McHale's Navy

So I just finished up with Down Periscope, so I'm off to the other Navy comedy. I have no idea why this is rated so low.

It's silly, but it's a comedy and is supposed to be. I can watch this one every so often and it's still funny. Relax a little bit and laugh, it's not real.

I just caught this movie on Encore. I'd never had much interest in seeing it based on the negative comments that have been made about it. It was much better than I (and a lot of other people) gave it credit for being. I came to the IMDB site because the credits went by too fast and I wanted to check some of the actors. I was surprised to find that so many people really disliked this film. First of all, I'd like to point out that the original show was fantasy. C'mon--does anyone really think that the series represented what it was like in the South Pacific during the Second World War? It also doesn't give you much of a starting point except the characters and their interactions. With apologies to Tim Conway, Joe Flynn, et. al., the original series had only one star--Ernest Borgnine. It was called McHale's Navy for a reason. So it's fitting that Tom Arnold should be the focus of the movie. I think they did keep to the spirit of the original series and, where these comments started, the movie was just as much a fantasy as the series was. In terms of the plot, it too kept with the spirit of the original series. For those of you looking for plot depth or profound characters missed the point of both the series and the movie. It was supposed to be entertainment, escapism, with a mild segue into reality. If you want something profound, watch Schindler's List or something by Kurasawa, or anything Shakespeare by Brannagh. But don't ask me to eat the same thing for dinner each night--I'll get tired of it and I'll yearn for cotton candy. Movies of this type are called "guilty pleasures." They're supposed to be fun. Having said that, one man's fun is another man's Bergman. This movie isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but it isn't a bad movie. Just take it for what it is--a little bit of fun, a little bit of fantasy.

OK for starters, this movie deserves far better than the 3.8 it currently holds, hence my 8/10. In truth, this film is a great piece of entertainment, and I can think of few films that are as mindless as they are funny. This is not meant to be Oscar material, but succeeds in entertaining from beginning to end.

Bruce Campbell of course makes this worth seeing by himself, but the rest of the cast hold their own. Tom Arnold usually is seen as a bad indicator of quality, but his cheesy dialog has its moments. Rent it, buy it, just watch it, and judge for yourself. It will not be a waste of time.

I watched this on a commercial station and between each advert break they flashed up the title card as 'McHale's War' instead of McHale's Navy, and that seemed to sum up the complete lack of interest this film generates in almost everybody. The TV station couldn't even get the title right. This is a bad film – a comedy that is consistently and forcefully unfunny. I didn't laugh once throughout the entire hellish running time, and only managed the barest ghost of a smile on a couple of occasions. Let's face it – any film in which Tom Arnold is the star is in trouble from the off. For all I know he may well be a wonderful person but he isn't a star and he isn't a comedian. The only time he's funny is during the 'action' sequences and when he tries to act serious: his nostrils flare a little and his eyes widen a touch and that's it – it's a kind of one-size-fits-all expression for every emotion he is called upon to express. He's supposed to be one of those charismatic types in this film, the type of guy everyone warms to the moment he opens his mouth. That's right – Tom Arnold. Did some casting executive read this part and really think to himself 'why, that's a part just tailor-made for that Tom Arnold chap? Hmmm. Dean Stockwell is also in this, he's quite a good actor but he's awful here – in fact he hasn't been much good in anything since Married to the Mob. Tim Curry is just a cartoon character in a flesh suit these days and sleepwalks through his role. The running joke about his being the second greatest terrorist in the world is done to death in the first twenty minutes of the film and then thankfully forgotten. Only the ever-solid Bill Campbell is worth a look, but his part is woefully small. The TV show was around before my time, so I've no point of reference with regard to how accurately this film captures the atmosphere of the show, but somehow I can't believe it was as lame as this. If it was the film would never have been greenlighted.

Do yourself a favour and do what everyone involved in this mess should have done: give it a wide, wide berth.

The original series starred Ernest Borgnine fresh off his film career which included an Academy Award winning performance as MARTY. The real stars of the show were Tim Conway and Joe Flynn, two comics with perfect timing. The rest of the crew was basically just wall paper (wall paper does have it's place, Gavin MacLeod made a career out of playing wall paper in this program, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, and THE LOVE BOAT). The humor of the show required that Conway or Flynn or both be on screen to get a laugh. Like many TV shows of the time, two theatrical features were made (in color) and the second only with Conway and Flynn. A remake of the whole thing flops mainly because of the lack of comic timing (a mix of slapstick and vaudeville) that Conway and Flynn brought to the original. About the same time as this remake Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd attempted to remake another service related TV comedy SGT. BILKO. Martin and Ackroyd have timing and still flopped with the genre. So maybe the two shows could only be made at the time they were made with the people who made them. That makes them really special and why Nick at Nite and TV Land will have little competition from new Hollywood. Note: If you have any original ideas move to Hollywood, apparently there are no writers in Hollywood with original ideas. They can use you.