Sur le pont la marine

I have always enjoyed Mchale's Navy, it has to be one of my all time favourite shows. The show was immensely popular in Australia during the 1960's and has returned regularly since then. The show joins many of those other TV SitComs of that 'Golden Era' of television, such as: Batman, Gilligan's Island, The Addams Family, Gomer Pyle, USMC and many more that kept us amused.

I always made sure I was home from school and seated in time for the show every Monday to Friday to see the wacky adventures of McHale and his crew as they managed to get themselves into yet another 'mess' in their daily battle of wits with their strictly by the book Captain Wallace B. Binghamton and Lieutenant Carpenter.

Ernest Borgnine has always been one of my favourite actors and his portrayal of the long suffering LTCOMDR Quinton McHale was first rate. McHale always seemed to have his hands full trying to keep his 'bunch of eight balls' in line, as well as have to contend with his bumbling Exec Officer, Ensign Parker (Tim Conway).

I thought Ernest Borgnine made the show, being the go-between his men and his stern CO, Capt Binghamton. McHale was always concocting some scheme to get his men off the hook with Binghamton, sometimes himself too, after they got into some mishap or other. Capt, Binghamton was also forever trying to invent some scheme to get McHale and his 'Pirates' shipped out, inevitably this backfired on the good Captain someway or another.

I still enjoy this show, it's as every bit as entertaining now as it was back in those good old days.

I know this was Ernest Borgnine's show, and though he played it too broadly sometimes, he was still pretty good in it. However, the main reason I watched the show was for Joe Flynn's Captain Binghamton and Tim Conway's Ensign Parker. Binghamton was always trying to nail McHale and his crew (he kept calling them "you and your pirates") and some of his schemes to get rid of them were hilarious, especially when, as usual, they blew up in his face. Conway's eager but almost totally incompetent Ensign Parker was a a joy to watch, due to Conway's comic genius. It was side-splitting to watch him squirm, stutter and completely fall apart whenever he was given any kind of responsibility at all; he'd try to do a good job, and it usually worked out in the end, but what happened in between was always good for a lot of laughs. I especially enjoyed watching him totally dissolve whenever Claudine Longet put the moves on him. Conway was one of TV's great clowns, as shown by his work on "The Carol Burnett Show," and he's at the top of his form; he had the amazing ability to move his body in three or four different directions at the same time--he would look like a marionette with the strings tangled--and that combined with his twitches, facial expressions and look of total incomprehension was a riot. Another actor I really enjoyed was Bob Hastings, who played Binghamton's loyal, long-suffering and abused underling, Lt. Carpenter. Carpenter was the ultimate company man, so eager to please his boss that he gladly entered into whatever lame-brained scheme Binghamton cooked up to discredit McHale ("Oh, good-o, sir, that's brilliant!"), which usually wound up with Binghamton's shifting the blame to him whenever it went wrong--which Carpenter, of course, always readily accepted ("I'm sorry, sir, of course it was all my fault"). Carl Ballantine's scheming Gruber, always on the lookout to make a (usually dishonest) buck, was a lot of fun, too.

I think the series lost a bit of steam when the location was moved from the South Pacific to Italy, and some of the supporting cast was somewhat weak (Gavin McLeod's Happy was especially annoying), but overall it was a very funny, enjoyable show, with some great byplay between Flynn and Conway.

I started watching this in reruns in the mid-sixties. I'd watch it while having lunch on a stool in my kitchen in Oakland California.

It just blew me away. There I was - spraying avocado & sprouts sandwiches & salads all over the kitchen in uncontrollable hysteria - 3 or 4 gut-wrenching laughs for every chew-&-swallow.

Never since have I ever seen a show - TV series or feature film - with as great a complement of genuinely riotously talented comedians as McHale's Navy: Tim Conway, Joe Flynn, Carl Ballantine (comic magician on Ed Sullivan), Bob Hastings, Billy Sands. Even Gavin McLeod was on board & Ernest Borgnine gave it authority & glue! It was brilliant; as far as I'm concerned on a par with the Marx brothers & Abbott & Costello. Ageless & priceless!!!

So where's the DVD?

Who can resist the comic talent of Tim Conway? Further, who can resist both Conway and Flynn on the same show to "play off" one another? The result is hysterical. I recently bought this first season, after having seen McHale's Navy (the 1960s movie) and McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force. I had enjoyed them both, but was unaware that the original TV show is now available for purchase.

I am always sad that nowadays, comedians are vulgar and crude and do not need to have ANY talent in order to be popular. True comedy is one of the toughest things for an actor to portray well. Any fool can spew forth obscenities for a cheap laugh, but true comedy requires something more. Joe Flynn and Tim Conway both have that "something more" I am referring to. You will know what I am talking about if you watch any of these old episodes.

What a delightful television show with good writing and decent acting.

I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Los Angeles from Seattle with Ernest Borgnine. I was interested to find out that McHale's Navy was currently not being shown on TV. This show was without a doubt, one of the funniest shows of all time, featuring an ensemble cast that rivals any in the history of TV. I would just like to say to programmers out there, especially at Nick At Night and TV Land, BRING BACK McHALES NAVY! There are generations of young people that have never seen this classic show from TV's golden era, and that is a shame. Writers of todays TV comedies could learn more than a few things about whats funny from watching this wonderful show. It was truly a great example of what results from great writing, acting, and that magic chemistry that only happens once in a great while when you have a great ensemble cast.