Keaton takes the role of Hunt and runs with it. The film begins with him leaving for a trip to Japan to encourage Assan motors to bring their automotive plant to Hadleyville. The town has fallen on hard times after the closing of the underwear plant and the auto factory. Of course, there wouldn't be much of a movie if the plant decided not to relocate to the town. As they bring their executives to town, it's as much about the plant succeeding, as it is the local culture accepting the Japanese and the culture that they bring with them.

The simple plot works well enough, but the real beauty of the film is watching Keaton run wild with the role of Hunt. He displays some of the devilish charm that would later explode in his role in Beetlejuice. He runs around the town acting more important than he is and assuming the role that everyone in the town wants him to, the town's savior. He's desperate to integrate the town with the new company and culture, because his job depends on it and tells each side the answers they want to hear.

The trouble comes from three fronts. There is the American view of the Japanese, which is slightly skewed and represents most of the town. There is the strict Japanese view that is held by the vast majority of the Japanese executives that were brought in by Assan motors. Like most situations, there is the third point of view that is held by a select few, including Hunt and one or two executives, that thinks an integration is necessary for the success of all involved.

Like any good comedy, these opposing answers lead to conflict as he tries to balance his duplicity to each side and work toward a compromise without compromising himself. Things come to a head as the company president decides to pay a visit to the company and inspect how the work has gone so far. The entire company decides that a team effort is needed if they all want to keep their jobs and it just might be the thing that melds the two cultures in the end.

Video: The video is presented in a letterbox 1:85.1 ratio that preserves the aspect of the original film, but little else. The picture suffers from its age and little has been done to clean up the film in the transfer. The colors are muted and not overly sharp. The film looks respectable in that no pixelation or edge enhancement is readily visible. There are moments when film grain and imperfections show up from the original print, but these moments don't distract from the viewing.

Audio: This is a typical stereo mix that reproduces the original mix well. There is no true surround action and the vocals are easily heard and not muffeled at any time by sound effects of music.

Extras: Typical to many releases from Paramount, there are no extras on this disc.

Overall: Gung Ho is a great little comedy from early in director Ron Howard and Michael Keaton's career. Throw in supporting roles from Clint Howard, John Tuturro and Koz Japanese guy and humor at the expense of the cultural clashes and it's an entertaining 2-hours. The comedy relies upon the performances as much as it does the script. That's a rare thing to find in this age of Farrely brother's styled gross-out comedies.