way and way back in the 1980s and long before nafta be draft and corporation begin to shed their national identity and the united state and japan be at each other throat in the world manufacturing race . remember saying like union yes . and the japanese be take this country over and and american be lazy . a the reagan era wind down and corporation edge towards a global marketplace and director ron howard make one of several trip into the comedy genre with his 1986 smash gung ho and which draw over $ 36 million in u. s. box office receipt . while in many way date and howard tongue in cheek story of collide culture in the workplace still offer hard truth for industrial life today . gung ho focus on hunt stevenson ( michael keaton ) and the automaker union rep from hadleyville and a small and depressed town in the foothill of pennsylvania . stevenson have be ask to visit the assan motor company in tokyo ( similar to real life toyota ) and which be consider a u. s. operation at the town empty plant . with hundred of resident out of work and the town verge on collapse and assan decides to move in and stevenson be hire a a liaison between company official and worker on the assembly line . the 112 minute of gung ho be a humorous look at these two side and with their strength and weakness equally consider represent on one hand and an american workforce that value it tradition but be often catch in the frenzy of pride and trade unionism while on the other hand and japanese worker who be extremely devote to their job yet lack in personal satisfaction and feeling of self worth . in stevenson and we find an american working class figure of average intelligence with the skill to chat people through misunderstanding . with the survival of his worker job and most of hadleyville on the line and stevenson prove a likable guy who want nothing more than a fair chance and although his cleverness will sink him into a great deal of trouble . besides answer to the head of assan and we witness a delicate balancing act between stevenson and his fellow union member and many of whom he grow up with . this include buster ( george wendt ) and willie ( john turturro ) and and paul ( clint howard and ron brother ) . the japanese cast be head by gedde watanabe and also know for sixteen candle and volunteer . watanabe play kazihiro and the plant manager who be down on his luck and begin to feel a sympathy for american life . he be constantly shadow by saito ( sab shimono ) and the nephew of assan ceo who be desperate to take his spot in the pecking order . while give a light touch and these character fare very well in convey idea of the japanese working culture . with hunt stevenson dominate the script and michael keaton have to give a solid performance for this film to work . gung ho be indeed a slam dunk success for keaton and who also team with ron howard in 1994 the paper . he make this film during a string of light role that include mr. mom and beetle juice and and the dream team before venture into batman and one good cop and and my life . it also hard not to like gedde watanabe performance a the odd man out and who first wear japanese ribbon of shame before team up with stevenson to make the auto plant a cohesive unit . the support cast be top notch and include wendt and turturro and shimono and and soh yamamura a assan ceo sakamoto . mimi rogers supply a romantic interest a audrey and hunt girlfriend . edwin blum and lowell ganz and and babaloo mandel team up for gung ho solid writing . the incidental music and which receive a bmi film music award and be compose by thomas newman . gung ho soundtrack song be wall to wall 80 and include don not get me wrong and tuff enuff and and work class man . the success of gung ho actually lead to a short lived tv series on abc . while more impressive a a social commentary twenty year ago and ron howard film still have it comic value . it be available on dvd a part of the paramount widescreen collection and be a tad short change . audio option be provide in english 5 . 1 surround and english dolby surround and and french wouldubbing and but subtitle be in english only . there be no extra and not even the theatrical trailer . on the plus side and paramount digital transfer be quite good and with little grain after the opening credit and high quality sound . while a few extra would have be helpful especially that gung ho be a box office success there little to complain about the film presentation itself . out of 4 .