SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Though 'Gray Lady Down' is code for a downed sub, the boat itself doesn't play as big a part in the movie as one fears.The story of a WWII submarine crew looking to survive aboard their oft damaged ship moves briskly, with style and serves as a great war themed picture.Watching the crew work against the enemy, their own and the vessel itself is just some good fun. Teaming Tony Curtis with his film idol in Grant, the two have great chemistry and play wartime officers quite well, giving this comedy a battlefront appeal.Saturday afternoon fare, bring the popcorn but only take the bathroom break in case of emergency.

Cute and amusing. Cary Grant is the skipper of a submarine stuck in a remote Phillipine base at the beginning of World War II. Damaged in an air attack, the submarine barely gets under way, with Tony Curtis as a dapper last-minute replacement who shows up for duty in natty and immaculate dress whites. Curtis is a born social climber. He is also, however, a born thief and Grant appoints him Supply Officer for the boat.In some funny scenes, accompanied by some clever dialog, Curtis manages to steal enough supplies from various depots to keep the boat going. He also steals such luxuries as toilet paper and a pig for a New Year's luau. At one such wayside stop he manages to pick up five stranded Army nurses, one of them being the hypermastic Joan O'Brian.You can pretty much predict the gags that will follow -- five beautiful women aboard a submarine with a crew of horny young men. The men make a point of squeezing past O'Brian in the narrow passageways at every opportunity. The Chief Motor Mac improvises a piece of machinery out of somebody's girdle. Curtis gives up his dream of marrying his rich girl friend back in the states when he falls for the elegant, blond Dina Merril (who, in real life, probably had a fatter portfolio than Curtis's fictional girl friend). Cary Grant falls for O'Brian and after the war we see both couples, now friends, with Grant an admiral and Curtis the skipper of the submarine, a dedicated navy man.Some of the jokes now seem dated, the current Zeitgeist being what it is. An officer showing the nurses around the boat is embarrassed and stutters fiercely while trying to tell them that the loo is called "the head." On the whole, though, the film is disarming enough to be pretty funny. Grant is fine in this light comedy. He grumbles a good deal at the disorder brought to his command, as if practicing for his later "Father Goose," but he's done this so often that he could have done it all in his sleep. Tony Curtis is often criticized for his "mannerisms" but I don't know why. He's very good indeed at this sort of thing. He knows how to deliver a gag line without dwelling on it, almost running over it, so that if it's a clunker the viewer hardly notices. He's convincing in expository dialog as well and usually brings something fresh to his lines. He could do drama too, and better than Grant.The submarine winds up being painted pink. It is attacked by an American destroyer (DD 568, which should be USS Wren) and Grant desperately sends up the nurses' underwear. The destroyer picks up some of the "debris" and the captain holds Joan O'Brian's brassiere up, staring at the capacious thing, and mutters, "The Japanese have nothing like this." You may or may not think you'll get a kick out of it, but you probably will.

"Operation Petticoat" brings Tony Curtis and his idol, Cary Grant, together for a very funny film directed by Blake Edwards. Curtis, of course, does a great Cary Grant impression in "Some Like it Hot," and working with Grant was a dream come true for the 34-year-old actor. And nothing about the experience disappointed him or the audience. The film also features Dina Merrill, Gene Evans, Dick Sargent, Arthur O'Connell, Madelyn Rhue, Virginia Gregg and Marion Ross.The film is shown in flashback as the submarine Sea Tiger is about to be junked. Grant, as Lt. Cmdr. Matt Sherman, looks at his log book and reminisces to a time when he was trying to get the Sea Tiger back into the war after his sub is nearly destroyed in an air raid. However, it is next to impossible to get supplies. Assigned as a replacement officer to the Sea Tiger is one Mr. Holden (Curtis), a wheeler-dealer who got into uniform so he could meet the right people. Though he maneuvered a country club job as an aide to an admiral planning to go to Manila, the war intervened, and the admiral cancels his plans. Holden gets the Sea Tiger assignment. He promises that he can get supplies and presents one of his band of merry men, Ramon Gallardo, a prisoner whom he promises can travel on the sub. "But he's a Marine," Sherman objects. "There isn't a thief, pickpocket, or fence in the islands that doesn't know, love, and respect him," Holden answers. Holden gets supplies by any means necessary, including taking pipes from the bathrooms, part of the major's office wall, etc. He also manages to rescue five nurses who were stranded on an island, disrupting the entire sub. Though he finally confines Holden to quarters, Sherman realizes soon enough that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and calls on Holden for help again."Operation Petticoat" has some hilarious moments, including Holden's stealing of a pig for New Year's dinner and the subsequent confrontation with the owner and military police on the sub, where Sherman and Holden refer to the pig as "Hornsby." Unable to get the right color paint, the sub is painted pink and nearly bombed by a U.S. ship.Cary Grant is wonderful as the commander, authoritative, and then authoritative but frazzled as he is haunted by one of the nurses, a Jonah (Joan O'Brien) who causes disaster for him whenever she shows up. Tony Curtis is equally good, and he does not play the role for comedy; rather, he has the comedy come out of the character - a former street kid, ambitious to marry money, with his own agenda in the Navy.The rest of the cast is very good, with pretty Dina Merrill being the love interest for Curtis, only to learn that he's already engaged to a wealthy woman. Arthur O'Connell is funny as the frustrated mechanic as nurse Heywood insists on helping him run the ship, at one point using a girdle to connect some of the parts."Operation Petticoat" is a real treat - a very funny film with good direction, script and acting all around.

This is one of my very favorite movies. I now own the DVD, but have watched it who knows how many times since childhood. "Operation Petticoat" never fails to make me laugh. I don't have to give a synopsis here, since so many viewers before have summed it up nicely, but I wanted to throw in my two cents. This movie is a perfect illustration of the notion that funny and filthy are not necessarily synonymous. Parents can watch this movie with their children and not be afraid of what their children are hearing or seeing. The writers have produced a script that is funny, without pandering to the lowest common denominator. The humor is a cut above, but easily understood by most viewers. Other viewers have rightly praised Cary Grant's and Tony Curtis' performances. However, there are some other gems, not the least of which is Arthur O'Connell as the machinist's mate. "Have a piece of pig, Major." Gavin MacLeod as the beleaguered clerk, Hunkle; Dick Sergeant's Ensign Stovall; and George Dunn as the Prophet, singing his plaintive tune "You can't win, my friend" and predicting the early demise of Lt. Holden as they go scrounging for supplies. It doesn't matter how low I'm feeling--this movie gives me a lift. It does not gloss over the deadly seriousness of war, but does show the truth that funny things often happen in the midst of the greatest chaos. In fact, to quote Nick Holden, "In confusion, there is profit." And a great deal of laughter.