ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

weezeralfalfa This is primarily a drama, with occasional comedic moments. It's mostly a study in how to strike a balance between trying too hard, with draconian standards, and not trying hard enough, which invites failure to achieve accepted standards. At's also a message about how some accepted standards should be lowered for children vs. adults, and the need to consider individual idiosyncrasies. But, it's also a troubled love story between the commandant(Major Benson) of a pre- high school catholic military school and the resident doctor: Kay Lamberi(Julie Adams). A bevy of nuns serve as subordinate authorities, headed by Mother Redempta(Nana Bryant). William Demarest, as John, appears to be mostly a handyman.The Major appears to have been cut from the same mold as General George Patton, who occasionally was reprimanded for being too strict. Major Benson(Charlton Heston) appears to have been a commander in the recent Korean War, where his strict style is sometimes necessary to get things done with minimal casualties, He's having trouble finding a challenging role in peacetime. Recently, he's been leading war games: teaching milk-drinking boys to become whiskey-drinking soldiers, as he puts it. But , it takes him quite a while to agree that he should lower his standards somewhat for the children.Benson is devastated when the boys unanimously agree that his perfectionism in their football play, which led to a trophy, was not appreciated. At their ages, football should not be so competitive as to seem more like work than enlighten play. The Major softens his approach somewhat. But when he is laid up for a while in a measles quarantine, and one of the boys takes his place as drill sergeant, the boy's approach is exactly like the Major's, for which he was criticized as too demanding.Major Benson seems to have a low opinion of the leadership potential of women, saying that women are 10% brains and 90% emotion. He gradually revises this assessment during his stay. He seems to need the attention of at least one woman, who presently is Dr. Kay, and aggressively pursues a romance with her. They have an up and down stormy relationship, often disagreeing on policies. She's hoping she can smooth out his rough edges before making a long term commitment.

JoeKarlosi A wonderfully charming little comedy written by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher (Leave It To Beaver). During the filming of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, Cecil B. DeMille had a mild heart attack and the production shut down. Charlton Heston decided this comedy would be perfect for him to do in the meantime and tried hard to get the part, even though it was a Universal movie and COMMANDMENTS was being made at Paramount. Heston wanted the film so badly that he agreed to work quickly and for no salary and settle for a share of the profits (which turned out very well for him, as MAJOR BENSON became somewhat of a success).Heston is a tough as nails army major who treats his soldiers roughly and pulls no punches when saying what's on his mind. When he causes the Army embarrassment, his general decides to assign him to ROTC duty for one last chance to get his act together. He is sent to a Catholic Military Academy for boys, where he has a difficult job adjusting to them and dropping his rough exterior when leading them through their training. Heston proves he is able to play comedy and is quite good in the film. Also in the cast is Sal Mineo as one of the older cadets in the school, and Julie Adams (right after she made CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) as a doctor who finds it hard to resist Major Benson. A real scene stealer is 6 year old Tim Hovey, the "Private". *** out of ****

MartinHafer This is a very unusual film for Charlton Heston, as he plays a hard as nails major that is forced to be the commandant of a boys military school. Seeing his gruff and perfectionistic ways meet the reality that these are only children makes this a cute film and HIGHLY reminiscent of Clifton Webb's MR. SCOUTMASTER--another great family film about a grumpy old guy who is eventually tamed by the boys. Sure, this makes the film awfully predictable, but sometimes I am just a sucker for a little bit of sentimentality--provided it is paired with some comedy to keep it from being too schmaltzy--as in the case of this film. Also, like MR. SCOUTMASTER, the real star of the film is a very small and very endearing little boy--played in this film by an adorable Tim Hovey. The bottom line is for all this to work, the film had to be well-written and the writers DID earn an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story. So see this film--and MR. SCOUTMASTER--two excellent family films that are lots of fun regardless of your age.FYI--This film was later remade as MAJOR PAYNE.

acw3 i loved this movie.. hovey was 2 years older than me.. my dad was career-military.. of course, i placed my dad in the role of charlton heston, myself as tim hovey.. any way, after watching it 10 times, it occurred to me that something was missing from the film.. if you're really busy enjoying the movie, it's not so obvious.. if you've seen it a dozen times, it becomes more obvious.. teachers! there's no teachers in this flick! there's barely any discussion of academics, zilch about teachers they feel strongly about, subjects they love/hate.. what do cadets at a military school talk about? apparently 1) being away from home; 1) wearing uniforms; 3) military protocol; 4) upperclassmen; 5) food; 6) cadet duty; the new commandant..they talk very little about 1) studies; 2) teachers; 3) graduation; 4) tests; 5) tutoring; 6) what school they hope to attend next..of course, the story has to involve few people to maintain the tightness of the plot.. still, it would appear realistic to see heston discuss curricula with a teacher, or observe a couple of classes.. a new commandant would do that, wouldn't he?here's the cast representing the school admin.: the commandant; the principal; the school nurse; the janitor.. other nuns appear, but are not identified as teaching or doing anything in particular..im not critcizing the film.. it's great.. music by mancini, produced by the two guys who produced the 'beaver' show soon after..you gotta love it!