Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Pretty Good

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The USS John Paul Jones we see being built is actually the destroyer Hobby, launched in San Pedro in June, 1942. Not that it would matter to Edward G. Robinson. He was the retired Chief Boatswain who was one of the welders at the shipyard, reenlisted, and was assigned to the Jones, proud of "his" ship.This is a cornball, flag-waving tribute to destroyers, and it's enjoyable for what it is. The original story is by Frank Wead, who knew something about the Navy, and many of the details of boot camp and shipboard life are precisely captured. The pace becomes Dead Slow when Robinson's pretty daughter falls for Glen Ford and a mercifully brief courtship is carried on.Once all of the characters that we've been introduced to are aboard the Jones, including the wisecracking Ford, as Robinson's main rival for senior enlisted man, the story gets down to business. On the shakedown cruise, just after commissioning, the John Paul Jones practically falls apart, piece by piece. The gunnery is way off because old-fashioned blustering Robinson has forgotten about leading the target. But more important, the engineering pops a dozen assorted corks and returns to San Diego several times for repairs.The frustration mounts at both high levels and low. Enough is enough. The Jones is kept out of battles and assigned to mail-carrying duty in the Northwest. The men mope before collectively writing requests for transfer, salivating as they are over the prospect of getting into the fight. They decide to stick it out after listening to a rousing pep talk from Robinson. And, mail or no mail, the Jones is attacked by half a dozen "Mitsubishis" (Douglas SBDs and one anomalous TBM Avenger.) All the attacking airplanes are destroyed but the Jones is torpedoed, strafed, and kamikazed. So badly, in fact, that seawater reaches the boilers, the ship lists badly, and may capsize at any moment. The crew abandon the ship except for a small damage control party led by Robinson, which manages to restore power and ram a Japanese submarine that has been tracking them. The damage and repair is unusual in its molecularity. Damage control is ordinarily an unglamorous business, as is most stuff below decks, but here we can follow the progress of the men, and it's interesting. Where else can you see a boiler extinguished by a rush of sea water? Usually these technical details are avoided by having an officer run to the bridge, salute, and report breathlessly, "Captain, we've lost power on all engines." The snipes deserve a little attention. The ship is celebrated in the press. Ford marries the girl, Robinson is satisfied that the ship is now the proud vessel he always considered her and he retires to the beach.Well, it's improbable and old-fashioned but it's accurate enough in its observance of ritual that it brought back embarrassing memories of my years in the Coast Guard. The first night in boot camp, the men are exhausted and homesick. Seiter's camera rolls slowly between the bunks neatly aligned, with two seabags hanging from each frame. (I'm back in boot camp, getting gigged for not tying the seabag's knot properly.) And the cocky chief boatswain's mate Robinson emerges from a building and chews out two sailors lounging on the staircase -- one for "thinking" what he ought to "know" (I'm standing guard at the Air Station at San Francisco International Airport being excoriated over the phone) and the other for wearing his cap on the back of his head ("Adjust your cover", commands the Marine at the entrance to Hunter's Point).The ending is touching in its sentiment, although it's still hackneyed. If you enjoyed the scene of John Wayne's (Spig Wead's) departure from the carrier at the end of "Wings of Eagles," you'll find this scene somewhat touching too.

Not a bad little Columbia film from 1943; unheralded, but brisk and well made.EGR plays a retired naval officer now building ships during WW2. His old ship has been sunk and is being rebuilt. When it's done, he re-ups and gets assigned to the new incarnation of the USN destroyer, the John Paul Jones.Through a connection, he aces out Glenn Ford from his position, though Ford is far more qualified and up-to-date in his naval knowledge.EGR continues to irk everyone on the ship by riding them too hard and constantly babbling about the old JPJ. Finally, he strikes a fellow officer and is demoted and loses his position and must ask the re-instated Glenn Ford if he can even still serve on the JPJ. Ford doesn't like EGR, but says OK.The ship has a couple of test shake out runs where many things go wrong and the ship is finally assigned mail duty instead of the much desired combat duty. Tired of EGR and embarrassed by the ship, many men request a transfer off the JPJ until EGR corners them all and tells them the history of JPJ the man and his ship's battle with a British ship. The men are riveted by the tale of the bravery of the man and his crew who, against all odds, defeat the British ship as their own ship burns and sinks before which JPJ had yelled his immortal line to the British when asked if he was surrendering - "I have not yet begun to fight".The men stay on and find their ship in the middle of a battle with a Japanese submarine. The JPJ is torpedoed and is sinking and many of the man have abandoned ship as ordered. EGR asks permission to stay aboard to weld the damaged part of the ship....and they only have 2 hours before the Jap sub will surface and sink them for sure.Can he do it?Good male cast of characters- EGR Glenn Ford Edgar Buchanan Leo Gorcey Regis Toomey Edward Brophy Lloyd Bridges plus Marguerite Chapman as EGR's daughter.Leo Gorcey gets a good quote at a dance as he asks a girl to dance with him - "Hey, squirrel. Wanna twirl?"Edgar Buchanan at the same dance is asked by some woman what he will spend his paycheck on - 'Oh, I dunno. Some of it on beer. Some of it on women. The rest on something foolish, I guess'.Robinson tells his shipmates about the British in the Revolutionary War - 'Don't let anyone kid you. Those Limeys could fight!'And Leo Gorcey holds his own with EGR during the big JPJ story when EGR asks him to read the plaque that has the immortal line on it and Gorcey doesn't need to read it now and stares right up at the camera and EGR and quotes - "I have not yet begun to fight".Some good special effects in the film and snappy dialog. Well worth viewing.DESTROYER was issued on GOODTIMES HOME VIDEO in the 90s and wasn't easy to find then.

I grew up with this film in the early 60's........ I remember it fondly as a little kid. We had a beach house at Newport and I remember sitting and watching it on more than one occasion.....It did something to me that I can't put a paw on.Columbia was strictly 2nd tier as studios went in those days but this one is obviously an "A" as the studio went.It has a great cast, special effects that rivaled the "big boys" and an ambiance that few could equal......Watching the gleam in Eddie G's eyes really makes it fly..He singlehandedly steals the show......He has the right amount of humor and pathos to really make this film stand out. It's really a pity that no one knows this film in this day and age.....The use of old sea chanteys in the score brings a wonderful ambiance to the atmosphere..This film also has two (in my opinion) classic lines in it. When Edgar Buchanan is dancing with a goldigger at the USO, she says "sailor, I understand you've gotten a pay raise, what will you do with it?" To which Buchanan replies: "Oh some on booze, some on women and the rest foolishly...". The other gem is where Robinson confronts Glenn Ford and makes the comment: "Why I've wrung more seawater out of my socks than you've sailed over!" What can I say kiddies, this is one of my favorites and I consider myself fortunate to have it on VHS so I can watch it any time I want to.......It was released by "Hollywood Movie Greats" on VHS in 1990..... Robert

Edward G. Robinson cast's off in a rousing wartime tale of an untried destroyer crew pitted against the Japanese, and against their own ship. Robinson plays a dedicated machinist in a downright heroic role (for a change), and shows that he could lift this fairly routine combat epic out of the dull-drums -- almost on his own. The special effects and action sequences are first rate by the standards of the day, and overall the film has a good pace to it. It has been a few years since I have seen Destroyer, but the thing I best remember is Robinson relating the story of John Paul Jones and the Bon Homme Richard to the disheartened crew. Its corny and obvious, but he is so earnest that you practically feel like jumping in there to help him out.