Customer Reviews

Gung Ho

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Anyone who is even remotely intelegent knows 80's movies rocked. And this my friends is by far one of the top ten in that era. I laughed [a lot]. I love this movie. The acting is great, and name one person who doesn't enjoy george wendt... falling into the cheese doodles!

This movie is first rate. Watanabe and Keaton and Co. Did a excellent job on this film. Though I wished they would have kept the original cover from the VHS tape...and more pictures of the other cast.

What a delightful and inspiring comedy. The movie centers around a Japanese automobile company's attempts to run a US factory "their way". What follows is a series of misadventures and culture clashes while both sides attempt to make the endeavour a success. Michael Keaton is wonderful as a bumbling, smart aleck labor liason. I have watched this movie many times and it never fails to entertain me.
I am a little stymied by all these reviews here complaining about racial bias in the movie. Hardly. The movie shows good and bad on both sides and in particular, the ending is very well done when both sides realise their shortcomings and deliver the goods, coming together as a team. In any event, watch it and judge for yourself. My take is that you will not be disappointed.

A great comedy and a fun movie to watch. This movie shows how the clashing of two cultures can lead to some very funny moments. Michael Keaton gives an outstanding performance helped by a teriffic supporting cast. The American and Japanese auto workers learn to get along and put aside their differences to help each other. This movie is all about working as a team and getting the job done right. A comment to the last reviewer:If you want to see reality I suggest you do not watch movies. Cinema is fiction and the director's interpretation of reality. This is a great movie and does not disrespect the japanese in any way.

Michael Keaton has been my favorite actor since I was seven years old and was first introduced to him in "Night Shift" and "Mr. Mom." Since then I have seen and own every movie he has made and this one is definitely in the top five.

We all know Ron Howard is a great director, and he finally got his award this year for "A Beautiful Mind," and I do believe that this is one of his best films ever. Even though this movie was made in 1986 it still hits home today. With our weakened economic state we can relate to local businesses closing down and having to look overseas for help.

There isn't much I can say about this movie that others already have, other then the fact that I do not believe it truly stereotypes anyone, all it really does is point out some hard truths. A lot of American workers are lazy, they do come in ten minutes late and leave ten minutes early, and at the same time too many Japanese workers care too much about work and not enough about their families. What this movie shows is the understanding of these sad facts and people working to overcome them, and people from different cultures becoming friends and working together to achieve one common goal.

This movie isn't just about making cars, it's about learning to make the necessary changes in our attitudes to get along and succeed. Not to mention it's extremely funny thanks to Michael, Gedde Wantanabe (Yes, "Long Duk Dong" from "Sixteen Candles", George Wendt, John Turturro, Mimi Rogers, Rick Overton and Ron's brother Clint and father Rance. (Sometimes it's almost like a game looking for them in Rons movies)

Believe it or not I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Gung Ho! on DVD. Not sure how much longer my battered and bruised VHS copy can last! This one just screams the 1980's. Remember when some folks were in a bit of a panic because the Japanese were buying up America? Ron Howard directs this feel good flic about an American town seeking the help of a Japanese company to put them to work. Michael Keaton gives us his smarmy but very likeable charecter. Gedde Watanabe a.k.a. "Long Duck Dong" gives a good performance as does George Wendt. Look for a young John Turturro as well. July 16th will be spent on my couch vegging out with this classic 80's comedy.

Having lived in both Japan and Korea for quite some time, I was rather excited to hear about Gung Ho, which I was led to believe would give a good intercultural perspective between Japanese and Americans. Instead, I ended up purchasing a video full of archaic (but not completely non-existent, I admit) stereotypes of Japanese executives that were often so distasteful that I actually felt queasy watching parts of this movie. Not only are there almost no scenes in which the Japanese are made to look good in any way, but they are often cast in such a ridiculous light (as, for instance, in the scene where the entire group of Japanese executives takes a bath under a bridge near the auto plant, in full view of all their laughing American employees) that I felt insulted for almost the entirety of the movie---and I don't have a drop of Asian blood in my body! Michael Keaton, whom I usually find quite funny, comes off as little more than a wise-cracking smart aleck with no respect for or knowledge of the culture he is dealing with. And unlike Tom Selleck's character in the significantly better American-Japanese movie, "Mr. Baseball," Keaton's character never really makes any attempt to learn anything about that culture---nor, for that matter, do any of the Americans. Instead, it's the Japanese who (surprised?) end up conforming to the American way. God Bless America! This video is a great purchase for those who live in a bubble and believe this is how the world really is. But for those of you who are looking to gain some kind of REAL perspective into American-Japanese cultural relations, I sincerely recommend that you look elsewhere.

I saw this movie as a result of a discussion on Japanese cars, and their physical superiority to American cars. Conveniently, my vocational teacher had a copy of this movie around [actually,he rented it from Hollywood Video]. I immediately fell in love with Keaton and his acting. But then again, here I am, expecting to see Pokemon adorning every possible sign in the Japanese streets, when the teacher tells me that this movie was made a long time before Pokemon. However, all subtle stupidities aside, I thought it was a great movie; very reflective of Japan's style of automotive building, and of America's socio-economic condition [at the time of filming,anway]. It fully illustrated to me the essence of what our teacher had been grunting on and on about all year; that America will take whatever steps necessary to avoid any decent, hard labor. All in all, it's a well-round film-good casting [Keaton, Goodman],great acting [especially on Keaton's side of things],and an AMAZING plot. I mean, you just don't see movies like this anymore!

I have been waiting since I purchase my DVD player about 2 years ago to purchase this video. I am sure most people with DVD players will agree at it is almost a waist of money to buy a VHS when the video quality is so bad in comparison. After watching my DVD player for 2 years and owning more then 100 dvds its almost painfull to watch Staticy snowy vhs tapes. Why isnt there a site on there like the one with schindlers list? Give us somewhere to vote so we can yell at the movie company. This is a great movie and I have not givin up hope.

This is a feel good movie that holds up well on repeated viewings. Micheal Keaton did an excellent job of trying to be the middle man and keep things calm. It ended up being very funny. I hope that when it does come on DVD they do it justice.