Movie

They Were Expendable

A Tribute to Those Who Did So Much... With So Little!

1945★ 6.5 · 1382h 15mDramaWar

Overview

After a demonstration of new PT boats, Navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.

Trailer

Trailer · Trailer

Watch on YouTube ↗

Images

Backdrops & posters from TMDB

9 images

Cast

John Wayne
as Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan

Ward Bond
as "Boats" Mulcahey, Chief Boatswain's Mate

Blake Edwards
as Boat Crewman (uncredited)

Donna Reed
as Lt. Sandy Davyss

Cameron Mitchell
as Ens. George Cross

Philip Ahn
as Army Orderly (uncredited)

Marshall Thompson
as Ens. 'Snake' Gardner

Forbes Murray
as Navy Captain (uncredited)

Robert Montgomery
as Lt. John Brickley

Leon Ames
as Major James Morton

Al Bridge
as Lieutenant Colonel (uncredited)

Frank McGrath
as 'Slim' - Bearded CPO (uncredited)

Information

Community

6.5/ 10

138 TMDB votes

6.5

Your rating

Saved in this browser · counts toward collection progress

Release date: 1945-12-07

Runtime: 2h 15m

Genres

DramaWar

Where to watch

Availability via TMDB / JustWatch

Country

Logos show where this title is listed (stream, rent, or buy). TMDB does not provide direct links into Netflix or other apps — use the button below to open TMDB’s watch page (JustWatch data) for this country.

Open watch options on TMDB

StreamIncluded with subscription