You're in the Navy Now

This film might just take you by surprise. After all, in so many films Gary Cooper plays the bigger than life hero. And, in so many WWII films (especially those made during the war), the story is about bigger than life heroes. Well, as a nice change of pace, Cooper plays a woefully unprepared and not especially heroic guy in this war film set during WWII--but made a few years later.

The film begins with Cooper receiving his first command of a naval ship. This seems weird to him, as he's only a reserve officer and has zero experience with ships. To make things a LOT worse, it turns out just about everyone on his new ship has no experience either! Heck, they aren't even sure how to take the ship out of port--it's that bad. To make things even worse, the Navy is testing out a new engine--and they've installed it on this ship! They can't help but fail and the film consists of one problem after another trying to get this ship to sea. Overall, an interesting film that actually was pretty entertaining and mildly funny--and I liked that it didn't try hard for jokes but took a more casual approach. It also helped that Cooper had some nice support--with Eddie Arnold, Jack Webb, Millard Mitchell, Ray Collins and many other veteran supporting actors. And, interestingly, the film was a first for three soon to be big names--Lee Marvin, Charley Buchinsky (Charles Bronson) and Jack Warden. Well worth seeing and undemanding fun.

I wish this movie was on tape so I could get a copy to enjoy again. This was the first movie that I saw with one of my favorite actors. Charles Bronson although he was listed by his real name (Charles Buchinski) in the movie. I also just found out that Lee Marvin was also in this movie.

Never intended to be side-splittingly hilarious, 'You're In The Navy Now' is an earnest effort at showing the lighter side of naval service, broadly in the manner of the 'Readers' Digest' feature "Humor In Uniform," and as such it works though modern audiences often think it dated and unamusing. Poor modern audiences, indeed.

Solid cast here, with Gary Cooper shipshape as the green but earnest new skipper of a submarine chaser in which an experimental propulsion plant has been installed for testing; Jack Webb, Eddie Albert, Harry Von Zell, Jane Greer, Harvey Lembeck, Jack Warden, Charles Buchinski - later to become Charles Bronson, and Lee Marvin all working, and sometimes conniving, together to make their oddly-engined ship a proud one.

The actual PC1168 used in the film can be seen here: http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/011168.htm 'You're In The Navy Now' is a pleasant way to voyage through an evening.

Gary Cooper stars in this WWII comedy, released several years after the wars' finish, about the various experiments that the Navy conducted with machines and equipment. Cooper plays John W. Harkness, a Reserve officer assigned to commandeer a ship that's been outfitted with a steam engine. He's basically as inexperienced as his misfit crew, and dealing with them occupies practically as much time as trying to make their infernal steam engine work.

Likeable and lively, "You're in the Navy Now" was scripted by Richard Murphy, based on a New Yorker article by John W. Hazard, and directed by Henry Hathaway. While it may never be truly uproarious, it generates enough modest chuckles to keep it watchable. The "misfits make good" formula has been a part of cinema for a long, long time, and here it makes for a decent story, as we come to respect and admire these men when they learn how to work together, and keep that engine running. A subplot about beefy sailor Wascylewski (Charles Bronson) selected to represent the ship in a boxing match also takes up some of the running time.

Cooper gets to do something a little different here, in contrast to the more accomplished heroes he'd played before. Here he is rather overwhelmed, and plays it just right. The lovely Jane Greer gets a handful of scenes as his supportive wife, but what is most impressive is the roster of actors filling out roles: Jack Webb, John McIntire, Ray Collins, Millard Mitchell, Eddie Albert, Richard Erdman, Harvey Lembeck, Ed Begley, etc. Real-life WWII veterans Bronson, Lee Marvin (in a bit part as a radio man), and Jack Warden made their film debuts here, along with Lembeck.

Filmed with full military cooperation, the film does have the feel of authenticity, and moves along well to an amusing climax with a LOT of near misses.

Seven out of 10.

This is a typical Gary Cooper vehicle where he gets placed in a sudden leadership role and has to rally the men who serve him. It's worked well in his other films and does so here. What I really enjoyed is all the actors who would later go on to enjoy their own careers like Eddie Arnold, Charles Bronson, Jack Webb, and even Lee Marvin. A great look at some of the less glorious aspects of navy service during WWII. So many films showcase the expertise or the hardened battle-weary sailors, but this movie showed how many sailors found themselves to be "90 day wonders", meaning they were pulled out from being civilians and trained quickly to serve. This movie showed that the average Joe (and Jill) truly did his or her part in winning the war.