Realism is virtually absent in nearly every scene so you'll have to enjoy Wayne as Wayne and everyone else as caricature. That... Full review

I think you have to take this for what it is : A propaganda flick from the home front in the midst of WW II, and a vehicle for the "Commanding movie general" of the home front, John Wayne (not... Full review

As wartime propaganda goes, The Fighting Seabees is really pretty good. Which is followed by a patriotic, gung-ho montage of the training of the new battalions, which the film fortunately gets done with quickly enough, moving on to meatier stuff: The Seabees' climactic battle against entrenched Japanese forces is well-staged; this militarized construction crew comes up with some decidedly interesting ways to dispose of the enemy. ... Full Review

Bottom line: (I'm going to put this in all my Lionsgate Duke reviews so skip down if you want to hear my thoughts on the actual films) Lionsgate just repackages the titles that they've already released (under the Artisan/Republic Pictures... ... Full Article