Bardlerx Strictly average movie

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

dweilermg-1 This movie was made because Tab Hunter was a popular pretty boy actor adored by pre-teen and teen gals and their moms despite his limited acting ability. Since this movie was made in 1956 post-Korean war era years before the growing anti-war anti-military public sentiment of Vietnam prevailed the ending was acceptable albeit somewhat laughable at the same time.

calvinnme I am confused by the title and the synopses that say the protagonist wants out of the army to get back to the girl he left behind. That is not at all what is going on here.First, this is just a weird film. The first third of it has a "Leave It To Beaver" like voice over complete with goofy light music talking about how easy youngsters have it in this period of peace and prosperity - the mid 1950s - and then the narrator says, let's go meet them. This voice-over and music continues until into the basic training part of the film and appropriately disappears.Eventually we land upon Andy Shaeffer (Tab Hunter), the well off son of an attorney and a mother who just won't stop smothering Andy. Don't get me wrong, he seems to like being smothered! He is unbelievably "pinned" (pre-engaged back in the day) to Susan Daniels (Natalie Wood), who has a good work ethic. They are both college students. She asks Andy what he wants out of life. He says he wants to avoid the draft board, so he'll keep going to college until he is too old to be drafted, then let dad set him up in a cushy job. Surprisingly this shirker's attitude does not induce projectile vomiting in Susan, or at least a break up. What does start a fight is when he borrows her car, promises to pick her up so she can get to class, and then arrives as class is ending. Their fight causes him to fail a couple of examinations, and that gets him kicked out of college, and that gets him drafted.So Andy is a guy in the service who would rather do something else. Well that describes about 90% of the fellows who got drafted from 1945-1975. He proceeds to be a real jerk, talking back to drill sergeants, getting into fights with the rest of the platoon, and writing a love letter to his girl when he is supposed to be looking out for civilians who might wander into the firing range. Now Andy Griffith as Will Stockdale in "No Time For Sergeants" and Gomer Pyle as a marine both were well meaning and enthusiastic screw ups. They wound up on latrine duty and singing with a bucket over their head, respectively. But for some reason the non comms in charge give this guy unrealistic pass after pass until finally he makes a mistake so bad that he is offered a discharge - a dishonorable one. He asks where does he sign, not caring that this is the same as a felony conviction on his record. How will all of this turn out? Watch and find out.The only thing that makes this a 4 instead of a 2/10 are all of the supporting players who give outstanding performances. There is Jessie Roy Landis as Andy's mom who just can't get that Andrew has to let go of her breast and eat solid food sometime. There is Jim Backus and David Jannsen as officers, and most prominent is Murray Hamilton as Sgt. Clyde who gives Andy chance after chance. For some reason he believes in this guy. There is Henry Jones as Hanson, a WWII vet who has failed as a civilian and rejoined the service to try to straighten himself out, plus he missed the camaraderie of the army. Finally there is James Garner as just another soldier who still manages to impress. Natalie Wood looks cute here with her Italian cut, but I just don't believe it when she says she loves awful Andy.

Robert J. Maxwell This typical training camp film has a couple of things going for it. The screenplay by Guy Trosper has some improbably keen and sarcastic exchanges between Army draftee Tab Hunter and his superiors. "Is there any chance we can make a soldier out of you, Schaeffer?", asks his barracks sergeant. Hunter is lying on his bunk, looking sour. "I'm here because the Army has many guns pointed at my back but don't wait for me to become ardent -- you haven't got the time." Another admirable element of the film is the supporting cast, and Murray Hamilton in particular. Hamilton plays much the same character as the platoon sergeant that he did as the recruit with "a touch of ROTC" in "No Time For Sergeants," except here he's largely benign. That ironic grin is peerless.There are some amusing scenes too, which some people may not get. ("Turn your head and cough.") They were funnier at the time.Alas, that about does it for the more watchable features of the movie. The plot is straight out of a training-camp-movie textbook. An unprepared ordinary citizen, preferably a little spoiled, is forced into one of the armed services, overcomes some serious difficulties, and emerges from his chrysalis, a fully-fledged Blue Admiral. Often there are army games or maneuvers of one kind or another, in which he sheds his civilian ways and saves lives. You can see it in movies as diverse as "The Caine Mutiny" and "See Here, Private Hargrove." You can see the same plot in a Laurel and Hardy feature.The two leads -- Tab Hunter and the girl he left behind, Natalie Wood -- are both very attractive but neither is much of a performer. Pretty Natalie Wood would improve with time and with better parts but handsome Hunter had already plateaued although he'd just started a year or so before.The experience that Tab Hunter has in basic training in the Fifth Infantry Division is almost incredible. The mess hall has separate tables, seating for four, with table cloths and a vase of flowers on each. I went through boot camp and the mess deck looked more like James Cagney's berserk scene in Sing Sing in "White Heat" -- and I was just in the Coast Guard.None of the recruits calls the sergeants "sir." Instead they insult the sergeants to their faces. They're full of sarcastic comebacks to which the cadre reply with tolerant smiles. If anyone in MY company had been as snotty or negligent as Tab Hunter, he'd have wound up wearing a red arm band in a retraining company -- as I did.At any rate, if you want to see the U. S. Army brainwash a winsome young man and turn him into a clone of his platoon sergeant -- make a man out of a boy -- this is the movie to watch. It ends with the regiment marching proudly on the drill field and a band playing "The Caissons Go Rolling Along."

celinejanelle2000 .....then by all means let me know directly at the above e-mail address so that I may arrange for a copy for you. This winning military "dramedy" stars the never-lovelier Natalie Wood as the titular dish waiting back home for her college-flunkie boyfriend (and barracks brat) Tab Hunter to smarten up and get a life in the army. Among the many highlights are some meaty set-pieces pitting n'er-do-well Hunter against his superior officers, all played with gusto by Murray Hamilton, Jim Backus and David Janssen (while Henry Jones and Alan King deliver equally fine turns as Hunter's pals. Look for James Garner, too). Action, comedy and emotional resonance in equal measures in a true classic of its kind that unfortunately never got its due. Worth repeat viewings if only to behold Ms. Wood's unique incandescence at its peak.