Esse Sargento é de Morte

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.

I watched this movie begrudgingly one day and I was amazed at how funny it was. It caught me completely off guard. The drill sergeant is played to perfection by Myron McCormick, whose life is made miserable by hayseed Griffith. Many very funny vignettes, the bar scene still has me LOL, as does much of the movie. Watch and enjoy.

I remember seeing it as a little girl and still try to watch it every time it airs. I even have it on tape. It is simple, clean, and hilarious. I love it because it makes me laugh each and every time I see it and it never gets old to me. The people that play the characters are perfect for their parts. Andy Griffith is a real southern man playing a simple southerner and he is superb! No one else could have done Will Stockdale better. I love his description of his first days in military service ("mashin' our tongues down with popsicle sticks...wompin' our knees with little rubber hammers.."); his duty as PLO - Permanent Latrine Orderly - to glean a favor from the Captain ("it was my aim to get it clean as that room where they gonna cut out yor heart"); buddy Ben; getting class-i-fied; Sgt. King "the best danged Sergeant in the whole danged Air Force"; and finally being a hero "air man".

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.

... plus it is fun too! This is really worth watching for two reasons. It is obviously a blueprint for the popular spin-off TV show "Gomer Pyle USMC" starring Jim Nabors in the part played here by Andy Griffith, and it is interesting to make comparisons between the two. Secondly, it really is part of a tribute to the great yet unappreciated range Andy Griffith had as an actor. Here he plays the yokel as well-meaning good guy, anxious to serve his country but just too friendly and green to fully comprehend the discipline he is under in training camp. He thinks it is an honor when the sergeant gives him latrine duty, and his version of the 21-gun salute when the latrine is inspected is truly hilarious. Watch this and then watch him play the yokel as bad guy in "A Face in the Crowd".