Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Auntie_Inflammatory This film isn't as dire as the one-star reviews claim. That said, it isn't very good either. It's just...odd and doesn't really go anywhere.David Niven is his urbane, David Niveny self as a sort of British version of The Flying Dutchman who has to redeem himself through an act of war-time valor instead of an act of love. Alan Alda is Alan Alda. Faye Dunaway is the girl with moxie (sporting 1960's hair-dos during WW2). Mickey Rooney has very little to do. The conceit of inserting old newsreel footage into the film didn't bother me, I thought the clips were interesting.I did learn two things while watching this;1) I had forgotten the difference between flotsam and jetsam and Faye Dunaway was nice enough to explain it.2) Before Milton Bradley released Battleship as a plastic board game, you could apparently play it on graph paper.Something more interesting could have been done with Niven's character and the whole concept. With a better script this could've been a pretty good film.

CitizenCaine The Extraordinary Seaman directed by John Frankenheimer is puzzling in the sense that how could a film directed by Frankenheimer, which includes performances by David Niven, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda, Mickey Rooney, and Jack Carter, and music by Maurice Jarre not be entertaining? After a string of successes from the beginning of his career in the 1950's with television drama through the 1960's with several film classics, Frankenheimer failed miserably with this film. Due to the short running time of 80 minutes compared to the usual much longer running times for his previous films, one wonders whether the film was taken out of Frankenheimer's hands at one point.Niven is an old sea captain who has a secret, later discovered by the over-acting Alda, who nearly sleepwalks through his role. Dunaway starts out promising as a woman who can help a crew or hinder it, but shortly after boarding ship, Dunaway's role becomes forgettable. Alda overacts his way through the film progressively more as the film unfolds, and his forced romance with Dunaway makes her seem uncomfortable in the film. Rooney and Carter, who can both be very funny when given something to work with, are completely wasted with little or nothing to do.The film purports to be an adventure/comedy but it's neither interesting nor funny, and the non-existent story just falls flat long before the revelation, which occurs an hour into the film. The denouement is a preposterous letdown. The most interesting parts of the film are the archival footage edited in to the film for what was probably intended to be comedic/ironic effect. However, the old clips took up almost a quarter of the film, which means there wasn't much to watch to begin with. A huge waste of talent considering those involved. 0 of ****.

Poseidon-3 What if they made a movie and no one could watch it? Perhaps it's not quite THAT bad, but it's close. Alda, Rooney, Carter and Tupou play four naval crewmen during WWII who become shipwrecked on a south sea island and who stumble upon a beached, old ship called the Curmudgeon. On board is mysterious and old-fashioned Niven, who guzzles scotch from a never-ending bottle and who wishes to get his rust bucket back in order and on to Australia. While looking for applicable supplies, the men are joined by gun-toting Dunaway, who winds up boarding the ship as well. The motley crew works on getting the ship seaworthy and heads off to Australia, but not before encountering the enemy and not before Alda discovers some "shocking" secrets about Niven. All through the film, old newsreels and classic footage from the 30's and 40's is inserted for comedic and/or ironic effect. Sometimes, the footage is more interesting or entertaining than any of the strained, dull or pointless new material that makes up the bulk of the film, though none of it is very arresting, in any case. Niven gives a laid back performance, to say the least. Alda is his typical self, which will appeal to some viewers more than others. Dunaway looks great, despite the lack of fashionable clothes or glamour and she also has a bit of spunk, at least at first. However, she's not given a lot to do and the part ends up as thankless. Rooney claims to have no memory of making the film at all according to his auto-bio and despite the reportedly trying conditions where it was filmed. Carter mostly hollers and eats baked beans. It's a bad film with very little to recommend it. If it were just a bit worse, it could count as campy or unintentionally funny, but it's just plain bad. Misguided, choppy and banal are other words that could be used to describe it. It's not the jewel of anyone's resume, but it's got to be one of the least notable films on Dunaway's, especially for this time period.

makaii I can't recommend this movie however to get a better perspective I do recommend to one and all to read Alan Alda's comments regarding this disaster of a movie in his book, (NEVER HAVE YOUR DOG STUFFED and other things I've learned). In the chapter titled Yes to Everything he describes the chaos of making this movie and sums up by saying: "We finished the picture, and it was released directly into obscurity. I've heard that it played on an airplane over Pittsburgh, and I imagined people strapping on parachutes and jumping to get away from it." That last line made me laugh out loud, in fact many lines in this book will have you laughing aloud and enjoying his view on the world.