They Were Expendable is a 1945 American war film directed by John Ford, starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne, and featuring Donna Reed. The film is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by William Lindsay White, relating the story of the exploits of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a United States PT boat unit defending the Philippines against Japanese invasion during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42) in World War II.
While a work of fiction, the book was based on actual events and people. The characters John Brickley (Montgomery) and Rusty Ryan (Wayne) are fictionalizations of PT-Boat Squadron Three Commander John D. Bulkeley, a Medal of Honor recipient, and his executive officer Robert Kelly, respectively. Both the film and the book, which was a best-seller and excerpted in Reader's Digest and Life, depict certain combat-related events that were believed to have occurred during the war, alongside those which did not; nonetheless, the film is noted for its relatively accurate and detailed depiction of naval combat for the era in which it was made.
Plot
In December 1941, Lt. John "Brick" Brickley (Robert Montgomery) commands a squadron of agile but small and unproven U.S. Navy PT boats based at Cavite in the Philippines. He puts on a demonstration of their maneuverability and seakeeping capabilities for the senior area commander, Admiral Blackwell (Charles Trowbridge), who remains unimpressed by their diminutive size and lightweight construction. Lt. J.G. "Rusty" Ryan (John Wayne), Brick's executive officer and friend, is hot on getting into combat. He becomes disgusted at the admiral's close-minded dismissal and is writing his request for transfer to destroyer duty when news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor arrives by radio bulletin.
Japanese forces descend on the Philippines and wreak havoc. Bypassed by local brass, Brick's squadron is kept out of combat and marginalized to menial mail and messenger duty. Frustration, particularly with Rusty, grows and threatens to boil over. Following a devastating attack on their base, the desperate admiral relents and orders them to attack a large Japanese cruiser shelling U.S. troop emplacements ashore. After initially choosing Rusty to skipper the second boat on the sortie, Brick discovers that his exec has blood poisoning from a previous combat wound and orders him to sick bay, selecting another boat and crew to take his place.
After accusing his CO of glory hogging, and resisting evacuation to a military hospital on Corregidor, Rusty arrives there still hissing and spitting, only to reluctantly admit to the severity of his life-threatening condition. There he meets another patient, "Ohio" (Louis Jean Heydt), who chides him to cool off and get in line. Once he does, Rusty begins a romance with strong-willed Army nurse Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed), so attractive, kind, and wholesomely appealing Ohio cracks, "Eleven-thousand men can't be wrong" about her.
Brick's attack sinks the cruiser. Rusty returns and the squadron is unleashed, achieving increasing success, though at the cost both of boats and men. Still, it is only a matter of time before the Philippines fall. Sandy attends a dinner in her honor at the PT Base, reigniting the flame between her and Rusty.
The squadron is marooned on the Philippine island of Corregidor in Manila Bay, just Southeast of the large Northern-most Philippine island of Luzon after the Japanese onslaught against the doomed American defenders at the Bataan. Corregidor stands as the last American stronghold against the advancing Japanese invaders. The PT Squadron are then assigned to evacuate the commanding general of the Pacific Theatre, Douglas MacArthur, his entourage, and Admiral Blackwell to the Southern-most Philippine island of Mindanao, where they will be flown South to Australia. Rusty manages to make a last phone call to Sandy, now on Bataan, to explain he has been ordered out, but before they can say goodbye the connection is cut off.
The small PT flotilla successfully carries the commanders across spans of open ocean to their rendezvous. It then resumes its attacks against the Japanese, who gradually whittle the squadron down too small to function effectively. Crews without boats are sent to link up with the Army and fight as infantry. After Rusty's boat is damaged, the last two PTs pull into a small shipyard run by crusty "Dad" Knowland (Russell Simpson) for repairs. As the boats leave in haste ahead of an imminent Japanese assault, Dad refuses to flee, bidding his poignant farewell with a rifle folded in his arms and a whisky jug tucked securely at his feet.