So much average

Purely Joyful Movie!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

If I had to pick a show that had more funny people on it I would be hard pressed to name any other show but the Phil Silvers Show. Not even the great Stanley Kramer comedy for the big screen It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World had a better laugh quotient to the cast than the Phil Silvers Show which ran for five years. Talk about characters this show created so many great characters all under the direction of creator Nat Hiken. One thing about the army it is a great leveler of class. Especially the peace time Cold War army of the Eisenhower years where a draft was in force and all kinds of people got in there. You could never create a show like this today.Phil Silvers on the big screen had a so so career. He was not really suited for it. He played small roles and in small doses he was fine. I wrote a review for the Jean Arthur/John Wayne comedy A Lady Takes A Chance where Silvers played a tour bus driver. His character like Sergeant Ernie Bilko here was 'on' all the time. That does not work in film, I would have killed Silvers before the bus trip was over or I would have had to stand in line to do it.But as Bilko in a half hour format, sergeant in charge of the motor pool at Camp Caldwell and consummate con man Silvers was perfectly within his element. And the regulars, the soldiers under his command and others at the camp were in support of him. Allan Melvin and Harvey Lembeck were his chief aides, both corporals. They're a pair of funny guys themselves. And who could forget Maurice Gosfield as the ultimate schnook Private Doberman, unmercifully conned week after week by the sergeant he was devoted to. Another guy who was conned was Joe E. Ross as Sergeant Ridzik of the mess hall. Food is always a valuable commodity in any con game.Presiding over this was the Fifties most famous slow burn Paul Ford as Colonel Hall, camp commandant. Before he was cast as the colonel, Ford was a good dramatic actor in such things as All The King's Men and Lust For Gold in serious parts. Nat Hiken saw something in Ford, a comic gift like Edgar Kennedy and even after the show ended Ford for the rest of his life was cast in parts to show off his fabulous slow burn technique.People like Dick Van Dyke guest starred here, even Bing Crosby did an episode, he toured with Silvers on USO tours during World War II. Even though Silvers in my opinion never quite reached the heights as he did in this TV series, he leaves a lasting comedy legacy with the Phil Silvers Show. Even though he was the unquestioned star all of his ensemble came in for their share of laughs. It was a great ensemble of classic comedians, rarely duplicated anywhere.

Phil Silvers featured in the show now universally known as 'Bilko', after the character he played, a wisecracking, gambling sergeant in the US Army. A long-running situation comedy from the early years of television, it still stands up as exceptionally funny today.Over 143 episodes, Sgt Ernest Bilko plotted, schemed, and stumbled over his lines (this was live television, after all). The pauses and the ad libs add to the genius of this series, viewed five decades later. It also made a star of Silvers, who up to this point had been a comedian, actor, and singer (he was Gene Kelly's pal in 'Cover Girl', for example) - although following Bilko, he never really found a suitable starring role again.In 1996, a misguided attempt to bring Bilko to the big screen, starring Steve Martin, failed, possibly because the character really could only be played by one man. Original episodes still air regularly over the world, and a collection of episodes (sadly only a fraction of the ones available) were released on DVD for the 50th anniversary of the show.

George Kennedy, in addition to doing a bit part(s) as an MP was in the Army and was assigned as the Technical Advisor to the show. Phil Silvers told the story that one day George told him he was getting out of the army and was thinking of trying acting. Phil encouraged him, and, of course, George went on to win an Acadamy Award for Cool Hand Luke.

I regret that I have only seen a fraction of the episodes of THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW. But those that I have seen confirms the show's reputation as an authentic television classic. Consider the star, Phil Silvers as Sgt. Ernie Bilko. Was there a more lovable conniver? His joy in his scheming was so droll and endearing one couldn't help but root for him. Yet Bilko never wanted to hurt anyone and whenever he learned any plan could hurt someone, he wouldn't go through with it. Silvers' ruefulness at such moments was as delightful as his ecstasy.Silvers was backed by a delightful supporting cast. Particularly memorable were Maurice Gosfeld as the innocent Private Duane Doberman and Paul Ford as Bilko's flustered superior Colonel John Hall. Joe E. Ross got his big break as the gruff but lovable Sgt. Rupert Ritzik. Producer Nat Hiken would later team up Ross with Fred Gwynne in the police sitcom CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU? And what hilarious, inventive scripts that so deftly served those performers. I'm no prude but I consider such riotous episodes like "The Trial of Harry Speakup" and "The Face on the Recruiting Poster" proof that writers don't have to stoop to raunchiness to generate laughs. The problem with today's television sitcoms is that they often indulge in gratuitous filth.With so many old sitcoms coming out on DVD today, isn't it about time for DVD episode guides of THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW? Why should DVD users be denied access to, from what episodes I've seen, a wonderful show? Such a treasure does not deserve oblivion.