This film, to the best of its ability, attempts to make a clear comment on the insane racism present in American society (something that we are sadly dealing with even now, even more so, in 2022).
In "Go For Broke," Japanese American citizens were forced into "internment camps" for the sin of having Japanese ancestry.
The idea of this is so pathetically stupid that it boggles the mind. As one of the characters in the movie says, "Many of has have German or Italian heritage" -- so, "German Americans" and "Italian Americans" should have also been forced to live in camps?
At any rate, the movie uses '50s movie star Van Johnson as a racist white officer who "grows" and "changes" by his association with the 442nd division of Japanese American soldiers.
The truth is, Van flits in and out of this movie. The real star of the movie is Henry Nakamura as Tommy. His short stature and cute smile and sense of comic timing steal every scene he's in.
The shocking thing about watching this in 2022 is the horrible realization of how truly racist Hollywood was (and still is). How everyone had to be white. It was insane. Why? Why did they have to be white? It makes zilch sense. So many lives and futures were ruined by the inability of the white ruling class to allow anyone other than who they deemed acceptable to be "stars" (or much of anything else).
Watching this movie, one should be aware that several poor pigs are used as "pets" -- but since there was no humane society, it's hard to know how they were really treated.
Also, because Van was the "big white star," they have to have one "romance scene" with an Italian beauty, just for the hell of it. And then they have him rush into some sort of tea shop with about 5 French beauties singing some old American song. A pointless scene.
The main problem with this valiant effort is that they didn't really anchor it around one person, and because they didn't, and because they didn't really make the characters three-dimensional (except for Tommy, who had a rich inner life going on), it was hard to feel sympathy or invest emotionally in the film.
One thing I can say for sure: there are definitely gay overtones throughout the film. Not overt ones, but unless you are blind, it's obvious that there was "homosexual behavior" going on. Let's be real: These young men were put together in extremely close quarters for long. There are hints of some "friendliness," but of course, there could only be hints.
I see that someone made a "new" version of this story, but it's only available on Vimeo.
The truth is, this story of the 442nd Division, along with the nightmare of internment, really deserves a limited series. It could be very powerful. But I don't think it will ever happen. Hollywood is too interested in super hero movies, or sequels, or romanticizing dead stars. It could do amazing things, but it's a business and it doesn't really care.
There was some thought and care put into this film, and I appreciate it. One thing that's for certain: Van Johnson is not a star. He has some presence on screen, but he is not the reason to watch this movie.
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