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A Major Disappointment

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Top notch acting. Fonda as always who can seemingly accommodate any role, Cagney as the (symbol of) evil in the film excellent, Jack Lemon and his top seamless acting (it seems you could drop this guy anywhere, comedy drama lead role second dense script light script, he'll get it done anyhow just as well) and the rest of the cast. Top stuff.The film for entertainment value is pretty good, makes for a pretty smooth viewing but perhaps a tad long running in over 2 hours and certainly a bit linear (where other films will add intricacies and more depth to the plot...) but there are good morals to enjoy fairly well conveyed: one is karma, work towards good, quietly and without displaying your intentions, and good will come back your way; humility is a virtue; the theme of fulfillment versus fantasy; also, that one man is not merely replaceable by the next in line and can mean the world to his environment; and finally, another theme is the one of fate.Interesting film. 7.5/10.

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.

Fonda, Cagney, Powell, Lemon. What more could you ask for? Being a huge fan of all four actors, for me personally Mister Roberts may be the greatest accumulation of actors ever; thus I will try my best to contain my inner fan boy. Not only do all four play interesting characters but they all share such interesting relationships between each other. Fonda and Cagney share a Bugs Bunny/ Yosemite Sam like dynamic with Cagney being a frustrated old captain (possibly with a Napoleon complex) in a position of power but with no control over the taller Fonda stepping over everything he does.Jack Lemon's Ensign Pulver on the other hand hates the Captain but out of total shock the captain likes the Ensign. I find this dynamic particular funny as I can relate to that situation of being admired by someone you dislike. However I also relate to the character of Mister Roberts himself in his predicament of being stuck in a rut of which he is desperate to escape from; wanting to leave the navy cargo boat and be right in the action of the Second World War. The entire film effortlessly combines tragedy and comedy with no better example of this being the final scene itself in which the film transitions from the tragedy upon the characters discovering that Mr Roberts has been killed in action to one more final pay off from a recurring gag; one of my favourite movie endings ever. The claustrophobic intimacy of the ship as well as the simply superb dialogue and performances makes the dialogue heavy scenes so engaging. Even with two directors on the project which could have spelled disaster the film manages to come out perfectly fine rather than ending up like a frankensteinian stitch up. The other scene which always stuck out to me was at the beginning of the film when the men are attempting to get a glimpse of women in a shower and going crazy as hell over it. Would men have the same reaction today because of the internet? Was the prospect of seeing a naked woman more thrilling back then?Mister Roberts would be William Powell's final film although one of Jack Lemon's first, so I see the film as a passing of the torch between two generations of comedic actors. Originally Powell retired after appearing in How to Marry a Millionaire but decided to appear in Mister Roberts after reading the script. A much, much better choice of final film in which he shows that even in this stage of his career the man was still a master of words.

I came across this movie last night on Turner Classic Movies and, I must say, it's the most overrated and sluggish pile of garbage I've seen in a long time.Henry Fonda plays a dreary old sad-sack who complains constantly about being stuck on a Navy supply vessel during World War II. In the first ten minutes, it is immediately apparent that this is going to turn into a "I wanted to go, but now I can't bear to leave" kind of story, but the movie delays this as long as possible, thinking it's clever. Instead, waiting for the inevitable is just as tedious as everything else in this movie. The fellow members of Fonda's crew all act like a bunch of Ritalin-infused five-year-olds on Christmas morning, each with insufferably flamboyant personalities. Yeah, I get it movie, they all want to go on shore leave because the captain's a jerk. I get it. Not a single one of the crew members is interesting, although one of them does sound exactly like Hank Venture from "The Venture Brothers."Speaking of Adult Swim, one redeeming feature of the film is when James Cagney's character of The Captain acts out a scene later depicted in "Sealab 2021" entitled "Happy Cake." Captain Cagney's freaking out about someone throwing his prized palm tree into the ocean is hilarious as, almost line for line, "Sealab" paid homage to it when Captain Murphy's toy oven is also thrown into the sea. I also liked the split second when it looked like Jack Lemmon was going to sink his own ship, but I was pretty ticked to find out it was a lame deluge of laundry bubbles. And, at the end of the film, it was actually pretty hilarious when, after all his complaining, Henry Fonda finally makes it onto a destroyer only to get killed drinking coffee.Other than that, the film is not worth the more than two hours of your life it will consume. To its credit, the film does effectively make YOU feel like you're trapped on this ship - which members of the film community will chirp about being "brilliant" for being metatheatrical or whatnot - but keep in mind that such people forget that films are supposed to be entertaining, and not every story demands it play out like a Greek drama.And that's the other problem with this movie: PACING. Even if your movie is about someplace where nothing happens, pacing is still important. Otherwise you may as well just replace the seats in theaters with beds. Consider "Duel" or "Cast Away," for example, where one character in absolute solitude can still be captivating. They're both flawed movies, too, but I must say they conveyed their messages much more effectively. "Mister Roberts" is the antithesis of this model, lumbering and moping along until it fizzles at the finish. It's a musical with no songs. It's "Clerks" without the profanity. It has "Return of the King" Endless Ending syndrome, moving from the natural ending after they get kicked out of port to MORE pointless scenes of little to nothing happening. If anything, it's more like "Ocean's 11," featuring an "impressive cast" just standing around doing nothing. That being the case, Henry Fonda is certainly the film's George Clooney.Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Twentysomething internet poster doesn't know squat about "classic" movies and needs Michael Bay to make things interesting. Well, let me tell you this: "To Kill A Mockingbird" is an awesome movie. "12 Angry Men" is an awesome movie, and Henry Fonda was awesome in it. "Casablanca" was a REALLY awesome movie. "Mister Roberts," on the other hand, is an insult.