Limerculer
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
TaryBiggBall
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Harry Lags
Humphrey Bogart gives another top rated powerful performance in this classic drama with a first rate professional cast including Fred MacMurray, Van Johnson, Jose Ferrer, E.G. Marshall, Tom Tully, Lee Marvin, Robert Francis, Claude Atkins, and Arthur Franz.All of these are excellent performances but pale in comparison with Humphrey Bogart's. He is totally believable as Captain Queeg, who is guilty of mutiny. Was he insane or just misunderstood? Queeg's final crack up on the witness stand at Lt. Maryk's court martial is justifiably famous, and is among the great scenes in cinema. It is now impossible for any character in any film to play with a pair of steel balls and not think of Bogart. Look for Lee Marvin, Jerry Paris and Claude Akins in supporting roles. This is excellent entertainment and should not be missed.Humphrey Bogart absolutely dominates the screen with one of the finest performances of his career. Most of the fan and critic polls I have seen over the years of the greatest movie stars of all time invariably place Bogart in the number one spot, and when you see him in this role it is easy to see why. Yet you contrast this film with THE MALTESE FALCON or THE BIG SLEEP, and you realize that he had a capacity to play a surprisingly wide range of roles.Conclusion - Film acting simply doesn't get better than this. Classic!
MisterWhiplash
Digression, first of all.Look, I can't help but see a film sometimes and see parallels to current events and certain men elevated to power. I'm not intentionally looking for it, and with The Caine Mutiny I happened to have this film to watch as it was part of a list I was checking off and near the end of. But after the first three weeks (and before that, eighteen months in campaign/president-elect mode) of Trump's time in office, it's impossible to not see the parallels with him and Captain Queeg (though I'd say at least Queeg didn't seem to come from a life of privilege and yes men).And at first it wasn't readily apparent - Queeg comes off in his first scenes like a tough taskmaster, but perhaps nothing out of the ordinary for hard-case Captains in the navy or army and so on - but as one notices the decisions he makes, or doesn't make, or what he focuses his attention on (all men having their shirts tucked in is one thing, but during a ship maneuver that requires his attention, or the whole 'strawberry' incidence) and then quickly dismisses the reality around him as hogwash and act like the ship was in a poor state that had to be completely overhauled (and it didn't, and his aims to make it better just come off as... strange somehow). Well.... do you get the idea yet? How about ignoring or dismissing the council or advice of personnel that may, just may, arguably, know better? What do you do with someone in charge who has mental illness? Would Queeg win in an election (just barely)? Okay, so where is this whole train of thought taking me to? Does it accomplish much? Probably not in anything that can change anything, but as someone who writes and thinks critically about such things it's curious to see such patterns repeating themselves in history. But besides all of that, and whatever it can do, I should be here to tell you whether the movie is good or not. It is at times an excellent picture, with some caveats that I'll get to, and most of all the reasons to see it are for the screenplay, which is a wonderful adaptation by Stanley Roberts of the Woulk novel, and Humphrey Bogart.Though he isn't the only notable performance of the film - Van Johnson does a lot with a character that isn't the brightest guy but knows right from wrong, and in his whole career this should be marked as one of Fred MacMurray's major accomplishments, in the subtlety of what he does - Bogart brings a vulnerability to this man, a sense that there's something mixed up even in the moments when he's in command and the men respect him. He never overplays a thing, and because it's Bogart at first as the audience we want to give him the benefit of the doubt... about what, it becomes clear, is hard to tell. But he also sells on the eventual reality of the mental instability of Queeg, like with the rattling of the balls in his hand, but at the same time we don't misunderstand him. How he got to this point even has a small ring of tragedy: was he always this untrusting and paranoid and mentally unstable? Surely being in the navy for eight years he was competent and a good officer. So there's a small ring of tragedy amid the rest of the drama.What makes the script stand out is that it gets better, more compelling, as the movie goes along. In the first twenty minutes it's watchable, but it doesn't feel like much in the way of conflict is going to happen, as the direction from Dymytryk is standard - competent but nothing to remark upon - and he lays in too much of the score (not a bad one by Steiner by any means, but 'too much' can be a problem when a scene should only have dialog), and the performance from Robert Francis, as it is through a lot of the film, is stiff and too basic (although it occurred to me, aside from it being his debut as an actor, it was part of the point to have one guy who was a straight-arrow officer, but even with this he lacks any personality to sell anything, which includes the bits with his girlfriend May Wynn, who is also only okay).But once Queeg comes on the ship the picture takes off in a clearer direction and becomes engrossing simply by the nature of this man - his unpredictability, his lack of responsibility in key moments or ignoring things told to him (those mess hall guys ate the strawberries! rats!) What will be the tipping point and then, after this, how is the court martial going to proceed? This last section is anchored by EG Marshall on one side and Jose Ferrer on the other, and is chock-a-block with dialog (later Altman would make a TV movie out of a play called the Caine Mutiny Court Martial), and all of it comes off from these actors in excellent ways. What does law and order mean in such a situation? Though not all of the acting is great, and near the very end a scene with Jose Ferrer seems to be there to spell out a lot of things that could have been handled with less melodrama, there's a wonderful morality and questioning of power to this story, about taking a long hard look at what happens when it's "The right way, the wrong way, the Navy way, and my way." It can be applied to a lot of things in real life, which is what makes it stick in the mind... probably too well now...
