Marinai, topless e guai

My father didn't watch much TV in the 60's. He didn't even laugh much. Just his personality. When he watched this show, he used to laugh so hard, he'd nearly fall off his chair. Of course I laughed too, since I wasn't used to seeing him laugh. My dad was a WWII US Navy Destroyer veteran stationed in the South Pacific, and his squadron earned 11 battle stars, so they weren't on a luxury cruise. He laughed the hardest at Leadbottom - Binghamton, so I figure he had or knew a CO like Old Leadbottom. Come to think of it, my Dad acted a lot like Binghamton, so maybe he saw some of himself in old Leadbottom. Who knows, he's gone now. I love to watch this show on tape, it gives me a brief connection back to those happy times with my father. I find myself laughing still.

It's 1943 somewhere in the South Pacific and the misadventures of PT73. Skipper McHale (Ernest Borgnine) delivers money to an isolated orphanage. He returns to find his men have expanded the operation without his approval. They get on the wrong side of a horse race and owes everybody about $2k. Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn) in a plane tries to catch McHale but incompetent Ensign Charles Parker (Tim Conway) shoots him down thinking it's the Japs.

It's a lot of silly slapstick comedy. I never saw the TV show. If this is any guide, it's a pretty low grade sitcom. The show is in black and white while this is in sharp bright colors. It could be funny in half hour spurts but it feels tiresome after awhile. It does allow Conway to riff on extended jokes. However, even he feels a bit too extended just like the movie. It is what it is and what one expects.

McHale's Navy was, most famously a TV series, and it shows in this movie. This movie has that sitcom feel: cram as many laughter attempts into as short a time as possible, with a random plot and no character development. Plus the humour is generally quite juvenile.

This all doesn't lend itself well to the longer format.

I do enjoy this movie.. It's silly and far better than the remake that was made in the 1990's. Think I've seen this 50 times or more... When I was a child, the movie and show were on constantly in syndication.. Back in the day of this being made, it was very popular to make comedy war movies, like this one and "Operation Peticoat"... Recently just seeing this movie again on AMC, I was stunned to find out that Bob Hope was actually offered the title role for this, but refused it... You would have thought that he would have taken it on being that he basically accepted so many movie parts to keep his name in circulation.. *LOL*

After recently trashing the hideous 1997 remake, I felt it appropriate to review the film that spawned perhaps the worst remake of any movie or series in the history of cinema. Actually, Mchale's Navy (the original, mind you) is more like a ninety minute episode of the TV series. It doesn't matter. If you're a fan of the series, it's well worth the time. Tim Conway as klutzy Ensign Parker and Joe Flynn as Captain "I could just scream" Binghampton are every bit as hilarious here as in the TV series.

All the more reason to avoid the 1997 dog turd starring Tom Arnold and Dean Stockwell.

Rating: ****1/2 out of *****