Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

calvinnme ... plus it is fun too! This is really worth watching for two reasons. It is obviously a blueprint for the popular spin-off TV show "Gomer Pyle USMC" starring Jim Nabors in the part played here by Andy Griffith, and it is interesting to make comparisons between the two. Secondly, it really is part of a tribute to the great yet unappreciated range Andy Griffith had as an actor. Here he plays the yokel as well-meaning good guy, anxious to serve his country but just too friendly and green to fully comprehend the discipline he is under in training camp. He thinks it is an honor when the sergeant gives him latrine duty, and his version of the 21-gun salute when the latrine is inspected is truly hilarious. Watch this and then watch him play the yokel as bad guy in "A Face in the Crowd".

dougdoepke The movie's a generally hilarious parody of a country bumpkin's life in the Air Force. Griffith is tailor made for the hillbilly Stockdale who seems to take every adversity in alligator-grinning stride. Ditto, McCormick as sour-faced Sergeant King who just can't seem to escape the plague of his hillbilly underling. Then too, those saluting toilet seats may be the first on-screen view of a commode, even military style. As I recall, the gimmick brought tremendous guffaws from surprised audiences back in '58.Now the movie's humor comes from Stockdale's inability to adapt to military ways. Instead, he insists on a kind of good-humored simplicity that's infectious. A lot of reviewers claim his inability is because he's dumber than a dirt pile. However, that's not my interpretation. I take him to be as smart as anyone else. Rather the problem lies in the distance between sophisticated military rules and country boy Stockdale's unsophisticated background. It's not that he's too dumb to adapt. Instead, he's used to personal relationships and not the impersonality of military rules and hierarchy. Thus he tries to reduce every rule application to a personal encounter—he thinks the sergeant is his friend, while he gets familiar with officers regardless of rank. It's not that he's stupid, he just comes from a less rigid, rule-bound environment.Anyhow, it's hard to say enough for Griffith's utterly winning performance. In my book, it's Oscar worthy, as if Hollywood ever rewarded such goofy comedic roles. However, I do think the movie is flawed. The airplane sequence followed by an A-bomb blast and then the bleak wind- up in the woods is not only not very funny, but undercuts the prevailing style and mood. I don't know about the original play, but this last part strikes me as sheer Hollywood. In short, it's a misguided studio effort at lengthening the film and working in some action and suspense. Nonetheless, I think this last part hurts more than it helps.All in all and despite the flaw, the movie ranks among the funniest of the many service comedies of the post-war period. That is, until the fracas in Vietnam brought this peace-time view of military life to a jarring close.

Robert J. Maxwell I kind of like comedies that truly work. They come around so rarely. I've never read the novel but I've seen the filmed play, which also starred Andy Griffith and there have been only a few changes, mostly not for the better. The play was by Ira Levin. He's gone now but must have been quite a guy, his tongue permanently in his cheek. He had sufficient role distance to make fun of the premise of "The Boys From Brazil," his own work.This was Levin's first produced play and it's extremely amusing. It's about a barefoot hillbilly (Griffith) inducted into the U. S. Air Force, acquiring a friend with low esteem, and tangling with a Master Sergeant in charge of the barracks during basic training.Griffith's character is big, strong, stupidly candid, naively enthusiastic, clumsy, almost impervious to insults, friendly, helpful, kind, cheerful, brave, and reverent, the kind of guy who would help little old ladies across the street. Maybe it was Boy Scout basic training.Nick Adams' role doesn't amount to much. He's there chiefly to explain to the monumentally rustic Griffith (and to the viewer) what's going on. Murray Hamilton as an arrogant recruit is better. But Griffith gets great help from Myron McCormick as the Sergeant. McCormick is one of those mid-level bureaucrats who wants to see everything flow smoothly along -- no waves -- without disturbing the higher echelon, so he can collect his pension after twenty or thirty years of polite penal servitude. Griffith's arrival not only makes waves. It sinks the boat.The comedy builds upon itself, getting more complicated and more funny, although the third act has its weak moments -- a scene built around a rogue airplane that might have come directly out of an Abbott and Costello movie. But, no matter. Not only do the absurdities accumulate logically but the story is sprinkled with one liners that both nail Griffith's naiveté and are funny in themselves. At Lights Out on his first night in the barracks, a bugle sounds taps. Griffith stands at the window, looking out wonderingly, and muses, "Somebody brung his trumpet." It's really amusing.

xenolambrose@yahoo.com (No intentional spoilers) From start till finish each main actor portrays a character that really becomes a character that is fun to watch and memorable in their performance. For example, the naiveté, 'backwardness', and optimism of Andy Griffith's Will Stockdale is refreshing and sets the tone for good object lessons throughout the film. From the tender feelings expressed for an aged parent, to taking a bullied stranger under his wing and looking out for him, to misconstruing a punishment for a promotion and then doing it better than had ever been done, to the unreserved loyalty for his superior officer and fellow recruits, this is a movie with a heart and the ability to prompt enough belly laughs to keep your sides in enough stitches that you will no doubt savor it for some time. It's rather a sad commentary that so-called comedies today can't hold a candle to a movie made over 50 years ago with no cursing, nudity, questionable moral themes, and humor all ages can laugh at, but maybe that's what some call progress. And it's finally out on DVD!