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I just watched the new “Midway” filmed, I think, in 2019. I didn’t like it nearly as well as the original with Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, and Glen Ford. It was entertaining, with a lot of action, but I much prefer the older version.

Did it have anything to do with Woody Harrelson?

Lol.

Maybe. I don’t like Harrelson, but he actually did a pretty good job as Nimitz.

I saw the original in '76 at the theater w/ my grandmother when I was but a wee lad. I remember it well. Great flick.

Hal Holbrook done a pretty good job in the original as well.

I liked the older one myself just as I like the John Wayne version of True Grit.

Old one was much better.

I prefer the new one. I thought Woody H did a good job as Nimitz and even looked a little like Nimitz. The new one told the story of Dick Best. There were no political statements on the new one.

I liked the actual battle footage of in the original. There were some great actors and even one or two over acting actors. The one thing I did not like was the political statement about the treatment of the Japanese during the war.

I like the new one better. Both great films.

Old version = good actors and acting.

New version = mediocre acting and special effects.

IT SUCKED. period. The first one was MUCH better.

Both are good, but the focus differs a bit. The inclusion of the shameful treatment of the citizens of Japanese ancestry was sorely needed at the time, as it clearly shows the Left for what they were, and still are.

When the original came out, I went to see it with my brother and his girlfriend. The only seats that were open were in a back corner. We sat down and the movie began. When it came to a scene on where pilots were starting their engines on a carrier deck, we found out why those seats were empty; that corner was where the Sensurround speakers were. Hadn’t noticed them in the dark on the way in.

Tell us how you really feel!!

I have both in my DVD collection. There is also a third version called Dauntless but in my not very humble opinion it sucks big time.
Paul B.

I don't hate Woody H but had cringe seeing Woody as Nimitz.

Same thing with Dennis Quaid as Halsey.

Neither of these gave me shakes like seeing Travolta acting as a Brigadier General in Thin Red Line.

Although to be fair I thought it a bit of poetic justice by naming him QiunTARD

Yep. John Revolta is awful.

Everybody always talks about Halsey but I think that Spruance was a better admiral. He just didn't seek out the publicity. Sorta like Patton vs Bradley.

I tried to get the kids to watch it for V day. My wife's grandpa was a tailgunner on a torpedo plane and was shot down with one of the first group of planes in. So its my kids great grandpa. He was shot down in the pacific 3 times and lived. The type of plane he was in was slow and a sitting duck for zeros. He just had a 30 cal he fired out the back of the canopy.

Bb

Both good, rate them about equal. I highly recommend reading the Pacific War trilogy by Ian Toll. It gives an idea of the Jap mindset that led to their defeat.

Those pilots in gunners in the torpedo planes in the early battles (Coral Sea and Midway) were truly some brave souls who went into battle in a plane (TBD Devestator) that was well past obsolete. Would be curious which squadron he flew in.

Three were there:
VT-8 off the carrier Hornet
VT6, off Enterprise
VT5, Yorktown

Likely not VB-8, all 15 gunners that flew off Hornet in TBDs died that morning, and 3 of the 4 land based contingent of VB-8 in the more modern TBF died.

The other squadrons had a horrific loss rate but a few more survivors.