Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

My local library picked this up as part of it's own fiftieth anniversary celebration last year, so this week I finally got around to watching it. With Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in the cast, one would expect so much more, but sadly that's not the case. The film is too farcical to be considered a screwball comedy, and relies too heavily on slapstick and buffoonery to make it's comic points. It's perhaps a tad above your typical beach blanket genre film, but without the girls, except Tuesday Weld who was embarrassingly juvenile. Other reviewers on this board who feel that she stole the show apparently missed the scene where she squealed in delight at Corporal Opie's (Tom Gilson) rendition of 'You're My Boojum'. Boojum, or Boo for short, is a word I've never heard before, and I'm sure never will again, unless I watch this one more time, and that's not likely.It's too bad too, because on the face of it, this vehicle had enough talent to pull off a capable production, but it got frittered away somewhere along the line. Newman comes across as absolutely goofy most of the time, especially in that chandelier/choo-choo escapade with Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins). As his wife Grace, Joanne Woodward is almost lifeless, something the script obviously called for by placing her on every pointless committee in existence in Putnam's Landing. Gale Gordon and Jack Carson portrayed their characters pretty much straight from the play book, but it was disappointing to see Dwayne Hickman as a neutered version of Marlon Brando from "The Wild One". It wouldn't have been so bad if he had tried out his Dobie Gillis TV role, I think that would have been much more effective.Which made it all the more puzzling to view the theatrical trailer on the 20th Century Fox DVD release, where Bob Hope practically rolls on the ground in a fit of laughter while congratulating director Leo McCarey on his cinematic achievement. I would like to have known what Hope REALLY thought. For viewers back in the day, the redeeming feature might have been seeing this one in full color, as the trailer itself for some dubious reason was offered in black and white.

Opie, Tom Gilson,was my brother,so I went to see the movie and I never looked at it again in all these years. Sorry! it was bad. I'm told I have to write 10 lines so I'll put a little trivia in. Tom and Tuesday Weld were to be " introduced " in this picture and Tom was told to take Tuesday to the premiere but Tom said no he was going with Joan Collins, and he did and because he did only Tuesday Weld was Introduced. I found this very funny back then and still do. The movie, while the concept was a funny one, and the actors in it were impressive but some how it just did'nt come out funny.The continuity was abstract, at best,it was like I was watching 2 different movies at the same time,each running into the other. Sorry, Bob Gilson

Leo McCarey, whose credits were certainly nothing to be ashamed of, was a bit past his prime when he directed this minor misfire. 20th Century Fox gave it first-class production values and a cast that could have had a lot more fun had a less cautious approach to the material been allowed to prevail. Leon Shamroy's CinemaScope/DeLuxe Color lensing was, not unexpectedly, a treat for the eyes and a few minor bits (Tuesday Weld squealing with delight as a swain sings "You're My Boojum!" to her; Joan Collins and Paul Newman engaging in an inebriated slapstick sequence that involved swinging from a chandelier, no less) hit the mark. I remember being disappointed that things didn't take off, like the accidentally fired missile in a scene with Woodward and Newman. But anyone who thinks that Joan Collins' only forte is playing a ruthless bitch, as she did on the long-running TV series, "Dynasty," would probably be delighted with her witty romp as Angela Hoffa, for me this film's memorable highpoint.

Max Shulman was an absolutely brilliant comic writer/satirist ("The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," "Anybody Got a Match?", etc.). In the mid-50s he published "Rally 'Round The Flag, Boys!" taking on everything from Madison Avenue, the New Haven Railroad, the U.S. Air Force to the space race in a hilarious farce that shows how seemingly unconnected lives, priorities and events can converge to produce a disaster of epic proportions. Even little league gets a drubbing at his hands.This movie took the title and many of the book's characters. For some reason, the writers and producers chose to discard everything else.Newman could have been GREAT as Harry Bannerman, harried Peter Pan-type account exec facing the prospect of fatherhood and settling down. Unfortunately, the script sabotaged him. Joanne Woodward is relegated to standing around looking hastled and confused-- probably trying to decide exactly how she's going to kill her agent for getting her into this dog. Veterans like Gale Gordon, Jack Carson and Murvyn Vye are similarly wasted.The only cast member who doesn't disappoint, strangely enough, is Tuesday Weld as Comfort Goodpasture . . . but then, her character didn't have much to do in the book either, come to think of it.This is what happens when Hollywood bends over backwards to avoid offending anyone . . . after having purchased the rights to a book that's guaranteed to offend just about everyone.There is a character named Hoffa in this film. Oscar, not James. Probably the best thing that could be done with this turkey of a movie would be to take the master copy, seal it up in an empty bottle of "Newman's Own," and bury it about six feet under Hoffa. James, not Oscar.