Gung Ho Blu-ray Review: Japan Meets Rust Belt Realism

There’s something deeply satisfying about watching Michael Keaton negotiate the impossible. Whether he’s juggling parenthood in Mr. Mom or donning the cape in Batman, Keaton excels at making the absurd feel authentically human.

In Gung Ho, he tackles perhaps his most relatable challenge: surviving a culture clash at work while keeping everyone happy – an exercise in futility that anyone who’s ever sat through corporate team-building exercises will recognize instantly. Ron Howard‘s blue-collar culture-clash comedy may not have spawned sequels or reached iconic status, but it has quietly endured for nearly four decades, inspiring a short-lived television series and maintaining steady VHS rental popularity throughout the ’90s.

After a surprisingly long wait, Gung Ho (read my review from 2013 here) finally debuts on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber with a brand new HD master sourced from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. The restoration maintains Don Peterman‘s fine cinematography, preserving that authentic working-class atmosphere that makes Howard’s earlier directorial efforts feel refreshingly unforced.

In fictional Hadleyville, Pennsylvania, the shuttered auto plant has left the town gasping for economic life after nine months of unemployment. Former foreman Hunt Stevenson (Keaton, Beetlejuice) travels to Tokyo, convincing Assan Motors to reopen the facility under Japanese management. What follows is a collision of work ethics. Plant manager Oishi Kazihiro (Gedde Watanabe, Sixteen Candles) implements strict Japanese production standards while American workers bristle at morning calisthenics, chopstick lunches, and seemingly impossible quotas. Hunt finds himself caught in the middle, lying to both sides to maintain peace. Eventually, a desperate 15,000-car monthly production deal threatens to destroy everything.

The ensemble includes George Wendt (Christmas with the Campbells) as Buster, John Turturro (Fading Gigolo) as Willie, Mimi Rogers (The Wedding Ringer) as Hunt’s girlfriend Audrey, and a terrific Sô Yamamura delivering deadpan perfection as Assan’s CEO. Howard, fresh off Cocoon and heading toward Willow, reunites with his Night Shift star Keaton alongside screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. Their established shorthand elevates the material beyond its formulaic origins.

It’s genuinely surprising this film took so long to reach Blu-ray, especially considering Howard’s continued prominence and Keaton’s career resurgence. While previous DVD releases existed, they never captured the film’s visual warmth or showcased its unexpectedly robust soundtrack. The absence of Howard and Keaton participation in this edition stings slightly, but the restoration alone justifies the upgrade for collectors who’ve been waiting decades for proper treatment.

The technical presentation delivers exactly what fans hoped for. The 4K scan reveals no recognizable faults, preserving the film’s natural grain structure while maintaining the blue-collar authenticity Peterman’s cinematography captured. Colors feel warm and appropriately small town rather than digitally scrubbed and manufactured, and the 5.1 surround sound brings new life to the soundtrack’s mix of period rock and score. This isn’t an effects-heavy spectacle, but the audio upgrade makes those classic ’80s tracks shine with newfound clarity. The improvement over previous standard-definition releases is immediately noticeable.

The extras package offers a mixed bag of treasures and disappointments. New interviews with Watanabe and Wendt provide genuine warmth as both actors share positive memories of working with Howard, Keaton, and filming at the abandoned Fiat plant in Argentina. Wendt’s segment carries particular poignancy given his passing in May 2025, with a thoughtful acknowledgment added at the segment’s end thanking him for “one last interview.”

However, film historian Dwayne Epstein‘s commentary track feels oddly disconnected, often reading IMDb trivia verbatim or wandering into tangential territory (including a bizarre and unnecessary digression about Tom Cruise and Scientology when discussing his then-wife Mimi Rogers). The commentary suffers from talking-for-talking’s-sake syndrome rather than offering genuine insight. Missing opportunities include episodes from the short-lived television adaptation, which would have provided fascinating context for the film’s cultural impact.

Coming off Mr. Mom’s success, Keaton inhabits the working-class hero role naturally while avoiding simple good-guy characterization. Nearly forty years later, the film’s East-West culture clash contains fewer cringe moments than expected, though some unfortunate stereotypes remain. Watanabe, carrying baggage from his problematic Sixteen Candles role, delivers genuinely commendable work here, supported by strong ensemble playing from Turturro, Wendt, and particularly Yamamura, whose dry line delivery near the film’s climax earns one of its biggest laughs. Howard’s direction maintains the populist warmth that would define his career without condescending to either culture.

The film’s examination of foreign industry relationships feels both dated and eerily prescient. Watanabe’s observation that “everybody in this country thinks they are special” while refusing to embrace teamwork resonates uncomfortably in our current cultural moment. The “can’t we all just get along” message might seem idealistic or even fantastical by today’s standards, yet finding common ground remains fundamentally human. While never discussed as frequently as Keaton or Howard’s more celebrated works, Gung Ho maintains surprising rewatchability, building positive energy toward its feel-good finale with genuine earned emotion rather than sentiment produced for the masses.

Gung Ho arrives on Blu-ray as a lovingly restored time capsule that reminds us why blue-collar comedies used to pack such emotional punch. For Howard/Keaton completists, this represents essential viewing, while newcomers will discover a surprisingly heartfelt culture-clash comedy that treats its characters with uncommon dignity. The technical presentation finally does justice to Peterman’s cinematography, and despite some commentary shortcomings, the Watanabe and Wendt interviews provide genuine value to the extras. This is upgrade-worthy for existing fans and a worthy blind-buy for collectors seeking underseen ’80s gems at a good price point.

You can buy the film directly from KinoLorber here.