McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force

When the trainer falls off the truck you can see the wire that pulled it off.

They made two theatrical movies with the cast of the original series with one notable exception -- this one didn't have McHale and thus surrounds Binghamton and Parker -- with the usual shtick. There are three funny scenes and the rest of it rambles on interminably. If you like the series, you will find this bearable but are better off renting a tape with episodes from the actual series. Still, this is better than the hideous 1997 remake.

Ernest Borgnine was off making The Flight Of the Phoenix when this picture was made. It's a very good film. I highly recommend it.

I was wondering why the great Carl Ballantine didn't make the cast either. He's the actor who played Gruber in the series and the first film.

I had forgotten how awful the movie actually was until both McHale's Navy films ran in tandem on the satellite the other night. I saw both of these films as a child and they were basically long versions of the TV show. The first one is the better.

Tim Conway's physical humor is the only thing that keeps this movie afloat. He did much better stuff as part of the Carol Burnett Show later on.

This movie is pretty darn old. I think it says here it was released in 1965. Anyhow, I've never really considered myself much of Tim Conway fan and my memories of the series centered on how silly it was. Well, I'm a heckuva lot older now and I can appreciate silly a lot better now. I laughed out loud at least a dozen times while watching this earlier today on AMC. I'm pretty positive no film displays the comic genius of Tim Conway better than this one. I was reminded a lot of the three stooges, Conway, Joe Flynn, and the guy playing Elroy almost steal the stooges act completely. The physical comedy is a hoot. I would love to have a DVD of this one and some other McHale's Navy stuff. Borgnine doesn't make it but that only gives more time for Conway and Flynn to just go off. The plot is very above average also, lots of twists and goofy situations for the boys to work their magic with. I know lots of people will pass on this movie because its old school, black and white, no bad language, and done in the classic style. But check this out, if you have an interest in comedy and you want to watch some of the best do it right...don't miss this one. Conway's love interest is a very pretty girl by the way...I don't recall ever seeing her before..super cute! The actors playing the "big brass" are all very good also. The boyfriend from THAT GIRL also has a nice part in this one. Give McHale's Navy joins the Air Force a look. It's just as funny as Norbit and there is no pointless vulgarity or pimp stuff. (not that I personally object to that stuff)

The title of the comment about says it all. Even though there is a good comedic cast in this movie and some amusing moments, I think they were a bit desperate to try to sell this without Ernest Borgnine being in it.

On the other hand, you do get to see Tim Conway, and early looks at Gavin MacLeod and Bob Hoskins. Sadly, although he was in a lot of TV and film I watched in the 60s, I just never could warm up to Joe Flynn's single character persona. Of course, he was always the foil, so you weren't meeant to warm up to him. Still, other notable character foils managed to do so without being quite as irritating. (Ted Baxter in Mary Tyler Moore, or Richard Deacon in The Dick Van Dyke Show, as examples).