This essential comedy drama features Henry Fonda in the title role, a part that won the actor a Tony Award in 1948. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy (after John Ford left the project), it earned Jack Lemmon his first Oscar – Best Supporting Actor – for playing Ensign Pulver, who finally grows a backbone in the film's final minutes, uttering one of movies' most unforgettable closing quotes in the process. The movie was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy and William A. Mueller received a nomination for Best Sound, Recording. The screenplay was written by Frank S. Nugent and Joshua Logan from the play that Logan and Thomas Heggen had adapted from Heggen's novel.
Roberts is the cargo officer on the U.S.S. Reluctant, a supply ship anchored among islands in the Pacific some 5,000 miles from where the action is taking place (i.e. Okinawa) near the end of World War II. He yearns to join the fight, but his commanding officer – Captain Morton, played by James Cagney – denies each of his transfer requests. Morton resents college educated 'boys' like Roberts, who is too valuable an officer to let go given the Captain's aspirations for a promotion. A Rear Admiral who'd awarded Morton a palm tree advised him to hang on to his sterling cargo chief, so he tolerates his officer's mild subordination; Roberts suffers while providing a much needed buffer between the tyrannical Morton and the crew, which idolizes their cargo officer. The Captain insists that the men wear their shirts while on deck (per protocol) in the oppressive heat of the South Pacific and has kept them from the recreation of liberty ports for more than a year.
William Powell (in his final role) plays the ship's doctor, Roberts' only peer on the Reluctant; both marvel at fellow laundry and moral officer Pulver's braggadocio about his past – improbable exploits, primarily with women – while witnessing his cowardice by avoidance of Captain Morton. Ford regular Ward Bond plays Chief Petty Officer Dowdy and Phil Carey, Ken Curtis, Harry Carey Jr. and Patrick Wayne are among the ship's mates; Martin Milner plays a shore patrol officer who's incredulous at the wild things that the Reluctant's crew does once they finally get their liberty, which is exacted at a high price from Roberts by Morton. Later, Roberts celebrates V-E day by throwing the Captain's cherished palm overboard. Betsy Palmer plays a blond nurse that Pulver meets.
Roberts is the cargo officer on the U.S.S. Reluctant, a supply ship anchored among islands in the Pacific some 5,000 miles from where the action is taking place (i.e. Okinawa) near the end of World War II. He yearns to join the fight, but his commanding officer – Captain Morton, played by James Cagney – denies each of his transfer requests. Morton resents college educated 'boys' like Roberts, who is too valuable an officer to let go given the Captain's aspirations for a promotion. A Rear Admiral who'd awarded Morton a palm tree advised him to hang on to his sterling cargo chief, so he tolerates his officer's mild subordination; Roberts suffers while providing a much needed buffer between the tyrannical Morton and the crew, which idolizes their cargo officer. The Captain insists that the men wear their shirts while on deck (per protocol) in the oppressive heat of the South Pacific and has kept them from the recreation of liberty ports for more than a year.
William Powell (in his final role) plays the ship's doctor, Roberts' only peer on the Reluctant; both marvel at fellow laundry and moral officer Pulver's braggadocio about his past – improbable exploits, primarily with women – while witnessing his cowardice by avoidance of Captain Morton. Ford regular Ward Bond plays Chief Petty Officer Dowdy and Phil Carey, Ken Curtis, Harry Carey Jr. and Patrick Wayne are among the ship's mates; Martin Milner plays a shore patrol officer who's incredulous at the wild things that the Reluctant's crew does once they finally get their liberty, which is exacted at a high price from Roberts by Morton. Later, Roberts celebrates V-E day by throwing the Captain's cherished palm overboard. Betsy Palmer plays a blond nurse that Pulver meets.