Wonderful character development!

The greatest movie ever made..!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Dreadfully Boring

At first, I hated this movie. I almost turned it off, but there stood David Niven, in a white captain's uniform and in Technicolor. I kept watching. By the end of the movie, I loved it! Thank goodness for David Niven in a white captain's uniform in Technicolor.The entire movie is interspersed with real WW2 footage and promotional films to help men enlist. It's a little strange, and to be honest, I could have done without the constant cuts, but if you can get used to it early on, that will help you. Screenwriters Phillip Rock and Hal Dresner must have wanted the entire film to feel satirical, but I think it would have been even better without the stock footage. Now to the plot: Alan Alda, Mickey Rooney, Jack Carter, and Manu Tupou are shipwrecked on a deserted island during WW2. They come across an abandoned, wrecked ship, but quickly find that it's not quite abandoned! David Niven, the ship's captain, is still aboard, drinking, making whimsical remarks no one seems to understand, and far from anxious to help with the war effort. But together, and with a random appearance by Faye Dunaway, they patch up the boat and try to help fight the Japanese. Without David Niven's character, the movie would be terrible. And without David Niven cast in the role, it would have devolved into a silly 70s comedy with no class or charm. Everything funny and lovely in the film is due to The Niv's splendid comic timing and suaveness. After watching this film, I dare you not to wish he'd been cast in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. He's infinitely more likable than Rex Harrison. For that matter, why wasn't he cast in My Fair Lady? Well, I guess that's an issue for another time. For now, if you'd like a silly war comedy, give The Extraordinary Seamen a try.

I am amazed that a talents like David Niven and Faye Dunaway signed on to act in this turkey. It is just BAD in every way. Mickey Rooney is the only redeeming factor at all, hence the 1 star. Alan Alda, in my opinion, has never been more than mediocre as an actor. He is to one dimensional. Mix that with a bad story and you just have a bad, bad movie. Shame on your John Frankenheimer. I am surprised you signed on for this movie too.

John Frankenhimer made "The Extraordinary Seaman" in 1969 and it was one almighty flop; hardly surprising considering it was an extremely unfunny comedy set in the Philippines during the Second World War. If it showed us anything it was that Frankenhimer couldn't do comedy and watching this you might assume that David Niven, Alan Alda and Mickey Rooney couldn't do comedy either or maybe the war with Japan just wasn't that funny or maybe it was the continual cross-cutting from the movie to newsreel footage that killed it. The female lead was Faye Dunaway, who already had "Bonnie and Clyde" behind her; that she survived this muck is testament to her abilities both as an actress and as a star. Extraordinary indeed, but for all the wrong reasons.

The Extraordinary Seaman finds David Niven once again carrying the burden of a really botched film concept with his extraordinary charm. No actor was ever asked to work with less material than Niven did in his whole career.The film is best described as a combination of The Ghost And Mrs. Muir, The Canterville Ghost and The African Queen all taking place in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Four American seaman Mickey Rooney, Jack Carter, Mana Tupou and their Lieutanant Alan Alda are on a life raft after their ship was sunk. They drift to a small island in the Phillipines and find a beached craft from the previous war with its captain David Niven who looks positively immaculate in his dress whites from the British Navy considering the heat and humidity of the tropics.With a battery borrowed from plantation owner Faye Dunaway who would like some transport to Australia for her efforts, the American sailors set sail with Niven who will take them, providing he gets the opportunity to sink a Japanese warship. Trust me, Niven's got some really good reasons for wanting this so badly.This dud of a film is a surprise coming from someone like John Frankenheimer who did such things as Birdman Of Alcatraz, The Train, Grand Prix, and Seven Days In May to name a few. Frankenheimer comes up so short in The Extraordinary Seaman as compared to those masterpieces and others. The situations are forced and labored and the comedy falls flat. Not enough use was made of Mickey Rooney and Jack Carter, both of them extraordinarily funny people.But there's nothing extraordinary about The Extraordinary Seaman.