Some violence was trimmed in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. [4], The film was a box office bomb, grossing only under $41 million at the US box-office and a total of $77.6 million worldwide, against a production budget of $115 million. "Windtalkers" comes advertised as the saga of how Navajo Indians used their language to create an unbreakable code that helped win World War II in the Pacific. Because the code must not be broken, Joe's orders are to kill Ben should he fall into enemy hands. Two U.S. Marines in World War II are assigned to protect Navajo Marines, who use their native language as an unbreakable radio cypher. The ranch is located on Hawaii State Route 83 between Kaʻaʻawa and Waikane. Yahzee suggests that he disguise himself as a Japanese soldier and slip behind enemy lines to commandeer a radio, with Enders as his prisoner. Interesting? ... Film search. On the plus side, Cage, Slater, and a solid supporting cast of character actors are all dependably good, and it's interesting to see John Woo's distinctive action style put into a war film. Windtalkers tells a World War 2 story of Joe Enders who is assigned to protect an American Indian marine as he is trained to use his native language to deliver and receive code transmissions during battle. The film was released in the United States on June 14, 2002, and received mixed reviews and proved to be financially unsuccessful, grossing just $77.6 million worldwide against a production budget of $115 million. The main street address is 49-560 Kamehameha Highway, Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʻi 96744. Outraged, Yahzee aims his weapon at Enders but cannot bring himself to kill him. Ben Yahzee, and carries a promotion for Enders to Sergeant in a JASCO. "[9], The film was criticized for featuring the Navajo characters only in supporting roles; they were not the primary focus of the film. Sgt. Directed by Kieth Merrill. Unfortunately, the studio wanted a John Wayne movie, just a typical American hero film with explosions every few minutes. Kualoa is a 4000-acre private nature reserve and working cattle ranch, as well as a popular tourist attraction and filming location on the windward coast of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi. This violence trim was restored for the Director's cut released on DVD running 153 minutes. [8] Robert Koehler of Variety called it "A powerful premise turned into a stubbornly flat, derivative war movie. Directed by Kieth Merrill. Former bad boy Christian Slater has turned over a new leaf - the star of John Woo 's Windtalkers is a family man these days, and a part-time harmonica player too. Windtalkers is a 2002 American war film directed and co-produced by John Woo, starring Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, and Christian Slater. "Ox" Anderson, much greener, is also getting the same new task: Protect the Navajo codetalkers (Ben Yahzee and Charles Whitehorse, respectively). Yahzee rejoices in their success though Enders, mortally wounded, dies. Windtalkers (2002) Full Cast & Crew. Find Windtalkers at Amazon.com Movies & TV, home of thousands of titles on DVD and Blu-ray. Windtalkers (2012). The invasion of Saipan in the Mariana Islands becomes Yahzee's and Whitehorse's first combat experience. Some violence was trimmed in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. Windtalkers (2002) Image Source. The movie mostly follows the Battle of Saipan. Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is given the job of protecting a Navajo code talker named Ben. The valley is part of the Kualoa Ranch Private Nature Reserve. Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. Im Zweiten Weltkrieg stellen Mitglieder des Navajo-Indianervolks mit ihrem seltenen, von den Japanern nicht entschlüsselten Sprachdialekt den harten Kern der amerikanischen Codetalker. It is based on the real story of Navajo code talkers during World War II. This violence trim was restore… Enders and Henderson are instructed to kill their code talkers if capture is imminent so that the code cannot fall into enemy hands. “Windtalkers” is an overblown, bloated excuse for a two-hour explosion. The next morning, Japanese soldiers ambush the village. Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is given the job of protecting a Navajo code talker named Ben. Please enable JavaScript in your browser for better use of the website! Windtalkers is a 2002 John Woo film loosely based around the use of Navajo as a code in WWII. With 100 color photos, this book pays homage to John Woo's film Windtalkers, about the code talkers, which stars Nicholas Cage and Christian Slater. Enders' new assignment is to protect Navajo code talker Pvt. Windtalkers is a 2002 World War II film directed by John Woo and stars Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater as two USMC sergeants assigned to protect two Marines of Navajo descent (Adam Beach and Roger Willie) who serve as code talkers during the Battle of Saipan in the Pacific.The cast also included Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, and Jason Isaacs. WWII. The film was ranked number three on Careeraftermilitary.com's "10 Most Inaccurate Military Movies Ever Made," which also included The Patriot, The Hurt Locker, U-571, The Green Berets, Windtalkers, Battle of the Bulge, Red Tails, Enemy at the Gates and Flyboys on its list of falsified war movie productions. The Windtalkers soundtrack album does not prepare the listener for the level of violence in the film (which is comparable to that in Saving Private Ryan), but that may make it … Windtalkers follows suit of most post-Saving Private Ryan war films and tries to make its point by dousing us with relentless violence. Anime; DMCA; ADS; Home; Movies; Windtalkers (2002) Windtalkers (2002) 6 61,383. Returning to the U.S., Yahzee, his wife, and his son George Washington Yahzee, sit atop Point Mesa in Monument Valley, Arizona, and, wearing the sacred necklaces and other Navajo ceremonial dress, performs the Navajo ritual of paying respects to Enders. More than 50 movies and TV shows have been filmed at Kualoa over the years, including Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, 50 First Dates, You, Me and Dupree, Hawaii Five-0, Pearl Harbor, Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Jumanji, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Snatched, and Lost. "[12], 2002 American war film on Navajo radio operators in WW II by John Woo, "MGM Bumps John Woo's WWII Drama 'Windtalkers' From Nov. 9 to June 14", "Windtalkers, a 'soulful' story about friendship during war", "10 Most Inaccurate Military Movies Ever Made", "John Woo on John Woo: My Hits -- and Misses", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Windtalkers&oldid=1007322949, Films set in the Northern Mariana Islands, Films about the United States Marine Corps, Wikipedia introduction cleanup from January 2020, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from January 2020, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Roger Willie as Private Charlie Whitehorse, This page was last edited on 17 February 2021, at 14:50. With Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich. Filming locations on Hawaii included Kualoa Ranch, the location where Lost and Jurassic Parkwere shot. The movie mostly follows the Battle of Saipan. It can only be visited as part of a tour. Filming locations on Hawaii included Kualoa Ranch, the location where Lost and Jurassic Park were shot. During World War II, US Marine corporal Joseph F. "Joe" Enders returns to active duty with the aid of his pharmacist, Rita, having previously survived a gruesome battle on the Solomon Islands against the Imperial Japanese Army that killed his entire squad and left him almost deaf in his left ear. Directed by John WooDistributed by MGM WWII. Enders, Yahzee, Chick, and Cpl. Latest reviews. Windtalkers tells a World War 2 story of Joe Enders who is assigned to protect an American Indian marine as he is trained to use his native language to deliver and receive code transmissions during battle. Directed by John Woo. The term is now usually associated with United States service members during the world wars who used their knowledge of Native American languages as a basis to transmit coded messages. Charlie Whitehorse. However, surrounded and knowing the Japanese will capture and torture him for the code as they almost did with Whitehorse, Yahzee entreats Enders to kill him. Windtalkers is a John Woo war film. The ranch consists of 3 valleys: Kaʻaʻawa Valley, Kualoa Valley, and Hakipuʻu Valley. The invasion of Saipan by the Americans is the first combat experience of Ben Yahzee. As Enders and Henderson meet Yahzee and Whitehorse, it becomes apparent that the two experienced Marines are less than happy to be babysitting their Navajo codetalkers, and the Navajos must also endure racial harassment by some of the white Marines, notably Private Chick. Der junge Yahzee (Adam Beach) ist einer von ihnen. Windtalkers (2002) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. 6 61,383. WWII. 4. To portray the Marines in the film the producers recruited extras that were volunteers from Schofield Barracks Army Base, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor Naval Station, and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station. © Lion Rock Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The movie mostly follows the Battle of Saipan. And he is one of the few Navajos who were recruited during the Second World War to be a Navajo code talker. Former bad boy Christian Slater has turned over a new leaf - the star of John Woo 's Windtalkers is a family man these days, and a part-time harmonica player too. With Trevor Howard, Nick Ramus, James Remar, Serene Hedin. Latest reviews. Windtalkers is a 2002 military film directed by John Woo, about the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific front of World War II.. Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is given the job of protecting a Navajo code talker named Ben ().Because the code must not be broken, Joe's orders are to kill Ben should he fall into enemy hands. Actors Beach and Willie said they were "terrified" at times while shooting the movie because Woo did such a masterful job of creating war scenes where hundreds of bombs would explode as they dodged their way to safety. ... Film search. [6] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.[7], Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, remarking that "the filmmakers have buried it beneath battlefield cliches, while centering the story on a white character played by Nicolas Cage". [2], On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 168 critics. Pappas (the last of the Marines) take cover on a ridge and see Japanese artillery fire from the top of the ridge attacking a Marine convoy below their position. In 1797 Utah, an aged Cheyenne patriarch helps his kin to fight off a raiding party of rival Crow warriors and he tells his grandchildren the story of their family. I made the movie that way, but some people in the studio didn't appreciate it and, in the end, I guess neither did the audience. The movie mostly follows the Battle of Saipan. Yahzee and Enders are both shot as they retrieve the radio and call in an airstrike on the Japanese artillery. "[5] On Metacritic the film has a score of 51% based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". TV Series; Bioskop 21. C. O. Erickson was the executive producer. Windtalkers is a 2002 military film about the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific front of World War II. [11], About the response, John Woo said: "The main themes of Windtalkers are friendship and understanding. Der junge Yahzee (Adam Beach) ist einer von ihnen. [3], For the F6F Hellcat fighters that appear in the beach-landing scenes on Saipan, the producers used computer-generated versions. While Yahzee is temporarily assigned back to the command post to translate a code, Enders becomes increasingly torn because he cannot imagine killing Yahzee, despite his orders. It is located about 24 miles from Honolulu, and 32 miles from Haleiwa. The story follows a traumatized marine who is assigned to protect a Navajo code talker in the Pacific Theater. Enders' orders are to protect his code talker, but if Yahzee should fall into enemy hands, he's to protect the code at all costs. Kualoa is open for guided tours. In WWII, a marine is assigned to protect a Navajo code talker, using his language as the code, but how far will he go to keep him out of enemy hands? Some of the actual Marines from 4th Force Recon Company were used in the film portraying their actual job. Marine Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) -- a Navajo code talker, the Marines' new secret weapon. The film's release date was moved from November 9, 2001, to June 14, 2002. In 1797 Utah, an aged Cheyenne patriarch helps his kin to fight off a raiding party of rival Crow warriors and he tells his grandchildren the story of their family. Windtalkers is a 2002 military film directed by John Woo, about the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific front of World War II.. Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is given the job of protecting a Navajo code talker named Ben ().Because the code must not be broken, Joe's orders are to kill Ben should he fall into enemy hands. Trailer. On the plus side, Cage, Slater, and a solid supporting cast of character actors are all dependably good, and it's interesting to see John Woo's distinctive action style put into a war film. Yahzee returns to Tanapag and, seeing Whitehorse's body, screams at Enders to explain what happened as the village was thought to be secured. Windtalkers is a 2002 military film about the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific front of World War II. For their bravery, Enders is awarded a Silver Star by the commanding officer, with Yahzee's role almost ignored until Enders points him out but still credits Enders. Monument Valley, Utah, USA. Although the movie is correct in that Navajo Native Americans were used to transmit messages for the US Marine … A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. Directed by (1) Writing credits (2) Cast (85) Produced by (10) Music by (1) Cinematography by (1) Film Editing by (3) Casting By (1) Production Design by (1) Art Direction by (1) Set Decoration by (1) Makeup Department (21) Production Management (2) Second Unit Director or Assistant Director (9) Yahzee's radio is destroyed and the convoy is unable to call off the bombardment.