They Were Expendable

Supplies are dwindling. Troops are hopelessly outnumbered. But even in defeat there is victory. The defenders of the Philippines – including PT-boat skippers John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) and Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) – will give the U.S. war effort time to regroup after the devastation of Pearl Harbor. Director John Ford’s World War II tale knows its battle-scarred topic fi rsthand. Montgomery was himself a Pacifi c PT-boat commander and a valorous Bronze Star recipient. Ford fi lmed the Academy Award®-winning* documentary TheBattle of Midway. And Wayne creates a portrait of patriotic resolve as only he can. They Were Expendable salutes all who expended themselves during some of the war’s bleakest hours.