Patrouilleur 109

I well remember PT 109 coming out in movie theaters during the summer of 1963. It was still playing in the hinterlands when the events of November 22, of that year occurred.

Probably Cliff Robertson wisely decided not to try for a Boston accent in his portrayal of the 35th president of the United States during his World War II years. If he had he might have come off as imitating Vaughn Meader imitating John F. Kennedy. As it is the only concession he made to the role was a bit of reddish tint in his hair to suggest the man he was playing. It worked rather well and still works today.

Ironically though had their been other U.S. Navy craft near the PT 109 when the Japanese battleship Amagiri sliced it like a loaf of bread in the middle of the night who could have picked up survivors, Lieutenant j.g. John F. Kennedy probably would have been facing a court martial for losing his boat that way. It was the only PT boat in World War II lost to the Japanese in that manner.

But the story is not about that as it was the survival of all, but two of his crew who were killed in the collision. It's about Lieutenant Kennedy towing an injured man while swimming for a deserted Pacific island and keeping his men alive until they could be rescued. The Navy was not about to court martial a hero.

Warner Brothers filled out the rest of the cast with some tried and true players, some like Ty Hardin and Grant Williams from their television series which was rapidly taking over the Warner Brothers lot. Particularly I liked James Gregory as the career naval officer in charge of the PT squadron and Michael Pate as Australian coast watcher Reg Evans. This is one of the few American made films where Michael Pate plays someone from his own country.

I remember on Jack Paar's Friday night variety show he devoted an entire hour to one long commercial for this film. He reunited all of the surviving PT 109 survivors with Australian coast watcher Reg Evans who had a big hand in rescuing them. Evans had met Kennedy of course, but had never met the rest of the crew. The whole living crew was there except the skipper who was in the White House and who could know he'd be the next one to die.

If JFK had lived and been running for re-election in 1964 what a great piece of election propaganda PT 109 would have been. The story also had a lot to do with his successful campaign in 1960. Kennedy was running under the cloud of his father Joseph P. Kennedy being a supporter of appeasement back in the day. This story and the death of his older brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. in combat in the European theater blunted a lot of the criticism of the actions of his father.

PT 109 is a nicely done war film and a great piece of nostalgia for the Kennedy years.

This movie has always been a great favorite of mine because I always regarded President John F. Kennedy to be one of the most influential politicians of the 20th century who championed the cause of Democracy throughout the world, particularly during the Cold War.

His service as a Naval Lieutenant in the Pacific during WW 11, in charge of a PT boat,(No. 109) which was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer during a night sortie in the Solomon Islands in August 1943 is one of heroic performance in which he paid vigilance to the safety of his disbanded crew, getting them to dry surroundings on a nearby island.

Their future looked bleak after being written off as dead by their own command,

But Australian Coast Watcher Lt. Reginald Evans (played by Michael Pate) and his loyal band of native Solomon Islanders refused to give up hope of their survival and after extensive searching discovered their whereabouts.

Kennedy sent a message to Evans carved on a coconut to confirm his presence and that of his men and they were subsequently rescued.

Kennedy's actions were very gallant on his part indeed, in order to keep his crew intact, and he did it with magnificent conduct in a role played superbly by Cliff Robertson.

Excellent supporting cast with James Gregory as local district Naval Commander Ritchie, and Ty Hardin, Robert Culp and Robert Blake making up as members of the crew.

A great well made movie of a true future leader - no wonder he became a U.S. President.

P.S. When President Kennedy paid a visit to Australia in 1962 he asked to meet once again with Lt. Evans and that was a bond of friendship renewed. I will never forget that terrible day one year later when he was assassinated in Dallas Texas on November 22nd 1963. I was 19 years old at the time.

This movie has some great characters, some nice action, humor, and is really enjoyable to watch. The fact that it's based on real life incidents from JFK's time in the Navy makes it that much better. There are some nice touches that show that the boat wasn't the best in the fleet and JFK wasn't shown as a Superman. One of my favorite movie lines is from this movie. The boat has been sunk, several men are hurt and JFK gives a little speech to try to raise everyone's spirits and concludes his positive spin by saying the "odds are with us". Robert Culp very irritated says "We are trapped behind enemy lines, no food, no medical supplies, no one knows where we are, Japanese patrols are all around us, how can you stand there and say the odds are with us??" JFK says "I guess it's a character flaw".

The 60s and 70s would have been so much better for everyone if JFK had 8 years in the White House.

Solomon Islands, 1943. US forces are slowly pushing the Japanese out of the region. Short of larger warships, and suited to the shallow, narrow waters of the Solomons, the US Navy is heavily reliant on Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats to harry the enemy and perform all manner of other duties. One such boat is PT-109. Based on a (mostly) true story, here we see PT-109's exploits in the Solomons campaign, especially one incident for which it would become famous. Moreover, the movie focuses on the exploits and derring-do of PT-109's commander, Lt (jg) John Fitzgerald Kennedy...

Good, entertaining depiction of JFK's wartime adventures in the Solomons, and the one famous incident in particular. Never dull, and with some degree of grit, this is a rollicking adventure story. Some liberties taken with regard to historical accuracy, but not major ones. Reasonably accurate, militarily. Is possibly a bit too folksy at times in terms of the crew interactions.

Good work by Cliff Robertson as JFK. Supporting cast put in solid performances too.

Possibly even more fascinating than the movie is the making of it. JFK was President when the movie was made. He had veto power over the choice of director (he blocked at least one chosen director), got to choose who played himself (Cliff Robertson got the nod) and had input into other areas of the movie too. He managed to see the movie (he was assassinated five months after it was released) and said he liked it, but also thought that, at 2 hrs 20 mins, the movie was perhaps too long.

I remember seeing this movie in the sixties, and have seen it several times over the years. It is entertaining, and very positive in it's portrayal of a young JFK. It is more of a love letter to JFK from Hollywood than a authentic retelling of history, however. This was done when the United States was in the midst of a romance with the new "Camelot", and accordingly much artistic license was taken at the expense of a authentic and unbiased depiction of the episode. Perhaps the film was meant to capture more of the spirit of the time than to portray strictly the hard facts of the event. In any case, it is still an enjoyable movie and is worth watching.