"When Willie Comes Marching Home" is quite a strange movie. It's a comedy, family, romance and war film. One suspects its purpose, at least initially and coming as it does five years after the end of World War II, might be to recognize the men who served during the war but were on the home front. Regardless of all the support jobs that women filled at home, there nevertheless were thousands of men needed for training, supply, shipping, testing and certifying equipment and armament, coordinating, plotting, planning, etc.
While there no doubt were some men who thought they should be so lucky, Dan Dailey's Bill Kluggs was not one of them. He was the red- blooded, All-American type of guy who wanted to do his part for his country, prove his mettle and fight for the freedom of the world. Of course, anyone who hasn't lived through that time shouldn't knock that. So, he's the first guy to enlist in his hometown after Pearl Harbor.
But, wouldn't you know it – Kluggs is one of those guys destined to stay stateside. And, it's not by the luck of the draw. Most of the guys in gunnery training around him get sent to units going into the war. Kluggs is held back for the best of reasons – he's the best marksmen and gunner they've ever had in aircraft gunnery training. So, the Army Air Corps needed the best to train the rest to have the best results. Only Kluggs doesn't quite see it that way.
Then the script throws in some goofy twists that have Kluggs in and out of the war, without any sleep over four days, plied with liquor to keep him awake, and finally collapsing back home. During this short time he flies to England, bails out of a plane over France, gets caught by the underground, witnesses a German test of the V-1 rocket, smuggles the film to England, flies to Washington D.C., gives a report several times to brass in the pentagon, gets hospitalized for lack of sleep, gets committed to a psychiatric ward, and finally escapes to flee back home. The movie has a happy ending, of course. And all of the above takes place in just a couple of years, because the movie ends with the war still going on and D-Day in Normandy still on the horizon. Well, so much for the recognition of the guys who served at home. This wacky stuff is supposed to be the comedy that makes the audience laugh, but somehow I doubt that it tickled many funny bones.
Beside the outlandishness of that scenario, Kluggs get rewarded every time he approaches a commanding officer to request combat duty. Succeeding officers see to it that he gets a Good Conduct medal and promoted. So, in just two years' time, Kluggs advances eight grades to master sergeant. That would have to be a record. And, he must have as many Good Conduct medals. Not be too picky about this, but the Good Conduct medal could only be given once for every three years of active duty, except that during wartime it could be awarded for one year of active duty. Kluggs makes a comment about having so many oak leaf clusters on his Good Conduct medal. Each time an award is presented a second time, a GI earns a bronze oak leaf cluster. Five of those will get one a silver oak leaf cluster. I don't know if the brass could get the regulations waived to get Kluggs all those Good Conduct medals, but at best he shouldn't have been able to have earned more than two Good Conduct medals – for two years of active duty.
If this were a Jerry Lewis film, one could go along with the overly outlandish. But Dan Dailey is a red-blooded town hero whom everyone loves. Daily does a good job as a frustrated GI trying to see some action. The rest of the cast are OK, but nothing special. John Ford directs a nice film. But, the exaggeration in promotions and medals for humor, make the script seem more ridiculous than funny.
While there no doubt were some men who thought they should be so lucky, Dan Dailey's Bill Kluggs was not one of them. He was the red- blooded, All-American type of guy who wanted to do his part for his country, prove his mettle and fight for the freedom of the world. Of course, anyone who hasn't lived through that time shouldn't knock that. So, he's the first guy to enlist in his hometown after Pearl Harbor.
But, wouldn't you know it – Kluggs is one of those guys destined to stay stateside. And, it's not by the luck of the draw. Most of the guys in gunnery training around him get sent to units going into the war. Kluggs is held back for the best of reasons – he's the best marksmen and gunner they've ever had in aircraft gunnery training. So, the Army Air Corps needed the best to train the rest to have the best results. Only Kluggs doesn't quite see it that way.
Then the script throws in some goofy twists that have Kluggs in and out of the war, without any sleep over four days, plied with liquor to keep him awake, and finally collapsing back home. During this short time he flies to England, bails out of a plane over France, gets caught by the underground, witnesses a German test of the V-1 rocket, smuggles the film to England, flies to Washington D.C., gives a report several times to brass in the pentagon, gets hospitalized for lack of sleep, gets committed to a psychiatric ward, and finally escapes to flee back home. The movie has a happy ending, of course. And all of the above takes place in just a couple of years, because the movie ends with the war still going on and D-Day in Normandy still on the horizon. Well, so much for the recognition of the guys who served at home. This wacky stuff is supposed to be the comedy that makes the audience laugh, but somehow I doubt that it tickled many funny bones.
Beside the outlandishness of that scenario, Kluggs get rewarded every time he approaches a commanding officer to request combat duty. Succeeding officers see to it that he gets a Good Conduct medal and promoted. So, in just two years' time, Kluggs advances eight grades to master sergeant. That would have to be a record. And, he must have as many Good Conduct medals. Not be too picky about this, but the Good Conduct medal could only be given once for every three years of active duty, except that during wartime it could be awarded for one year of active duty. Kluggs makes a comment about having so many oak leaf clusters on his Good Conduct medal. Each time an award is presented a second time, a GI earns a bronze oak leaf cluster. Five of those will get one a silver oak leaf cluster. I don't know if the brass could get the regulations waived to get Kluggs all those Good Conduct medals, but at best he shouldn't have been able to have earned more than two Good Conduct medals – for two years of active duty.
If this were a Jerry Lewis film, one could go along with the overly outlandish. But Dan Dailey is a red-blooded town hero whom everyone loves. Daily does a good job as a frustrated GI trying to see some action. The rest of the cast are OK, but nothing special. John Ford directs a nice film. But, the exaggeration in promotions and medals for humor, make the script seem more ridiculous than funny.