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

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Destination Gobi
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Wise
Screenplay by	Everett Freeman
Based on	Ninety Saddles for Kengtu 1952 Collier's by Edmund G. Love
Produced by	Stanley Rubin
Starring	Richard Widmark Don Taylor Casey Adams Murvyn Vye
Narrated by	Richard Widmark
Cinematography	Charles G. Clarke
Edited by	Robert Fritch
Music by	Sol Kaplan
Production company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 20, 1953 (1953-03-20)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,340,000[1]
Box office	$1.2 million (US rentals)[2]

U.S. Navy chief Sam McHale 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 whom the sailors had befriended, led by chief Tengu, 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

A Navy unit operates a weather station in the Gobi Desert during World War II. Its is led by meteorologist Lt. Cmdr. Hobart Wyatt, but the group's ramrod is CPO Sam McHale, a tough efficiency expert and a fish-out-of-water in the Gobi, having served years at sea. One evening, a tribe of Mongolian nomads led by Kengtu set up camp at the station's oasis. Despite stark cultural differences, the two groups settle into uneasy co-existence. Seaman Jenkins, an ex-cowboy, muses that the Mongol horsemen would make an excellent cavalry troop. Hoping to persuade the Mongols to help them against the Japanese, McHale requisitions 60 Army-issue saddles. The saddles soon arrive and the delighted Mongols train with Jenkins, accompanied by Elwood Halsey on his trumpet. Later, however, Japanese planes bomb and strafe the camp, killing Wyatt and several Mongols. When the surviving nomads abandon the camp, the Americans, lonely and defenseless, evacuate 800 miles to the sea, where they will sail to join US forces on Okinawa.

McHale and the men 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 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 McHale's unit into a trap set by Japanese soldiers, who transport them to a prisoner-of-war camp on the coast. There, they are held as spies.

However, one of Kengtu's men, Wali-Akhun, allows himself to be arrested while wearing a stolen American uniform. Wali reveals to McHale and his men that Kengtu has arranged for their escape. 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. They set sail for Okinawa and are later spotted by American planes. 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

External links

• Destination Gobi at IMDb
• Destination Gobi at AllMovie
• Destination Gobi at the TCM Movie Database
• Destination Gobi at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Marine Gazette history of navy and marines in China under SACO during WW2

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