They Were Expendable
“A Tribute to Those Who Did So Much... With So Little!”
Synopsis
Following a demonstration of new PT boats, Navy officials remain unconvinced of their effectiveness in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his colleague Lt. Brickley are informed that their squadron can finally be deployed. The PT boats quickly demonstrate their value, successfully shooting down Japanese aircraft, relaying messages between islands, and damaging numerous enemy ships.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 19
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Douglass BiggsShot by Joseph H AugustScored by Herbert Stothart
Also known as
- Schnellboote vor Bataande
- No eran imprescindibleses
- Les Sacrifiésfr
- I sacrificatiit
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Cast & Crew
19 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Robert Montgomery
as Lt. John Brickley
John Wayne
as Lt. (J.G.) 'Rusty' Ryan
Robert Montgomery Nm0599910
as Lt. John Brickley
Donna Reed
as Lt. Sandy Davyss
Jack Holt
as Gen. Martin
Ward Bond
as 'Boats' Mulcahey C.B.M.
Marshall Thompson
as Ens. 'Snake' Gardner
Paul Langton
as Ens. 'Andy' Andrews
Leon Ames
as Maj. James Morton
Arthur Walsh
as Seaman Jones
Donald Curtis
as Radio Announcer
Directors
2Writers
2Producers
2Other crew
4Parents Guide
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