Midway

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Midway

PG,

1976,

2h 12m,

War

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Watchlist

39%

18 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

39%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

71%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In this dramatization of the Battle of Midway during World War II, U.S. Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz (Henry Fonda) leads an outnumbered unit in the Pacific to break Japanese encryption codes. They soon discover that Adm. Yamamoto (Toshirô Mifune) plans an ambush of the U.S. base on the island of Midway. Capt. Matt Garth (Charlton Heston) helps devise the Navy's strategy, while his pilot son, Tom (Edward Albert), falls in love with a Japanese-American woman who is headed for an internment camp.

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Oct 23, 2004

2.5/4

War movies used to have dash and color and a certain corny sentimentality; Midway hardly even makes us care.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Oct 26, 2025

2/5

‘…for a movie to be truly boring, you have to raise expectations of quality and interest, and then completely dash them, and Jack Smight's The Battle of Midway does just that…so sombre and self-important, it makes Tora! Tora! Tora! look like MASH…

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Aug 11, 2023

A project in which it's planning is excellent, but in the big screen doesn't work. [Full review in Spanish]

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Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

May 6, 2023

It's typical screenwriting-by-computer stuff.

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Doug Molitor

Los Angeles Free Press

Oct 31, 2019

[Midway] builds up a lot of tension about that battle, but delivers nothing new.

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Antonio Lara

El Pais (Spain)

Jul 18, 2019

The script is confusing and messy, with attention exclusively paid to the strategic problems of both sides, and its development is crude, dry, and boring. [Full Review in Spanish]

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Feb 1, 2019

The best inspiring movie ever made!

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Jack Smight

Director

Charlton Heston

Captain Matt Garth

Henry Fonda

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

James Coburn

Captain Vinton Maddox

Glenn Ford

Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance

Hal Holbrook

Commander Joseph Rochefort

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Synopsis

In this dramatization of the Battle of Midway during World War II, U.S. Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz (Henry Fonda) leads an outnumbered unit in the Pacific to break Japanese encryption codes. They soon discover that Adm. Yamamoto (Toshirô Mifune) plans an ambush of the U.S. base on the island of Midway. Capt. Matt Garth (Charlton Heston) helps devise the Navy's strategy, while his pilot son, Tom (Edward Albert), falls in love with a Japanese-American woman who is headed for an internment camp.

Director: Jack Smight
Producer: Walter Mirisch
Screenwriter: Donald S. Sanford
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures, The Mirisch Corporation [us]
Rating: PG
Genre: War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 18, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Runtime: 2h 12m

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