elvircorhodzic
THE CAINE MUTINY is an extremely tense war drama based on several personal drama elements, conflict of male temperament, courage, duty and cowardice. A completely irrelevant romance pervaded the story. It does not cause a lot of damage, but it complicates the scenario. The plot is located on the Pacific battleground of World War II and describes the mutiny of the crew of the US destroyer-minesweeper USS Caine provoked by new and mentally unbalanced captain.This is an intriguing film, which in some parts causes anxiety. Characterization is good and relations between the protagonists are quite complex. Set design is quite expensive, considering that it does not help the credibility of the story. The music is pretty powerful trump card. The picture and staff were at times impressive. Theatricality at the end of the film is quite a surprise, the existence of a sort of anticlimax also.Van Johnson as Lieutenant Steve Maryk is the prime suspect and savior at the same time. He is alarmed officer who attempted to solve a complex problem. Fred MacMurray as Lieutenant Tom Keefer is fascinating as dwelt type of villain and an epitome of cowardice. Humphrey Bogart as Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg is the most complex character in the film. Quite a mysterious protagonist, who is lost in his own paranoia and hysteria. Robert Francis as Ensign Willis Seward "Willie" Keith is a romantic ensign who has a problem with his superiors. Very bad characterization, especially considering how much attention was given to the relationship between the mother and the son, who were eventually left undefined. José Ferrer as Lieutenant Barney Greenwald is quite interesting in the role of lawyer. I have impression that he was a lawyer to everyone in this film. The protagonist who brings understanding and insight into the story in a rather...strange wayGood war atmosphere does not guarantee a good movie, but this war drama is worth watching.
calvinnme
In the 1950's films about the problems that you encounter during wartime that have nothing to do with the enemy itself began to appear. This was one of the best. WWII threw all kinds of people together from all walks of life. There were the core career Navy along with the many who were drafted into the service because of the war, maybe disrupting plans, but they planned to make the best of it.This is the situation on the USS Caine. A new captain arrives, Lt. Commander Philip Queeg (Humphrey Bogart), professional navy man. At first, it just looks like the captain is a strong advocate of discipline, something the Caine has apparently not had much of up to this time. But then he starts seeing things that aren't there - like insisting that a man in the distance isn't properly dressed for a drill - the officers look and see that he is. He does things that indicate he could be paranoid, and that being under the strain of wartime he could have lost his nerve OR he could just be a captain that likes strict discipline. The truth would be in the eye of the beholder. You don't want to be an officer on the Caine arguing point A if the person you are making your argument to is an admiral that sees point B and believes you are just a whiner, or worse, a mutineer.In the midst of this are the ship's three officers. The instigator that brings about the eventual mutiny is Tom Keefer (Fred McMurray), who was a writer in peacetime. He tries to convince Lt. Steve Maryk (Van Johnson) as well as the young Ensign Willie Keith (Robert Francis), that the captain is mentally ill, headed for a breakdown, and possibly taking the ship with him. Keith is easily swayed by his older fellow officers, just a high society college guy who has always done what mama told him to do. Maryk is the most independent minded of the three, most interested in doing what is right. So when Queeg seems to lose his nerve in a typhoon and refuses to give an order that will save the ship, Maryk takes in all he has been fed by Keefer, considers the situation, and takes control of the Caine based on navy regulations that are germane if the captain is incapacitated. Only thing is, the captain hasn't been shot or taken physically ill, and Maryk and Keith are put on trial for mutiny before a court martial. Keefer has managed to play both sides of this and stay safely out of harm's way, having never voiced his opinions of the captain in front of anybody but Maryk and Keith.Second billed Jose Ferrer, who doesn't appear until the last part of the movie, earns his second billing as the navy attorney who is disgusted by his clients, yet agrees to take the case. It's a tricky business proving innocence in this case, because he is not allowed to directly attack the integrity of Queeg, because that is an infraction of naval law in itself. And on terra firma, Captain Queeg no longer feels the pressure he did at sea and is particularly charming and articulate. What's worse, Keefer is looking after his own neck and throws Maryk and Keith under the bus to save himself when on the stand. How will this all turn out? Watch and find out.Just an aside, a few people have said that the bit about Keith and his girl are just padding. I beg to differ. It shows that in spite of being head over heels in love, Keith does not have the nerve to stand up to his mother and tell her. If Keith can't stand up to mom, what chance would he have with Keefer? He was a follower in the first degree.Bogart was great here as a guy who is supposed to be the villain in a way, but has a completely sympathetic part. As Ferrer's character points out, when everyone else was all tucked away safe in their beds, it was people like Queeg that kept the navy going in peacetime, before the war. The scene before the mutiny where Queeg basically goes to the ship's other officers for help after he realizes he is so strongly disliked and comes up empty adds further sympathy and thus ambiguity to his part.This is great storytelling about a group of people who have nothing in common brought together to fight a war which in this case yields tragic results. In other words, it is very realistic. I highly recommend this old film.
