The novel by Weldon Hill was pretty amusing but this movie really sucks. Andy Griffith is okay, as far as that goes, but Walter Matthau deserves better. The other characters are based on genuine human types. Eg., Felicia Farr is available for courtship by sailors but is interested chiefly in marriage and a stable home, rather than someone she actually loves. It's a real condition that many young women probably found themselves in at the beginning of World War II. But, as written, her character is so shallow that the humanity lurking within the murk seems practically lucifugous.
It's the story of Andy Griffith who joins the U. S. Coast Guard, is sent directly from boot camp to a ship with a rating of third-class cook, works under a drunken superior, Matthau, who becomes a kind of friend, and a stern but corrupt officer who does not. Beginning as a clumsy cook, Griffith gradually becomes a seasoned and competent petty officer and actually saves the ship during a submarine attack.
I found it almost too painful to watch. Where to begin? The United States Coast Guard, as seen in this movie, bears as much resemblance to the real Coast Guard as Cloud Cuckoo Land bears to ordinary life. The corrupt officer, Ray Danton, for instance, is sketched as phony and unbearable because he chews Griffith out for boarding the ship without saluting the colors, then the OOD. The officer orders Griffith to repeat the ritual twice so that he gets it right. And Griffith, representing the audience, is indignant and disgusted by Danton's arrogance. I must ask: Is the writer kidding? I've seen one man returning from liberty carrying another, too drunk to walk, up the gangway, stop to salute the flag, continue to the quarterdeck, then salute the OOD and ask permission to come aboard. The ritual is fundamental. Everybody does it, officers included. You learn it in boot camp and it becomes automatic.
Against this phantasmic background, the story is played out as one hoary cliché after another. Too much yeast and Griffith's loaves of bread bulge their way out of the ovens among vulgar sounds. It was old when "I Love Lucy" used it.
Drunk scenes can be funny but usually are not and are best left off the screen, as John Ford realized. This one is shown in detail and is not funny.
Military stories can have romantic interludes if they're handled well. Sometimes they are, as in "Pride of the Marines" or "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." Sometimes they are merely padding. Here they're padding.
The budget -- or someone's decision somewhere up the food chain -- has cut special effects to nil, so that the climactic engagement with the submarine is so clumsily handled that it's embarrassing.
A few bonus points for the appearance of Tige Andrews in a very minor part. I just loved the guy.
If you want to see Andy Griffith in a successful military comedy, watch "No Time For Sergeants."
It's the story of Andy Griffith who joins the U. S. Coast Guard, is sent directly from boot camp to a ship with a rating of third-class cook, works under a drunken superior, Matthau, who becomes a kind of friend, and a stern but corrupt officer who does not. Beginning as a clumsy cook, Griffith gradually becomes a seasoned and competent petty officer and actually saves the ship during a submarine attack.
I found it almost too painful to watch. Where to begin? The United States Coast Guard, as seen in this movie, bears as much resemblance to the real Coast Guard as Cloud Cuckoo Land bears to ordinary life. The corrupt officer, Ray Danton, for instance, is sketched as phony and unbearable because he chews Griffith out for boarding the ship without saluting the colors, then the OOD. The officer orders Griffith to repeat the ritual twice so that he gets it right. And Griffith, representing the audience, is indignant and disgusted by Danton's arrogance. I must ask: Is the writer kidding? I've seen one man returning from liberty carrying another, too drunk to walk, up the gangway, stop to salute the flag, continue to the quarterdeck, then salute the OOD and ask permission to come aboard. The ritual is fundamental. Everybody does it, officers included. You learn it in boot camp and it becomes automatic.
Against this phantasmic background, the story is played out as one hoary cliché after another. Too much yeast and Griffith's loaves of bread bulge their way out of the ovens among vulgar sounds. It was old when "I Love Lucy" used it.
Drunk scenes can be funny but usually are not and are best left off the screen, as John Ford realized. This one is shown in detail and is not funny.
Military stories can have romantic interludes if they're handled well. Sometimes they are, as in "Pride of the Marines" or "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." Sometimes they are merely padding. Here they're padding.
The budget -- or someone's decision somewhere up the food chain -- has cut special effects to nil, so that the climactic engagement with the submarine is so clumsily handled that it's embarrassing.
A few bonus points for the appearance of Tige Andrews in a very minor part. I just loved the guy.
If you want to see Andy Griffith in a successful military comedy, watch "No Time For Sergeants."