Rating: NR
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 07/10/2007
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/Espanol/French
Sound: DD4.0/DD1
Run Time: 107 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director
Leo McCarey was clearly past his prime when he made this screen version of
Max Shulman's comic novel
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys; still, the film was a success, no small thanks to the star power of real-life husband and wife
Paul Newman and
Joanne Woodward. The scene is Putnam's Landing, Connecticut, where commuter Harry Bannerman (
Paul Newman) is driven crazy by his wife Grace's (
Joanne Woodward) insistence upon joining every civic committee known to man. When the government chooses Putnam's Landing as the location for their new missile base, Grace immediately joins a committee to halt this project-which causes no end of trouble for Air Force reservist Harry, who is expected to be the government's liason man for the new base. Adding to the dilemma is local vamp Angela Hoffa (
Joan Collins), whose efforts to get her lunchhooks into Harry lead to a dizzying series of recriminations and misunderstandings. Satirical barbs are aimed at military stupidity (as personified by thick-eared Captain Hoxie, played by
Jack Carson), small-town hypocrisy, and the teenaged "beat" craze. Among the supporting players are
Dwayne Hickman and
Tuesday Weld, cast respectively as
Marlon Brando wannabe Grady Metcalf and nubile high-schooler Comfort Goodpasture (!); within a year of this film,
Hickman and
Weld would be reunited on the TV series
Dobie Gillis, likewise based on a
Max Shulman novel. Also appearing are reliable comedy foil
Gale Gordon and an uncredited
Murvyn Vye as Angela Hoffa's neglectful husband. Considered fairly racy in 1958,
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys seems slightly childish and draggy today; one wonders how it would have fared had
Leo McCarey been at the height of his powers.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide