Reviews

If you don't understand the heading to this comment, then you'll just have to obtain "No Time For Sergeants"- by whatever means necessary- and see it to find out. As many other commenters have stated: there is great comedy, and then there is the modern, cheap variety which solicits laughter and record-breaking audiences simply on the basis of smutty, adolescent dialogue, unnecessary nudity, and other unimaginative formulas. This picture is one of the absolute best of the former- one of those movies that you feel has actually enhanced your life for having seen it. A wholesome hill-dweller (Andy Griffith) drafted into the Air Force, with all the concoctable results of such an event, busts the gut of even young viewers in the 21st Century, proving that good comedy will never become outmoded.

Everyone, I know, has their particular taste in comedy, but it's just tough for me to imagine anyone not finding "No Time For Sergeants" highly enjoyable, at the very least. God bless one and all...

When this picture came out in '62 or '63, Mom took us 3 kids to see it at an old-style huge screened theatre. The titles of the movies(Bert I. Gordon's "The Magic Sword" was the other one) suggested to Mom that these were quaint, Disney-like fantasy films, so she figured we were safe from anything hideous. At the bursting from his elf disguise by the first monstrous giant in the movie, Mom realized she had made a boo-boo and suggested that we should seek milder entertainment. Our desperate protests put the wet blanket on poor Mom's wishes, and we sat through 2 film adventures that, to this day, are among our all-time favorites. As I understand it, this picture was produced to cash in on the tremendous success of "7th Voyage Of Sinbad", and the legal troubles that resulted from the vast similarities between the two films were the reason that the owners of the movie's rights were required to downgrade it into a ridiculous musical version. Thankfully, after years of being unavailable, the original untouched "Jack" came out on video, and it was about as much fun seeing it again as an old codger as it was as a 10-year-old.

For us "baby boomers" who started out on black-and-white TV and seeing such films as "King Kong", etc., when we were young, a stop-motion animated monster is just more scary, other-worldly, dangerous...whatever term fits an effective creature feature. Although Kerwin Matthews' many nemeses in "Jack The Giant Killer" don't quite stand alongside Ray Harryhausen's magnificent work, they still make this film well worth seeing for anyone who enjoys a good, old-fashioned mythical adventure.

Incidentally, if you have an idiotic sense of humour, the musical version is a scream to behold- especially the sequence of the evil wizard's servant returning to his master to report a failed kidnapping. :D :D

Everyone certainly has their own taste in motion pictures, but as far as this old monster movie watcher is concerned, "Jack The Giant Killer" is among the upper crust of its genre. Even after 31 years.

I'll say 8.5/10. God bless one and all...

This picture is horrible. Just horrible. No touchy-feely messages or situations, no annoying "dark comedy" relief, no wall-to-wall, headache-causing audio-visual effects such as are found in most more recent monster flicks. Just enveloping, grinding tension and suspense, with paralyzing hostile-creature sequences.

In short, it's everything a monster movie ought to be.

Having grown up in the 50s and 60s and thoroughly enjoying the 1951 "Thing From Another World" and all the renowned monster pix of that time, I'll say now that this movie, for me, tops them all. I agree most heartily with many co-commentators that the atmosphere (right from the opening titles), special effects, characters and musical score are near matchless among sci fi-horror efforts. I've seen the movie easily over a dozen times, and to this very day I still tense up when anticipating certain scenes. Ennio Morricone's potent, steel-cold score, distributed through the picture with a master's perfection, compounds every gripping situation in the story-but then, what else should we expect from the man who gave us the famous "Clint Eastwood Theme Song" in "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" (yeah, it was him!)? Also, the film is not ruined by stupid "politically corrected" character stereotyping, such as is seen in "Independence Day"; you can actually relate to these poor, besieged stiffs, which is really essential in achieving the suspense needed in any horror movie. I refuse to inject any spoilers- I'll only say that this John Carpenter thriller about Antarctic scientists thrown into a tense, deadly battle against a vicious alien intruder deserves a seat alongside "King Kong" (1933), "7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Alien" and very few others as one of the greatest monster movies of all time...that's my opinion, for what it's worth.

My suggestion for viewing "The Thing" is: at night, alone, preferably in the wintertime, with a large screen and multiple speakers if available. If you're a connoisseur of chick-flicks or "E. T."-type movies, forget it.

10/10 on this one, folks. God bless one and all.