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Ernest Borgnine as his star appeal started to wane got himself a perfect television series in McHale's Navy. Borgnine played Lt.Commander Quentin McHale, skipper of a PT Boat who led the most rowdy crew inn the navy.
McHale was a seafaring man he was in the merchant marine before the war and military discipline wasn't going to cramp his style any. The enlisted guys thrived under his lack of discipline. These guys were so bad they were given their own island lest they disrupt the discipline of the rest of the navy.
Always pulling some kind of racket and always their Commanding Officer Captain Binghamton could never quite catch them. Binghamton was played by Joe Flynn with him developing the world's biggest ulcer week by week. He didn't have much in the way of help except for Bob Hastings as Lt. Carpenter possibly the biggest suck up in the history of series television.
McHale's Navy was the first big break for Tim Conway and the pilot episode had Ensign Chuck Parker assigned as second in command to Borgnine. At first Parker was mercilessly taken advantage of by the crew. But gradually they kind of adopted him. He was a klutz and couldn't help being a klutz. Soon he was part of their hijinks and his scenes with Joe Flynn were the highlight of the series.
McHale's Navy ran for four years. Killed by the Vietnam War when all of a sudden military service comedies went suddenly out of vogue. But it was a good series comedy, enjoyed by all who remember it.
score 7/10
bkoganbing 20 July 2017
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3759254/ |
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8-11-2020 11:39:19