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Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

. . . as "Capt. Andres Bonifacio," who leads his countrymen in a three-year battle to liberate their nation from the Imperialist Japanese Occupiers through a courageous campaign of guerrilla warfare. While high-ranking U.S. military officers were popularizing the Game of Golf in Australia, and their Yankee enlisted men and subordinate squad coordinators from the rank of lieutenant on down (including the twelve freed Real Life P.O.W.s shown marching to the song "California, Here We Come" during BACK TO BATAAN) starved in Prison Camps (if they had not been first shot in the head or clubbed to death like Baby Seals during the "Bataan Death March"), the Filipinos took Destiny by the horns and galloped to Freedom. One of my Great Grandmothers attended a Midwestern college located next to a World War II American P.O.W. facility, and she said the prisoners there ate like kings. BACK TO BATAAN shows that the nefarious Axis tricked us into having them Eat Our Lunch in the 1940s. With Today's freeways being clogged by convoys of Japanese, Italian, and German makes (such as Toyota, Chrysler, and Mercedes), it's obvious that the Axis is having the "Last Laugh" by STILL eating out lunch!

Is it churlish to complain about overt flag waving in war movies? Or to decry propaganda prose in the same? Back to Bataan is guilty as charged, yet such is the composition of Edward Dmytryk's film, and its focus on a part of the war we rarely have seen on film, it matters not.We are in 1942, and after the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese, U.S. Army Col. Joseph Madden (John Wayne) stays behind to lead the local guerrilla resistance against the Japanese army. With that synopsis it isn't hard to figure out what sort of pic we are going to get, yet to purely consider this as a macho beefcake movie is a little unfair.Sure it's bookended by blistering action, as Duke Wayne (very restrained turn actually) and Anthony Quinn cut a swathe through the RKO sound stages, but there's lots of intelligent human interactions here to mark it as being in the least knowing of the campaign.It often grasps for the sentimental branch, while the racist barbs and portrayal of the Japanese does sting at times. But this is exciting and thoughtful stuff, boosted no end by Dmytryk's sturdy direction and Nicholas Musuraca's monochrome photography (a film noir lovers dream pairing!). Better than routine war movie. 7/10

During the World War II, in the Philippines, the ruler (Americans) and the ruled (Filipino) cooperated to resist the new ruler (Japanese). It was a rare case in history. This movie portrays the resistance guerrilla from the American's view point.Japan invaded the Philippines immediately after breaking the war with the US, the purpose of it was to defeat the Americans, and to invade the resource rich Indonesia from the Philippines. Japan did not have much interest on the resource poor Philippines, but Filipinos had to experience tragedy. For the USA, who had to use much of their forces to Europe, the Philippines was not that important country. Being unable to expect much support from the USA, the Americans and the Filipinos organized the guerrilla for the resistance.Throughout the history, Filipinos have never won in fighting against foreigners. For long, they even did not have recognition of a nation state. In this guerrilla, however, they fought risking their life for their nation state, the Philippines, though not by themselves but with American's leadership. This movie is different from other war movies by giving light on this point.

While this film is a tad heavy from time to time with propaganda elements, in many ways this war film stands well above the usual crowd of jingoistic American war films. Now I am NOT being critical saying the films are "jingoistic", as this was positive propaganda that slightly exaggerated the truth in order to unify the country against the Japanese. After all, we were at war and Japan had conquered most of the Pacific. But films made during the war often sacrificed reality in order to deliver the message--such as in AIR FORCE when a B-17 bomber almost single-handedly wipes out half the Japanese planes!! Fortunately, beneath the occasionally heavy-handed patriotism, the film itself was a very good representation of the war in the Philippines. This, combined with excellent action scenes and better than average acting make this a film worth seeing. In particular, other than IN HARMS WAY, this is John Wayne's best WWII film, as his acting is a little less "bigger than life" and more realistic. Also, if you liked this film, I also strongly recommend BATAAN (starring a surprisingly macho Robert Taylor). This film focuses on the fall of Bataan and BACK TO BATAAN is a great companion piece as it focuses not only on this but its reconquest. Top notch entertainment and a decent history lesson to boot!