I've just watched this movie again (and taped it), and found it just as amusing as when I first watched it 40 odd years ago (just after it's release in fact). Jack Lemmon never fails to impress, but after all this time I now realise that Ricky Nelson (although a great loss to the music world) wasn't the greatest of actors. However his naivety in this department somehow added charm to this movie.
The WWII storyline based on true events couldn't be simpler. An American naval officer/ex-yachtsman Lt Rip Crandall (Jack Lemmon), and a young Ensign Tommy Hansen (Ricky Nelson), are ordered to sail an old sloop, the "USS Echo", with an unexperienced crew across the Great Barrier Reef to Port Moresby, where (although Crandall doesn't know until later) the boat is to be used to convey an Aussie coast-watcher to his destination, with a different crew. Crandall doesn't like the change-over so steals the mission. End of plot...almost.
The only real down side of this movie was the awful "Austroylian" accent of Irish actress Patricia Driscoll. Almost as bad as Dick van Dyke's Cockney accent in "Mary Poppins". Almost, but not quite. Although lovely to look at, it's a blessing Patricia only had a minor role. However I find it strange that the part couldn't have been given to a genuine Aussie.
All in all, I always found this movie very entertaining, and strangely enough, for a war film, and rather like "Mr Roberts", no violence worth worrying about. Which rather pleases me now, for my grandkids love it.
The WWII storyline based on true events couldn't be simpler. An American naval officer/ex-yachtsman Lt Rip Crandall (Jack Lemmon), and a young Ensign Tommy Hansen (Ricky Nelson), are ordered to sail an old sloop, the "USS Echo", with an unexperienced crew across the Great Barrier Reef to Port Moresby, where (although Crandall doesn't know until later) the boat is to be used to convey an Aussie coast-watcher to his destination, with a different crew. Crandall doesn't like the change-over so steals the mission. End of plot...almost.
The only real down side of this movie was the awful "Austroylian" accent of Irish actress Patricia Driscoll. Almost as bad as Dick van Dyke's Cockney accent in "Mary Poppins". Almost, but not quite. Although lovely to look at, it's a blessing Patricia only had a minor role. However I find it strange that the part couldn't have been given to a genuine Aussie.
All in all, I always found this movie very entertaining, and strangely enough, for a war film, and rather like "Mr Roberts", no violence worth worrying about. Which rather pleases me now, for my grandkids love it.