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The Caine Mutiny

The Caine Mutiny

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $15.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Way To Go, Pinntinajeur
Review: In early December some guy (or girl) named Pinntinajeur reviewed this DVD and complained about the price. Not less than month later that price was reduced by $10!!!! Way to go, Pinn! I'm not saying he/she was totally responsible but who knows, maybe he/she is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A standard by which others are judged.
Review: Legendary films like this just aren't made anymore. Don't believe me? Then go watch Caspar Milquetoast boy Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men" which was a blantant ripoff off this fine effort. Bogart once again delivers an unforgettable performance. Like all great movies from this era, we are treated to a strong cast of personalities and how they react during a great story line. Bogart is the hard-line captain who hides behind a tough exterior as a way of distancing anybody who tries to get close to him. But this is just what he needs after the hell he's been through fighting in the Atlantic campaign. He's does make a few attempts to buddy up in the movie, but the men reject him each time due to his growing strictness and deteriorating mental condition. A real study of the human psyche which Bogart plays like a master. A nice sideline story in this movie is the new gung-ho ensign Robert Francis. Watching him slowly mature from a dominating mother, appreciate his vivacious girlfriend, all while becoming a competant naval officer. The final courtroom drama is a great climax to this great effort. Sorry, Jack "You can't handle the truth." Nicholson, you're no Humphrey Bogart.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Strawberries anyone?
Review: Like many reviewers have noted, the book and the movie are two different things. The book is great, the movie is great. A movie does not need to be an exact duplicate of the book in order to be good. In fact sometimes it translates better to film if some things ARE changed.

What I love about this movie is the AWESOME acting of Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg. I will never again look at Strawberries the same way again.

Humphrey Bogart plays Captain Queeg, the new captain of "The Caine", a disorganized, haphazardly run mine sweeper. He is fought at every turn when he tries to instill discipline. That is not to say that he didn't have any mental problems. But the part where he orders the men to don their battle gear (which is STANDARD procedure), some of them don't, and when he sees them and wants them put on report, someone hands them their gear to put on and makes him look like a fool. The battle gear was to protect themselves, but they were just mad at him because they were not used to discipline. The part with the strawberries is my favourite part. It seems that this obsession is over the top, but during war-time, pilfering of food is a serious offense, especially on a ship, where you may go for weeks or months without receiving supplies. If you watch the movie with an open mind, and remember that it took place during war time, you will look at it less as Queeg being a "madman", and more as it being sad that a man who served his country for years was put on this ship to discipline people who did not want to be disciplined. The court room scenes are the best of any on film. The part where Bogie goes off on a tirade, stops, realizes that he has been ranting, takes out the steel balls and starts rolling them in his hand...this part still brings tears to my eyes no matter how many times I have seen it. YES, Queeg had problems, but even Steve Maryk (Van Johnson) had to admit that the "mutiny" more than likely would NOT have been necessary if the officers had just tried to support him a little more. And now, as Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) would say, we come to the "author" of the Caine mutiny...Lt. Keefer (Fred MacMurray)...Lt. Keefer was the one who kept putting the idea into Maryk's head that the captain was "mentally ill", but when it came down to it, as Greenwald said "...he never even HEARD of Captain Queeg...". Every actor in this film did a GREAT job, down to the smallest parts.

This is one of those movies where you can see both sides. You understand how they interpret his actions, but you also understand that some of his actions come from reaction to THEIR actions (or LACK of). It is a GREAT movie, not to be missed.

Some copies of this movie have scenes missing, which make the movie less understandable. One such scene that is commonly cut out,is in the court room scene where someone explains that the order that Queeg gave during the typhoon, was a STANDARD Navy maneuver, therby making him appear less like a madman, and more like someone who just had a little nervous breakdown.

I think Bogie should have been (at least) nominated for an Oscar for his performance. Yes, it is THAT good.

In a "nutshell", it is the story of a military man with emotional and mental problems, that as a result of the horrors of war & the difficulties of command, coupled with the fact that his officers and crew hated him and refused to obey him, caused him to act in such a way that the 1st Officer THOUGHT he HAD to take command from him.

WATCH THE MOVIE! READ THE BOOK! BOTH ARE GREAT!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Movie for Teaching Leadership
Review: Most reviews of this movie focus mainly on the courtroom climax, but there is another "climax" that is more important. As the movie progresses, we watch the characters develop. At the end of the movie, at the "acquittal party," Ferrer's character takes the ship's officers to task and sums up the movie's most critical lesson, and one that every would-be leader should learn: "...that you don't work for a guy because you like the way he parts his hair. You work for him because he's got the job or you're no good!" This movie does a great job of showing characters who have a great diversity of gifts and flaws and then throws the men into the crucible of war. Under those conditions we learn what Ferrer tells us. To be a good leader, one must learn to follow first, and more often than not you can't choose your leaders. I believe this movie rates on the level of "Twelve O-Clock High" in potential for teaching leadership, and as a military historian and Air Force officer I recommend it highly.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Storm Warning
Review: Near the top of the under-rated American movie actors list is Van Johnson, in my opinion, and this is his greatest performance. He is pretty near perfect as the conscientous naval officer trying to do what's right under nearly impossible circumstances during WW2, and he has plenty of competition from a great cast. Almost as good is Fred MacMurray in an equally difficult role as an officer who can't make the cut morally. This story of a warship whose commander, Humphrey Bogart, suffers a nervous breakdown while at sea does a great job of putting the dilema of the men on board in the viewer's lap and inviting you to speculate on what you would do in the same situation. There's a trite romantic subplot carried over from Herman Wouk's enormous novel that easily could have been edited out but other than that this great adventure doesn't miss a beat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: recommended
Review: one of the all-time best WW 2 novels. However the love story of Ens. Keith was a trifle out of place. Bogie,McMurray & Johnson all should have been nominated for oscars. Highly recommended for all grown-ups.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superior Acting By The Cast
Review: One of the best movies ever made. I have watched this movie numerous times. It never grows old. Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg is worth watching the movie alone. When you throw in Van Johnson, Fred McMurray and Jose Ferrer with their outstanding performances they make the movie timeless.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: since when did h. bogart write the caine mutiny?
Review: one of the first modern books to give us an anti-hero. The defense attorney accuses the officers and men for not trying to help their neurotic captain. END

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: To: Viewer in Istanbul, Turkey
Review: Regarding Jose Ferrer's and Van Johnson's "injuries", I have recently read that in the original story, Barney Greenwald was a pilot who had been involved in a crash and was waiting to return to active duty. Perhaps this explains the bandages. As for Van Johnson, I have no idea!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bogart's Finest Role
Review: Some people might give me an argument on that, saying no, Rick in "Casablanca" or Charlie in "The African Queen", but this, Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny" is the real departure and the real out-on-a-limb performance of a lifetime. Bogart plays a mentally unstable ship captain during WW2 whose crew finally rises up in mutiny against him when they disagree with his orders during a typhoon. The latter part of the movie is about the court martial of the first mate, played by Van Johnson. Van had been talked into the mutiny by slimeball Fred MacMurray, who withdraws his support whenever things get rough. Jose Ferrer is the lawyer who defends Van and has to take apart Bogart limb by limb on the witness stand. One of my favorite scenes is when Van is in the witness box, and has to admit his knowledge of psychology is less than adequate, so that his decision to take the ship gets more and more unfounded. But of course, the highlight is when Bogart begins to ramble about strawberries while twirling about ball berrings in his palm--that's just so pathetic, but so wonderfully executed.


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