They Were Expendable by William White is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and we can see why – there are many notes on films from The NYT 1,000 list, reviews on magnum opera from The GOAT and other web pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html maybe you care to visit…you will be welcome

 

They Were Expendable by William White is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and we can see why – there are many notes on films from The NYT 1,000 list, reviews on magnum opera from The GOAT and other web pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html maybe you care to visit…you will be welcome

 

8 out of 10

 

They Were Expendable is formidable.

 

Alas, I have some qualms

 

First the merits: it is about valor, patriotism, courage, magnanimity, Emotional Intelligence, resilience, zest, and other character strengths, as identified by Martin Seligman https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/flourish-by-martin-seligman.html founder of Positive Psychology

Robert Montgomery has the role of Lt. John Brickley, while John Wayne is Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan, and these command troops in World War II, as America is under attack, this is the stage when the Japanese are winning, they had had the surprise assault on Pearl Harbor and now they push the US out of the Philippines

 

The battles are fierce, the men exceptional, indeed, this would be a role model, and the film is outstanding on most points, actually, from the cinematic view, there is probably little, if anything to object too…perhaps, no, surely the special effects are not what we are used with today, but then this was 1945

Nevertheless, I have to write something here, to pretend that I know so much, and then I have these adamant opinions, there is my ethical take, this is such an incorruptible critic here, nobody reads this evidently, but why not pretend – John Wayne was a sort of fundamentalist, at least as far as I know of him

 

He was for long years the American favorite https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/rio-bravo-by-leigh-brackett-one-of.html the actor they liked most, and we surely have some classics in which he has the lead role, that notwithstanding, he seems to have been a precursor of the MAGA movement, involved in the witch hunts

I have seen Trumbo, and Wayne is not one of the good guys there, McCarthy and the ancient MAGA were persecuting writers, actors for their alleged ties with the Soviet Union, incidentally, these days, the Orange Cowboy loves Putin, and he keeps kicking poor Zelenzky, and allies more broadly, they are the ‘apex predator’

 

This is a terrible disappointment for me, a disgusting situation, I can only apply the ‘there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’  from Hamlet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/hamlet-by-william-shakespeare.html by saying I was close to settle in America, and now I say I am fortunate to have escaped…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’