Editing They Were Expendable (section)

== Production ==
Following the acquisition of the film rights to White's ''They Were Expendable,'' MGM asked Ford to direct a film based on the book; Ford repeatedly refused due to his conflicting service in the Navy Field Photographic Unit. While he was serving in the photographic unit, Ford met Lieutenant [[John D. Bulkeley]] during the preparation of the [[Normandy Invasion]],<ref>{{cite web|url= https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/john-fords-navy-a-filmmaker-in-the-oss|title="John Ford's Navy": A Filmmaker in the OSS|website=warfarehistorynetwork.com|date=February 16, 2021 }}</ref> and later signed Bulkeley's D-Day executive officer Robert Montgomery{{citation needed|reason=Montgomery serving as Bulkeley's XO needs to be established with a reliable citation.|date=December 2021}}.<ref>McBride, Joseph ''Searching for John Ford;'' Univ. Press of Mississippi, p. 406, 11 Feb. 2011</ref>

According to [[Turner Classic Movies]] host [[Ben Mankiewicz]], Ford, a notoriously tough taskmaster who had received a commission as a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve in his late 40s during WWII, was especially hard on Wayne, who had a 3-A — family deferment — draft rating. During production, Ford fell from scaffolding and broke his leg. He turned to Montgomery, who had actually commanded a PT boat, to temporarily take over for him as director. Montgomery did so well that within a few years, he made the transition from actor to directing films.

The film, which received extensive support from the [[United States Department of the Navy|Navy Department]], was shot in [[Key Biscayne]], Florida<ref name=tcmnotes>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2070/they-were-expendable#notes|title=They Were Expendable (1945) - Notes - TCM.com|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref> and the [[Florida Keys]]. This region of sandy islands and palm trees around 25° North latitude sufficiently approximated the Philippines between roughly 10 and 15° North, where the film's action took place in the Southwest Pacific of the [[Pacific theatre of World War II]] of World War II. Two actual U.S. Navy 80-foot [[Electric Launch Company|Elco]] PT boats (hull numbers PT-139 and 141), and four 78-foot [[Higgins Industries|Higgins]] PT boats, (hull numbers PT-98, 100, 101, 102),<ref>MTB Squadron Four, War Diary, Month of March 1945, FC8-4/A12-1 Serial 12, Dated April 2, 1945, NARA Collection</ref> were used throughout filming, given hull numbers in use in late 1941 and early 1942 for the film. Additional U.S. aircraft from nearby [[naval air station]]s in [[Miami]], [[Fort Lauderdale]], and [[Key West]] were temporarily re-marked and used to simulate Japanese aircraft in the film.

Ford's onscreen directing credit reads, "Directed by John Ford, Captain U.S.N.R."; Frank Wead's onscreen credit reads: "Screenplay by Frank Wead Comdr. U.S.N., Ret."; Montgomery's onscreen credit reads: "Robert Montgomery Comdr. U.S.N.R."<ref name=tcmnotes />

===Depiction of PT boats' effectiveness===
The movie likely exaggerated the actual effectiveness of the PT boats in the war, and in at least one instance loosely referenced Commander Bulkeley's own exaggerated statements.   Lt. Brickley, the character most closely based on the real Commander John Bulkeley, declares at one point in the movie that PT boats had "sunk two converted cruisers, an auxiliary aircraft carrier, a 10,000-ton tanker, a large freighter, a flock of barges, and numerous sons of Nippon!" This statement is very similar to a claim made by the real Commander Bulkeley himself during the war that "Our little half squadron sank one Jap cruiser, one plane tender, and one loaded transport, badly damaged another cruiser, set a tanker on fire, and shot down four planes".  According to William Doyle, the  author of ''[[PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy]]'', "after the war, when Japanese naval loss records were examined by U. S. Naval Intelligence experts, it was learned that these claims were inaccurate and exaggerated".<ref> Doyle, William, PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy, (2015), New York, William Morrow Publisher, pg. 30</ref>  Contemporary historians of President John F. Kennedy, William Doyle, and Fredrik Logevall noted that some of the primary problems of the PT boats were the accuracy and relatively slow speed of their Mark 8 torpedoes.  Added to the problem of inaccuracy at reaching target, as many as 50% failed to explode on contact with enemy ships due to faulty calibration by the Navy in the early years of the war.<ref>Logevall, Fredrik (2020). JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956. New York: Random House, pg. 335</ref><ref> Mark VIII torpedoes failure to explode, and inaccuracy in Doyle, William, PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy, (2015), New York, William Morrow Publisher, pg. 55-57</ref>

===Reception===
In ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' in 1946, critic [[James Agee]] wrote, "{{nbsp}}... the picture is showing nothing much newer, with no particular depth of feeling, much less idea; but, again, the whole thing is so beautifully directed and photographed, in such an abundance of vigorous open air and good raw sunlight, that I thoroughly enjoyed and admired it{{nbsp}}... Another man who evidently learned a tremendous amount through the war is Robert Montgomery, whose sober, light, sure performance is, so far as I can remember, the one perfection to turn up in movies during the year."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Agee |first1=James |title=Agee on Film Volume 1 |date=1969 |publisher=The Universal Library}}</ref> [[Leonard Maltin]] gave it four of four stars: "One of the finest (and most underrated) of all WW2 films{{nbsp}}... "<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maltin |first1=Leonard |title=Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide |date=2015 |publisher=Plume Book |isbn=978-0-14-751682-4 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

The movie was popular, earning $3,109,000 domestically and $1,238,000 foreign, but because of its high cost, recorded a loss of $101,000.<ref name=mannix /><ref name=mannixa />