Movie review: ‘The Wackiest Ship in the Army’

I certainly enjoy “old” films and I’d say a World War II comedy-drama “The Wackiest Ship in the Army” from 1960 falls into that category, but it doesn’t make the same impact as I found with two of Cary Grant’s efforts: “Operation Petticoat” with Tony Curtis (click here to read my review) of “Father Goose” with Leslie Caron (click here to read my review). I’m not sure why “The Wackiest Ship in the Army” doesn’t float my boat as much (pardon the awful pun), but you can’t go wrong with Jack Lemmon or Ricky Nelson in WWII.

‘The Wackiest Ship in the Army’
(1960; 99 minutes; rated ‘Approved;’ directed by Richard Murphy and starring Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson, John Lund and Patricia Driscoll)

A SEAFARING WAR FILM THAT NEEDED TO FIND ITS RUDDER

I cannot cite one specific reason why I say “The Wackiest Ship in the Army” is a puzzle in the world of cinema. It has disparate parts (comedy mixed with drama); slapstick; the usual war stereotype of a somewhat unbalanced crew; and even sailors’ hand-to-hand combat where a key character is stabbed with a samurai sword. So, “The Wackiest Ship in the Army” really doesn’t stay on any one course and ultimately suffers for it.

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“The Wackiest Ship in the Army” is the story of Lemmon, who plays accomplished sailor “Lt. Rip Crandall” and he gets an unusual assignment: Use a sailing ship temporarily in the U.S. Navy to get a “coastwatcher” (a lone military adviser or civilian volunteer on an island who monitored Japanese aircraft and shipping movements and was supported by indigenous people) into position to monitor Japanese shipping and aircraft flights.

Of course, the ship itself is a misfit for the U.S. Navy: It’s a masted schooner called “The Echo” and is something of a mess with a balky engine and a crew that knows nothing about actually sailing a ship with actual sails. Lemmon is supported by Ricky Nelson as “Ensign Tommy J. Hanson,” who is an experienced sailor, too, but once caused one of Lemmon’s sailboats to sink. OK, OK, so the stereotypes extend further than expected. PS: Check some notes at the end of this review for the real story behind “The Echo.”

The mission gets off to a rocky start with bad weather, but the crew overcomes every obstacle – both above the sea and navigating through some tricky reefs to deliver the coastwatcher to his assigned area. However, since that island has been invaded by the Japanese, enemy troops capture the ship and its crew. A battle ensues after a little bit of time and the crew retakes the vessel, but Lemmon is injured when stabbed by a Japanese officer.

As you might expect (and this is no ** SPOILER **) all works out well in the end and both Lemmon and Nelson get new commands.

Now, here’s my look at a limited number of the cast …

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  A two-time Oscar winner (not for this one) and six-time nominee and six-time Golden Globe winner and amazingly 18-time Globe nominee, Lemmon is OK as the leader of the ragtag bunch, yet, he never achieves any level beyond just OK … and, for a talent such as Lemmon brought to the table, it is a somewhat disappointing effort. Lemmon was nominated for an Oscar for his work with “The China Syndrome” and his Oscar wins came for “Mister Roberts” (click here to read my review) and “Save the Tiger.” Frankly I believe his best work was in 1982’s “Missing” that co-starred Sissy Spacek in Costa-Gavras’ political statement film. Lemmon had a sterling CV and was in many top-notch films including “JFK,” “Grumpy Old Men” and was probably best identified as being “Felix Ungar” in “The Odd Couple” with Walter Matthau. Lemmon was the pathetic loser of a salesman (but great actor) in “Glengarry Glen Ross” and he died of 76 of bladder cancer in 2001.

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  Nelson was in his third movie with “The Wackiest Ship in the Army” and was a popular singing star at the time. I enjoyed his earnest effort as the junior officer and he has a solid presence in all his scenes in this one. I haven’t seen any of his other work from 435 episodes on tee-vee’s iconic “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” to a well-regarded turn the year before this one in “Rio Bravo” with John Wayne and Dean Martin – he earned a Golden Globe nomination for it as “Most Promising Newcomer – Male). He was also on a variety of television shows including an episode on my all-time favorite series “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at it) in which he was a singer with amnesia. Nelson died young(ish) at 45 in 1985 in a plane crash in Texas.

