As U.S. Army troops under General MacArthur struggle to hold on at Bataan against the Japanese, Colonel Joseph Madden (John Wayne) orders one of his officers, Captain Andrés Bonifacio (Anthony Quinn), to shape up.

His commanding officer lets him know that Delgado is actually using the propaganda broadcasts to secretly transmit valuable information to them, but he is ordered to reveal that fact to no one, not even Bonifacio.

Madden makes contact with one group of Filipino resistance fighters, but as they set out on their first mission, they encounter middle-aged American school teacher Bertha Barnes (Beulah Bondi).

She and her students join the guerrillas after the Japanese hang Buenaventura Bello (Vladimir Sokoloff), the principal of her school and a dear friend, for refusing to take down the American flag.

Major Hasko (Richard Loo), one of the Japanese commanders, attempts to appease the local population by staging a semi-independence ceremony to reduce popular support for the Filipino resistance.

Madden, Bonifacio, and the guerrillas attack the ceremony, where Dalisay finally reveals her true alliance during her radio broadcast: She urges her people to rise up against the Japanese.

However, as they near that spot, Maximo, sitting in the front seat of a Japanese transport truck, suddenly grabs the steering wheel, sending it careening down a mountainside.

Waite tasks Bonifacio and Madden with a mission of taking and holding a small village to block Japanese reinforcements from repelling the impending landing of American forces that are due within 24 hours.

Fellows strongly believed that an account of the initial defeat and guerilla resistance of the American and Filipino forces, as well as MacArthur's return, would be a splendid tribute and a profitable film.

This action sequence is placed at the beginning of the film, while there are appearances by actual, recently released, American POWs inserted for dramatic effect at the end.

The actor was genuinely perplexed as to why Dmytryk, who was well-paid and enjoying the fruits of American democracy, would have such sympathy for communism, asking him, "Jeez Eddie, what's your beef with America?"

Wayne did the stunts, but as he drank a bracing whiskey beforehand, he told Barzman, "You better be goddamn sure we don't find out this is something you dreamed up out of your little head as a parting gift".

[9] In her book The Star-Entangled Banner, author Sharon Delmendo views Back to Bataan as Wayne acting as a stand-in for General Douglas MacArthur.