The Gallant Hours is a 1960 American docudrama about William F. Halsey, Jr. and his efforts in fighting against Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II.

The screenplay was by Frank D. Gilroy and Beirne Lay, Jr., and the unusual a cappella choral score was composed and conducted by Roger Wagner, although the theme song was written by Ward Costello.

The Gallant Hours depicts the crucial five-week period in October–November 1942 after Admiral Halsey (James Cagney) took command of the beleaguered American forces in the South Pacific Area.

That period of combat, highlighted by the Guadalcanal Campaign which serves as the movie’s focus, became a turning point in the struggle against the Japanese Empire in that theatre during World War II.

Fundamentally, the thrust becomes a battle of wills and wits between the intuitive Halsey and his calculating Japanese counterpart, Admiral Yamamoto (James T. Goto, who was also Technical Advisor for the film).

What is striking about the narrative in The Gallant Hours is the degree of detail provided to introduce both main and minor characters to the audience, even sometimes indicating the manner of their death in the near future.

[7] For James Cagney, The Gallant Hours was "a labor of love, a tribute to that wonderful man Admiral William F. 'Bull' Halsey" for himself and his long-time friend Robert Montgomery.

[12] The film employed a new construction technique to make the interior battleship shots easier to move and light: the walls of sets were hung from overhead grids to enable them to swing in and out as needed.

The studio rented a four-engined Sikorsky VS-44A, N41881, named "Mother Goose", from Catalina Air Lines, Inc., and painted it in wartime camouflage to depict Halsey’s flight from Pearl Harbor to Noumea to take over command of forces in the South Pacific in a Consolidated PB2Y-1 Coronado.

It also praised Robert Montgomery's direction that "focuses on the human side of the war, taking the time to show the inner workings of a great leader.

"[17] In her 2019 film history book World War II at the Movies, author Virginia Lyman Lucas called The Gallant Hours a "wonderfully informative, authentic semidocumentatary film" that was "chock-full of facts, logistics, and strategies and is sparse in combat action" but "fascinating and mesmerizing mostly due to the magnificent portrayal of Admiral Halsey by James Cagney.

For example, when he received his orders to assume command of the South Pacific forces, Admiral Halsey's response was: "Jesus Christ and General Jackson!