Deux farfelus au régiment

Movies like this are what they're taking about when they talk of classic comedies. This was the movie version of a Broadway stage hit that ran forever, and anyone who watches this film will readily understand why. Andy Griffith is absolutely perfect as Will Stockdale and Nick Adams, Sergeant King and Don Knotts fit their parts like a glove. They simply don't make many comedies that are as flat out funny as this one. They never did and still don't.

This is a hilarious movie that doesn't have to resort to insulting humor or lewd remarks. Andy Griffith is the naive and innocent Will Stockdale who is drafted into the Air Force. He unintentionally reeks havoc across the barracks and with the drill seargant. I laugh until I almost cry most every time I see this gem of a film. This film was the inspiration for The Andy Griffith Show spinoff Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. A wonderful film that is worth watching again and again.

this is one funny movie...the only time it really slows down is when will and ben are shot down and are discovered alive at the air base. but when will is trying to become classified, there is one good gag after another...like when ben is trying to make sure the major is spelling his name correctly...or when irving and the sarge are trying to get will drunk at the bar and when will is leaving the mp's come rushing in and will says, "there's a couple thirsty fellas". or like the other poster said about getting the latrine clean enough to cut out the general's heart. or when ben thinks he's about to be shot for leaving his post by jumping from a disable airplane. the fun thing is..even though will isn't very bright...he does have a wisdom about him...understanding situations that others miss...one very good movie...

This movie is on my list of my favorite funny movies of all time. I 've lost count of how many times I've seen it, yet each time I view it, I laugh out loud all over again. It's side-splitting humor without crudeness and vulgarity - a quality that today's movies sadly lack. One of my favorite scenes is where all the draftees are being inducted - particularly where Will comes to the aid of his buddy Private Whitledge. I don't know if this is the first film pairing of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, but their chemistry is readily apparent, in the scene where Private Stockdale is having his manual dexterity tested. I live in the southern Appalachians and I never felt once like this movie was derogatory and condescending towards mountain people. Yes, Andy Griffith's Will Stockdale was extremely naive, but he was never portrayed as being less of a human being because he was from the southern mountains and less experienced in life. I always felt like Private Stockdale's naiveté enabled him to approach things from a different perspective (albeit unknowingly) and come up with quite unique solutions. Andy Griffith was, and is, a master at portraying this kind of character.

Will Stockdale (Andy Griffith) is a well-intentioned, but not too bright, young Georgia man drafted into the Air Force. Despite all his good intentions, Will is too dumb to realize that his efforts to do good and make nice result in disaster, especially for nerdish new associate Ben Whitledge (Nick Adams) and their harried sergeant Orville C. King (Myron McCormick). King does everything in his power to get this amiable nuisance out of his life.

Beginning as a novel by Mac Hyman, this was then turned into a hit Broadway play by writer Ira Levin (of later "Rosemary's Baby" fame). John Lee Mahin scripted this feature film version, which has many bright moments, and a respectable amount of laughs, but which also goes on long enough that it does lose some momentum.

Still, the cast certainly can't be faulted. Griffith and McCormick had originated their parts on stage, and are both superb. Griffith is so danged clueless but also so danged engaging that you can't hate him at all. (You'd sure hate to have to deal with him, though.) Another veteran of the stage version was Don Knotts, here making his feature debut, in the role of a frazzled "manual dexterity tester". Griffith and Knotts became lifelong friends, and when it came time to cast Barney Fyfe for Griffiths' later legendary TV series, it was his old pal Knotts he thought of first. Adams is just perfect as the neurotic, high-strung Whitledge who, more than anything, wants to serve in the infantry like other family members had before him. Other familiar faces lend their valuable assistance, too: future "Jaws" mayor Murray Hamilton as the scheming bruiser Irving, and Howard Smith, Will Hutchins, Sydney Smith, James Millhollin, Jean Willes, Dub Taylor, and Raymond Bailey. And recognize the co-pilot on the plane in the last half hour? Indeed, it's Jamie Farr from the "MASH" TV series.

Directed efficiently by Mervyn LeRoy, "No Time for Sergeants" does have some great scenes and gags, such as the bar scene, or the part where the toilet lids flip up in unison to salute the base Captain (Bartlett Robinson). Griffiths' agreeable stupidity and eager-to-please nature is the glue that holds it all together.

Seven out of 10.