Stylish but barely mediocre overall

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Oh JFK! If it was not for JFK's fathers' very deep pockets do you really think this film semi biography would ever have been made, yet alone released widely? Add in top notch stars such as Cliff Robertson who plays Lt. JG John F. Kennedy, responsible for PT109, Robert Culp who plays Ensign George 'Barney' Ross, James Gregory as Commander C.R. Ritchie, and for good measure add in Robert Blake as Gunner's Mate Charles 'Bucky' Harris, and Norman Fell as Machinist Edmund Drewitch and you have an all star cast ready to set sail and fight those nasty Japanese in deep waters.The problem I had with this film was that the period war film was released 20 years after the incident but only mere months before the next primary U.S. elections were to take place in 1964 and the then U.S. President John F. Kennedy intended to run for re-election. No coincidence here? But my disdain runs further. After watching the film PT 109 we the audience would be left to believe that the entire PT 109 crew were willing to surrender time and time again to the Japanese rather than swim 3 miles to a remote island and wait for their eventual rescue. Oh yes, everyone appeared to want to give up except the great JFK who led the way swimming the entire 3 miles in the ocean AND also towing another injured seaman on his own bad back, even carrying him out of the water and to dry land before getting immediately back into the water to assist the rest of his crew before a Japanese boat would otherwise have captured them all. Such a war hero that JFK!That same night JFK swam out back into the middle of the ocean by himself in anticipation of spotting a U.S Naval rescue ship that did not materialize, at least not that first night. This movie would have been more appropriately titled "JFK a one man war hero". I will admit that JFK had some good qualities as the U.S. President as well as some bad qualities, one of which he was a known womanizer who demanded sex from many vulnerable woman, including Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe.The 1963 film PT 109 may have put JFK in a light that shone bright as a U.S. naval hero, but the 4 million dollars spent on this film was all for naught, as on November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, for reasons to this day still unknown. I am not a big fan of glory pictures that are released to shine a positive light by very wealthy people who have a specific agenda. In this case PT 109 was released to promote JFK as a tough naval war hero just in time for the next U.S. election for which he was running for re-election as the U.S. President backed by the very wealthy Boston based Kennedy family. I gave the film a 5 out of 10 rating.

The first half of this movie is rather ridiculous at best. All we basically hear about is cleaning up the 109.The real acting kudos goes here to James Gregory as the Commander. The year before he gave an outstanding performance as Angela Lansbury's dimwitted Senator husband up to his neck in political intrigue. With his loud, boisterous, booming voice, Gregory does well here as well.Even with the rather boring first half, the scenery is so beautiful that I expected a chorus of guys to come out and sing Bali Hai! That would have really been something.The picture does pick up when the boat is slammed and those on board are in the jungle. It appears that no one can find them. It is at this point that Kennedy showed excellent leadership qualities. Still, some of the scenes trapped on the islands reminded me of Gilligan's Island. There isn't that much action and am surprised that Hollywood didn't take liberties to spice those scenes up.Cliff Robertson gives a restrained performance as the future president. At least, he didn't try to emulate the Kennedy speech patterns. With it all, the picture is still a major disappointment.

Despite the bland performance of CLIFF ROBERTSON as JFK, PT 109 manages to be a well-staged WWII adventure photographed in handsome Technicolor with some very fine special effects that make all the battle scenes look very realistic.The best performance in the film is delivered by JAMES GREGORY as the hard-nosed commander of the PT squadron, with a cynical view of the young Kennedy who has had no wartime training until he arrives in the Pacific to put together a crew to work aboard a hastily repaired patrol boat.It's a story of courage and heroism that could have been told in ninety minutes to make the drama more taut. Instead, the film is padded out to a two-hours and twenty-minutes length that makes it feel like another "Mr. Roberts," especially during the long first hour.All of the squadron members are well played by a cast that includes TY HARDIN, GRANT WILLIAMS and ROBERT BLAKE as able seamen who form Kennedy's crew. Touches of wartime humor are present with amusing lines throughout. ("The skipper would mount a tank on a PT boat if he could find one," says a loyal crewman at one point). And when Kennedy is reminded of how idealistic he is when confronting the most unfavorable situations, he replies with a grin: "It must be a character flaw." The only real flaw with the film is its length, which robs it of some much needed tension toward the middle. However, as a film examining the earlier life of JFK's participation as a lieutenant in WWII, it's satisfying enough as a realistic depiction of the events aboard PT 109.Summing up: The basic story of Kennedy's efforts to bring his men back safely from a dangerous mission is effectively portrayed and manages to hold the interest despite being overlong. Worth seeing at least once.

As someone born long after the Kennedy years, I admit that I don't really know what he was like, and I've certainly never read his book about his WWII experiences. But I have seen the movie version of "PT 109". I will say that it's worth seeing just because it is about one of our most beloved presidents, but otherwise, it's kinda jingoistic and not 100% interesting. We see how JFK (Cliff Robertson) was sort of unsure what to think of the war initially, but knew what to do once he started fighting.So, it's clearly a product of America's "age of innocence". But still, I recommend it just because it shows how Kennedy was actually someone whom we could trust in wartime. Also starring Robert Culp ("Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"), Grant Williams ("The Incredible Shrinking Man"), Robert Blake and Norman Fell.And yes, I think that the title sounds like a Beach Boys movie. That's just me, I guess.