The Wackiest Ship in the Army *** (1960, Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson, John Lund, Chips Rafferty, Tom Tully, Joby Baker) – Classic Movie Review 13,160

The well-timed 1960 American Eastmancolor and CinemaScope comedy-drama war film The Wackiest Ship in the Army stars Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson, John Lund, and Chips Rafferty.

Director Richard Murphy’s 1960 American Eastmancolor and CinemaScope comedy-drama war film The Wackiest Ship in the Army stars Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson, John Lund, Chips Rafferty, with Tom Tully, Warren Berlinger, Patricia Driscoll and Joby Baker.

In an ideal, tailor-made role, Jack Lemmon is on typically lively and appealing form as Lieutenant Rip Crandall, the World War Two captain of a scrapworthy ship, sent on a mission to conduct Aussie coastguard or coastwatcher Patterson (Chips Rafferty) into the Japanese enemy zone.

There are nice easy-going laughs as well as tense action thrills, both mixing well, in this well-timed, neatly written comedy drama. Pleasant, even pleasing though it is, it is one of Lemmon’s least known movies, perhaps because comedy-drama war films by and large have lost their appeal. That title is a bit of a turn-off too: maybe that hasn’t dated too well either.

Filmed at Pearl Harbor and Kauai, it is a dramatized and fictionalized account of the real ship USS Echo that originated in New Zealand and became part of the US Navy in World War Two. The screenplay is based on the 1956 story Big Fella Wash-Wash in Argosy by Herbert Carlson.

Release date: December 20, 1960.

The cast are Jack Lemmon as Lieutenant Rip Crandall, Ricky Nelson as Ensign Tommy J. Hanson, John Lund as Lt. Cmdr. Wilbur F. Vandewater, Chips Rafferty as coastwatcher Patterson, Tom Tully as Captain McClung, Joby Baker as Josh Davidson, Mike Kellin as Chief Petty Officer, Warren Berlinger as Radioman 2nd Class A.J. Sparks, Patricia Driscoll as Vanderwater’s secretary Maggie, Richard Anderson as Lt. Dennis M. Foster, Alvy Moore as Seaman J. Johnson, George Shibata as Captain Shigetsu, and Joe Gallison.

The Wackiest Ship in the Army is directed by Richard Murphy, runs 99 minutes, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Richard Murphy, Herbert Margolis and William Raynor, based on the 1956 story Big Fella Wash-Wash in Argosy by Herbert Carlson, is shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope by Charles Lawton Jr, is produced by Fred Kohlmar, is scored by George Duning, and designed by Carl Anderson.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,160

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