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Acceptance of 'Ensign Pulver' for what it is gets hampered by dumb Producer choice to cash in on 'Mr. Roberts.' In pacing and overall tone 'Ensign Pulver' has much in common with many WW2 themed light comedies made in the mid-1960's.

This movie is worth watching in our current era first with an understanding of what it meant to be at the time; a mildly distracting 90 minutes of celluloid. It's not bad really.

Second, the movie is worth watching by students of film/culture to note how moral ambiguity influenced 1960's Hollywood. In 'Mr. Roberts' Cagney has a great scene about why he hates 'college boys' yet there's nothing in the film that treats his character with sympathy.

In 'Ensign Pulver' it seems pains are taken to give the Captain a back story so he comes across as a scarred victim of an unfortunate childhood.

I know a lot of people try to make sense of this movie compared to Mr Roberts but I believe it was the Directors intent to just make it a fun layback at the drive-in movie to escape the reality we were facing back in the 60's Walter Matthau and Robert walker put together is dam funny and Burl Ives playes a dam mean captain even though he was the nicest guy in the world,I remember the movie at the drive in and I was 6years old and never forgot the movie cause it kept me laughing and I remember Mom and Dad bursting out laughing!just remember it was just ment to take you out of everyday life and bring you into a kind a fun world..and for a change you could get a chance to see life in a fun way..just sit back for a old fun ride!!

When i saw this movie for sale at a used video store, i immediately flipped out due to the title of the film including my last name. i then bought it watched it, and enjoyed through and through. walter matthau was at his usual comic genius, and the cameo by jack nicholson was great. recommended

The only thing this film has going for it is catching all the great actors, at the start of their careers) that are in smaller roles as the sailors on board - James Farentino, a skinny James Coco, Larry Hagman, George Lindsay, Dick Gautier and even a young Jack Nicholson! OK Walter Matthau is worth watching in anything he does, but that is all. The rest of the film is another Josh Logan homo-erotic mess. Yes, it is. He seems to have spent more time on the scenes where the sailors get together and have fun dancing in their underwear, whacking each other on the butt, running around with no shirts and skimpy shorts and there is even a scene where one sailor, as they sit and listen to the radio, has one arm draped over another guys leg. The rest of the story is like the boat they are on - old, rusty and goes no where. The worst is Robert Walker(who should have kept the Jr after his name)who does his best to do a perfect Jack Lemmon impersonation and that gets irritating as you wonder why they didn't get Jack himself. He probably read the script.

We remember the hype about this film : "You'll be Pulver-ized with laughter!!!" Umm. . .NOT!! This seadog of a movie has none of the wit or pathos of "Mister Roberts", it's progenitor. Burl Ives does his level best to save this loser, but his efforts are torpedoed by Robert Walker Jr as Pulver, a pale imitation of Jack Lemmon. For our money, Walker was at his best as a barely recognizable hippie in "Easy Rider", or possibly as a product demonstrator in toy commercials for Milton-Bradley, but never, ever as a junior officer in the Navy. Or the Army either, for that matter. This film was billed as a comedy/drama, but fails miserably as either. The jokes aren't funny, and the alleged drama is hopelessly contrived, such as when Walker and Ives, mortal enemies, are adrift together in a small boat. Oh, can't you just reach out and touch the tension? This movie is essentially an endurance test, and should be required viewing for prospective telemarketers. You, on the other hand, should avoid it at all costs.