IMDb RATING
6.1/10
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Laurel and Hardy join the army. They are hardly soldiers, but they believe their employer will need them now he's drafted.Laurel and Hardy join the army. They are hardly soldiers, but they believe their employer will need them now he's drafted.Laurel and Hardy join the army. They are hardly soldiers, but they believe their employer will need them now he's drafted.
Ludwig Stössel
- Dr. Schickel
- (as Ludwig Stossel)
William 'Billy' Benedict
- Recruit at Corral
- (uncredited)
Chet Brandenburg
- Mess Hall Draftee
- (uncredited)
Robert Cornell
- Soldier
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's first movie for a major studio. Their previous films had been released by MGM but not made by the studio, and they were confounded by the ways of the Hollywood studio system. All of their previous films had been shot in sequence and had been directed, edited and supervised by an uncredited Stan Laurel; Fox did not allow him such creative activity. In later years Laurel continually and bitterly recalled the shabby treatment he and Hardy received from Fox and MGM.
- GoofsThere's no way Hardy could have been drafted into the army with his weight as high as it was.
- Quotes
Hippo: What did I ever do to deserve a couple of yaps like you?
Stan: Maybe you were good to your mother.
Hippo: Pipe down!
Stan: Yes, sir.
Hippo: Now at 10:00 you're all going over for an IQ test, and according to the answers you give, you'll be classified in a job.
Stan: Swell! We're good at quizes, aren't we, Ollie?
Oliver: Maybe they'll put me in the intelligence "corpse".
- ConnectionsEdited into Myra Breckinridge (1970)
- SoundtracksYou're In The Army Now
(1917) (uncredited)
Music by Isham Jones
Lyrics by Tell Taylor and Ole Olsen
Played during the opening credits
Featured review
Stan And Ollie Go To War Again
Great Guns was Laurel and Hardy's first film after leaving Hal Roach Studios for which their best work was done by far. 20th Century Fox might have had a much better film had they not decided to imitate the enormously successful Buck Privates which had come out earlier in the year for Universal starring that new team Abbott&Costello. Stan and Ollie did service comedies before and good ones.
Darryl Zanuck just bent the plot a little. Dick Nelson plays the pampered rich kid like Lee Bowman in the other film. He's got two maiden aunts, Mae Marsh and Ethel Griffies, who treat him like he was in a plastic bubble and a quack doctor in Ludwig Stossel who's getting rich off their hypochondria about Nelson.
Stan and Ollie are the butler and chauffeur of the estate and they join the army to look after Nelson. Truth be told he wants to join just to get away from those aunts.
After that it's a series of a lot of gags per normal for a service comedy. I'm sure that Stan and Ollie had they been given a little more creative freedom might have come up with more original stuff. One thing that I liked was Stan's pet raven who won't leave him even though he's enlisted. It turns out Penelope the raven gives the bird to the enemy in the war games finale which also was imitating Buck Privates.
And Nelson is involved in a romantic triangle with his sergeant Edmund MacDonald over the girl with photography concession at the PX, Sheila Ryan. If you're on your toes, you'll notice that the soldier who is buying his developed films from Ryan while Nelson is waiting is Alan Ladd
Best gag in the film involves Stanley trying to ditch Penelope in Ollie's pants during inspection and the havoc it causes. Second best is Ollie spilling water all over himself when Stan asks the time and then Stan doing it to him when Ollie asks for the time. Third best is the two of them hitching a ride on a target during rifle practice.
Great Guns has its moments, but it doesn't have the sustained humor of their stuff with Hal Roach.
Darryl Zanuck just bent the plot a little. Dick Nelson plays the pampered rich kid like Lee Bowman in the other film. He's got two maiden aunts, Mae Marsh and Ethel Griffies, who treat him like he was in a plastic bubble and a quack doctor in Ludwig Stossel who's getting rich off their hypochondria about Nelson.
Stan and Ollie are the butler and chauffeur of the estate and they join the army to look after Nelson. Truth be told he wants to join just to get away from those aunts.
After that it's a series of a lot of gags per normal for a service comedy. I'm sure that Stan and Ollie had they been given a little more creative freedom might have come up with more original stuff. One thing that I liked was Stan's pet raven who won't leave him even though he's enlisted. It turns out Penelope the raven gives the bird to the enemy in the war games finale which also was imitating Buck Privates.
And Nelson is involved in a romantic triangle with his sergeant Edmund MacDonald over the girl with photography concession at the PX, Sheila Ryan. If you're on your toes, you'll notice that the soldier who is buying his developed films from Ryan while Nelson is waiting is Alan Ladd
Best gag in the film involves Stanley trying to ditch Penelope in Ollie's pants during inspection and the havoc it causes. Second best is Ollie spilling water all over himself when Stan asks the time and then Stan doing it to him when Ollie asks for the time. Third best is the two of them hitching a ride on a target during rifle practice.
Great Guns has its moments, but it doesn't have the sustained humor of their stuff with Hal Roach.
helpful•112
- bkoganbing
- Dec 2, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Forward March
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 14 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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