Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Wordiezett So much average

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Mike LeMar Why go out of your way for the Japanese' help if you're going to complain about it the whole time? One of the Americans asks why they can't just leave them alone and let them do things the way they know how to. Uhh, maybe because you've just sought their help, they're here now, and both of you have committed to it?

videorama-759-859391 This may not be the funniest comedy, as the movie raises a few guffaws here and there, but it's the very real scenario in the clash of two cultures that makes the comedy work. Again, this film, originated from a song, deals with car union boss (Keaton again working his winning on screen presence) merging with a Japanese boss (Watanabe) at an American car plant. Now in new hands, the American workers are butting heads, especially Wendt's character, with their new Asian bosses, as they have different work strategies and ethics. The film masks and breathes real life into the complications that arise between both parties, (Watanabe's boss is a real sour puss) where to the Asians, American workers are slack. There lies a real challenge, if you turn out 15000 cars a month, as everything the Japanese do are quick. Just look at the new unoccupied cities they build. It also shows how conformity sucks, something in real life, I think, sucks. Keaton's way of dealing and manipulating this, I liked, but does bow to the bosses demands, put on himself on some occasions, the cold skinny dipping scenes with him and his counterparts, overtly so. Watanabe's character I liked because, he's the only real one, who gets how America thinks, and is sympathetic, like when a workker injures himself. He can't show this of course, cause he'll cop crap from the bigger guns, and that will ruin his career, which as you see, reflects on his own personal life. The dinner meeting at his home, the scene seemed very hostile and standoffish, and I really liked Mimi Rodgers defiance to stay at the table, where the other woman were told to leave. That was brassy. The Pretenders 86 hit, "Don't Get Me Wrong" over the opening credits, of the aptly titled Working Class Man, a.k.a Gung Ho seemed weird, or questionable, where the title song rocks at the end, over end credits, with a sea of plant workers doing exercises whatever, one thing, our fine American workers, find stupid. An insightful and well crafted film/comedy, and a definite recommendation from me. Just don't rely solely on it for laughs.

tieman64 "Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling. Honest, industrious citizens were classed as bloodsuckers if they asked to be paid a living wage, and praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed." - Kurt Vonnegut Ron Howard's "Gung Ho" stars Michael Keaton as Hunt Stevenson, a factory worker at an auto plant in Hadleyville, Pennsylvania. When the plant is purchased by Assan Motors, a Japanese company, Hunt becomes a liaison between Japanese bosses and American workers.For most of its running time, "Gung Ho" is a slick, well-shot and funny feature. Here, Japanese capitalism is shown to be dangerously obsessed with production, exploitation and servitude. In contrast, American workers and bosses are shown to be slovenly, lackadaisical and overly individualistic, traits which hamper corporate profits.By the film's end, however, Howard reveals "Gung Ho's" quite sinister message: the worker of tomorrow is better off if he adopts a mixture of Eastern and Western values. Work hard, increase production and put your job first, and mega-corporations won't fire you, abandon you and go seeking cheaper labour elsewhere. But don't work too hard; after-all, an alive worker is a good worker.That this is not only a form of social blackmail, and a false binary – the worker forced to choose between two types of the same exploitation – doesn't occur to Howard. That capitalism's many contradictions means that it must, in aggregate, lead to bankruptcy, debt, unemployment, downsizing, lowered wages and unemployment regardless of "efficiency" or "the behaviour of the worker", doesn't occur to him either. Co-starring Mimi Rogers, the film quite cleverly positions its audience to sympathise with what would otherwise be deemed racial stereotypes.7.5/10 - Worth one viewing.

view_and_review Wow, it's been years since I last saw this movie. Watching it in 2008 is certainly different than watching it in 1986. Initially I didn't' think I would make it through the movie. Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) was so obnoxious, arrogant and disrespectful that I found it hard to watch him. He embodied every negative stereotype of Americans. If that wasn't bad enough, once the small American town's finest workers were shown the image only got worse. On the opposite spectrum the Japanese were presented as emotionless, robotic workaholics. The movie wasn't even all that funny, I only hung in there because of the nostalgic value of it. And I'm glad I continued the watch.Just like boxing, judges are swayed by how you finish the round. This movie went from about a three up to the seven I rated it because of the ending. The end was excellent. You always want a harmonious ending and this was just that. It was great that the town got to keep there jobs and keep the factory, but what was most special was the marriage between the Japanese customs and values and the American customs and values. It was a mediocre movie that ended on a high note.