I have very fond memories of this series, but not of the movie as I don’t recall seeing it. When a re-release from Universal came out earlier this year, I was down to spend 90 minutes with the crew of PT 73. Let me give you a little background first.
Buy McHale’s Navy: The Complete Series DVDIn 1962, Academy Award-winner Ernest Borgnine starred in an episode of Alcoa Premiere, an ABC dramatic anthology also known as Fred Astaire’s Premiere Theatre and hosted by Fred Astaire. Borgnine played Quinton McHale in the hour-long, one-shot PT boat drama called “Seven Against the Sea”. Though quite different than the half-hour comedy that would become McHale’s Navy, “Seven Against the Sea” would be considered the pilot of the series.
Producer Edward Montagne, the man behind the military comedy, The Phil Silvers Show, a military comedy that ran from 1955 to 1959 about an opportunistic, non-commissioned officer and his loyal platoon, decided to take the same premise and put it on the sea. The key difference being that it was the crew that were opportunistic and McHale consistently cleaning up the messes. Montagne had another hit on his hands as McHale’s Navy would yield 138 episodes over four seasons.
Though this was indeed McHale’s Navy, and Borgnine was the anchor, it was the comedy of Tim Conway as the bumbling Ensign Parker and Joe Flynn as the floundering Captain Binghamton, always the butt of the joke, that brought the comedy to the series. With a crew the consisted of legends like Gavin Macleod, Carl Ballentine, and Billy Sands, who had also been a regular on The Phil Silvers Show, to name a few, there was plenty of talent to keep this ship afloat. Montagne had also utilized the talents of several of the writers from the Silvers show and they were able to create many opportunities for the crew to get into trouble that Captain Binghamton would try to catch them in, while Ensign Parker got in everyone’s way, before McHale would solve everything.
After serving four years in McHale’s Navy, the ratings started to sink and eventually so did the PT 73. Luckily during its run, not one but two motion pictures were filmed, the first of which I had the opportunity to watch on a bare-bones DVD release from Universal. Cleverly called McHale’s Navy, and , filmed in Technicolor unlike the series, this outing features all the regulars and a pre-Academy Award-winner George Kennedy, who had appeared in two episodes of the series as “Big Frenchy”, but stretches himself here as protagonist Henri Le Clerc. The story, which makes little sense and includes plotlines from episodes of the series, finds the crew scrambling to pay off debts after faking a horse race. With Binghamton hot on their tail and Parker running unbridled, jockey-ularity (sorry, couldn’t resist) ensues. Well, ensues may be generous.
Look, it’s not the performances that are lacking here. Borgnine, Conway, and Flynn are clearly giving this their all as they constantly chew scenery in this poorly constructed story. The film relies on you being familiar with the series as there is no introduction of the characters or their relationships. Sadly, its nothing more than an attempt to make more money off a series that was successful at the time. Universal continues the trend by putting it out on DVD with no bonus material at all.
Sadly, though the series has many fun episodes, this film sinks and subsequently earns Ron’s Rejection.