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  Patricia Driscoll plays Lemmon’s boss’ assistant “Maggie” and is in basically a window-dressing character. I’m not sure of Driscoll’s talent, since “Maggie” wasn’t a role on which to build a screen career. Driscoll had a thin resume of just 34 acting credits, with the first in 1953 and the last in 1985. She is probably best remembered for a variety of roles she played on tee-vee series. Driscoll, a native of England, died at 92 in 2020.

• Chips Rafferty is the coastwatcher named “Patterson.” Rafferty doesn’t do too much, but I enjoy his breezy, confident persona as “Patterson.” Like Driscoll, he had a thin resume – just 52 acting credits from the first in 1939 to the last at his death in 1971. His work including “Mutiny on the Bounty” with Marlon Brando and Richard Harris, along with “The Sundowners” (also from 1960) with Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Peter Ustinov. A native of Australia, Rafferty died at 62 of a heart attack in 1971.

Other supporting actors, from the boat’s chief to “Sparks” the mechanic who deals with the ship’s balky engine, don’t give an embarrassing performance, but none manage to elevate his character to being anywhere near notable.

As for the director, a two-time Oscar nominee for writing (not for this one), Richard Murphy does an OK job, but never finds a real groove to elevate the film to something better. Murphy was a co-writer of “The Wackiest Ship in the Army” from a magazine story about the real ship and its mission. He was nominated for “The Desert Rats” from 1943 with Richard Burton and James Mason and “Boomerang” with Dana Andrews and Jane Wyatt from 1947. He died at 81 of a stroke in 1993.

I find it interesting how silly it looks to have put palm fronds on the ship to make it appear to be a “native” vessel in the region as well as how some of the crew dress as “natives” and some cross-dress by wearing bras made of coconuts along with grass skirts. None of that would be especially acceptable today.

OK, here’s my boilerplate explanation about the “approved” rating: It comes from Hollywood’s rating system known as the “Hays Code” from the name of its chief censor, according to Wiki. From 1938 through 1968 films were evaluated and either deemed approved or disapproved (“moral” or “immoral”). Although officially abandoned in 1968 in favor of the start of the initial version of the rating system you see today, the “Hays Code” had pretty much disappeared in the 1960s due to the influence of television, edgy directors and U.S. Supreme Court rulings, according to Wiki.

“The Wackiest Ship in the Army” was just outside the top 10 at the U.S. box office in 1960. It brought in a reported $3.6 million, while the No. 1 film “Spartacus” with Kirk Douglas had $14 million, according to Wiki. The No. 2 film was Albert Hitchcock’s “Psycho” co-starring Anthony Hopkins and Janet Leigh with $9.1 million and third was “Exodus” starring Paul Newman with $8.5 million. Here are the other films from 1960 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

• “Ocean’s 11” (Rat Pack original) – click here for my review

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com and Wiki):

• Lemmon’s full birth name was John Uhler Lemmon III; Nelson’s full birth name was Eric Hilliard Nelson; and Rafferty’s birth name was John William Pilbean Goffage.
• Lemmon served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and had the rank of ensign.
• Directly from IMDb.com: “An exotic bird call is repeatedly heard on the observer island. This was a typical sound effect for jungle movies of the day and in this case it is inappropriate. It is the call of a peacock, which is not native to this region.”
• The pier in the film is the Hanalei Pier, Hanalei Bay on Kaua’i, Hawaii, and has been used in the filming of several movies.
• Directly from IMDb.com: “The original name of the boat in the movie was the ‘Fiesta.’ She was built in Hong Kong in 1932 entirely of teakwood. She was a 72 foot gaff-rigged schooner and came with a 165hp auxiliary diesel engine …”
• The U.S. Navy gave cooperation in the production of the film and allowed portions to be filmed at Pearl Harbor.
• Nelson had 54 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and its predecessors between 1957 and 1973.
• Directly from Wiki: “The story was advertised on the cover of (a) magazine as ‘The Wackiest Ship in the Army,’ because the naval vessel had been under Army command while in port … The movie never explained any connection between the ship and the Army, puzzling some viewers.”
• The initial scene is located as Townsville, Australia, as you can tell by a sign.
• Finally and directly from Wiki: “The USS Echo was based on the real-life USS Echo (IX-95), a 40-year-old twin-masted scow (flat-bottomed schooner) that was transferred from the New Zealand government to the United States Navy in 1942, and returned to the New Zealand government in 1944.”

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