Destination Gobi

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Destination Gobi
Destination gobi poster.JPG
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Wise
Screenplay byEverett Freeman
Based onNinety Saddles for Kengtu
1952 Collier's
by Edmund G. Love
Produced byStanley Rubin
StarringRichard Widmark
Don Taylor
Casey Adams
Murvyn Vye
Narrated byRichard Widmark
CinematographyCharles G. Clarke
Edited byRobert Fritch
Music bySol Kaplan
Production
company
20th Century Fox
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
March 20, 1953 (1953-03-20)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,340,000[1]
Box office$1.2 million (US rentals)[2]

Destination Gobi is a 1953 American Technicolor World War II film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Stanley Rubin, directed by Robert Wise (his first color feature film), that stars Richard Widmark and Don Taylor.

US Navy chief Sam McHale (Widmark) takes command of a unit of weather observers stranded behind Japanese lines deep in Inner Mongolia. McHale must lead his men across the treacherous Gobi Desert to the sea coast. Mongols that the sailors had befriended, led by chief Tengu (Murvyn Vye), help them elude the Japanese and steal a Chinese junk in order to reach Okinawa.

After the picture's opening credits, a written foreword reads:

In the Navy records in Washington, there is an obscure entry reading "Saddles for Gobi." This film is based on the story behind that entry - one of the strangest stories of World War II.

The unit involved was part of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO), referred to as Sino-American Combined Operations in the film.[3]

Actor Ernest Borgnine has stated in interviews that he believed that this film, and Widmark's role of CPO Sam McHale, were the basis of the role of Quentin McHale in the television show McHale's Navy.[4]

Plot[]

Argos Detachment 6 is a Navy unit operating a weather station in the Gobi Desert during World War II. Heading the small outfit is meteorologist Lt. Cmdr. Hobart Wyatt (Russell Collins), but the group's ramrod is CPO Sam McHale (Richard Widmark), a tough-as-nails efficiency expert. He is all-Navy and a literal fish out of water in the Gobi, having served for years at sea. One evening, a tribe of Mongolian nomads led by Kengtu (Murvyn Vye) set up camp at the station's oasis. Despite stark cultural differences, the two groups settle into uneasy co-existence. In fact, Seaman Jenkins (Don Taylor), an ex-cowboy, muses that the Mongol horsemen would make an excellent cavalry troop. Hoping to persuade the Mongols to help them defend the station against possible Japanese attacks, McHale requisitions 60 Army-issue cavalry saddles. Although the request is met with bewilderment, the saddles soon arrive and the delighted Mongols train with Jenkins, accompanied by Elwood Halsey (Martin Milner) on his trumpet.

Eventually, the camp is bombed by Japanese planes, killing Wyatt and several Mongols, destroying the station's radio. Afterwards, the Mongols disappear, leaving the Americans alone and defenseless. McHale decides to evacuate his men 800 miles to the sea, where they will sail to join US forces on Okinawa. They reach an oasis where Chinese traders are camped. There, they encounter Kengtu, who explains he abandoned the station to protect his people from the "birds in the sky." Later, the Mongols return their saddles. Chinese trader Yin Tang (Edgar Barrier) then barters for the saddles, offering McHale four camels, and suggests the Americans travel with his group. That night, Yin Tang attempts to kill them to steal back the camels, but he is stopped by the surprise reappearance of Kengtu's men. Telling McHale his followers desire the return of their saddles, Kengtu offers to escort the Americans to the sea if they disguise themselves in native garb.

All goes well until they reach the Japanese-occupied city of Sangchien, China, where Kengtu leads Argos 6 into a trap set by Japanese soldiers, who transport them to a prisoner-of-war camp on the coast where they are held as spies. However, one of Kengtu's men, Wali-Akhun (Leonard Strong), allows himself to be arrested while wearing Wyatt's stolen uniform. Wali reveals that Kengtu has arranged for their escape, and that night they break out and head for the docks, where Kengtu is waiting with a Chinese junk. The wily Kengtu explains to McHale that their capture was a ploy to trick the Japanese into transporting them to the ocean. Coney (Darryl Hickman) is killed during the escape, however, and the novice sailors soberly set sail for Okinawa. The junk is later spotted by American planes. As the pilots make ready to drop bombs, they notice a large sign with the inscription "U.S.S. Cohen" painted on it. The men are rescued, McHale is awarded the Navy Cross, and Kengtu and Wali are returned to their people, along with 60 new saddle blankets.

Cast[]

References[]

  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989; ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p. 248
  2. ^ "The Top Box Office Hits of 1953", Variety, January 13, 1954
  3. ^ "SP:WaW Depot™ :: View topic - SACO - U.S. Navy in China WWII". Spwaw.com. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
  4. ^ "Ernest Borgnine on the genesis of McHale's Navy".

External links[]

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