Pete's Dragon (1977)

Academy Awards, USA 1978

Nominee Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Al Kasha Joel Hirschhorn For the song "Candle on the Water".
	Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score Al Kasha Joel Hirschhorn Irwin Kostal

Buena Vista Distribution
Directed by Don Chaffey
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

Young waif flees his abusive hillbilly family along with his imaginary friend a dragon. He ends up in a quaint seaside town and is befriended by lighthouse keeper Helen Reddy and her alcoholic father Mickey Rooney. No one sees the dragon except the boy and Rooney, who thinks it is just a hallucination due to his alcohol consumption. However, the invisible dragon manages to do quite a bit of damage around town. Showman Jim Dale and his sidekick Red Buttons arrive with their traveling medicine show and set their sights on capturing the dragon to make a quick buck. Mostly live action Disney embarrassment with Rooney particularly awful and Reddy barely tolerable. Animated dragon by Don Bluth is underutilized. 

Grand Hotel (1932)

Academy Awards, USA 1932

Winner Oscar

Best Picture

MGM
Directed by Edmund Goulding
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

John Barrymore is a hotel thief planning to steal the jewels of ballerina Greta Garbo staying in a posh Berlin hotel. He is attracted to stenographer Joan Crawford while milling around the hotel and manages to talk her into a date the next afternoon. She is working for a wealthy industrialist trying to close a business deal. Meanwhile, hotel guest Lionel Barrymore is dying and plans to spend his final days living in luxury. The thief strikes up a friendship with him. That night, he sneaks into the ballerina's room but is discovered. They spend the rest of the night talking, and falling in love. She is suffering from a lack of confidence on the stage, making her susceptible to his compliments. The next day, he shows up for his date with the stenographer but tells her he has fallen in love with someone else in the meantime. She is crestfallen and turns to Lionel Barrymore for consolation. Still needing money for gambling debts, the thief sets his sights on the wealthy industrialist, but is caught in the act and accidentally murdered. Dizzying array of characters is handled adeptly by director Goulding. Tends to be mostly melodramatics, and Garbo really overplays her character, but denouement is quite satisfying. 

El Nido (1980)

Academy Awards, USA 1981

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Spain

Quartet Films
Directed by Jaime de Armiñán
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

Cultured, slightly eccentric, elderly widow Hector Alterio lives a reclusive life. One day while exploring the woods by his home he finds handwritten love notes. He goes on a quest to find the writer which leads him to 13-year-old Ana Torrent acting in a school production of Macbeth. Their friendship gradually leads to professions of love and a blood promise to never part. However, she begins to manipulate him by asking him to perform tasks to prove his love, ultimately going as far as murder. Spanish variation on Lolita has its uncomfortable moments, naturally, and a totally unexpected ending. However, it is never credible and I just wanted to slap Alterio's character back to reality. 

The Official Story (1985)

Academy Awards, USA 1986

Winner Oscar	Best Foreign Language Film Argentina
Nominee Oscar	Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Luis Puenzo Aída Bortnik

Almi Pictures
Directed by Luis Puenzo
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Cohen Media Group)

A high school teacher and her husband, an official in the Argentine government, live a comfortable life with their adopted daughter. The arrival of an old friend who has been in exile awakens her to the tactics being employed on innocent people by the ruling dictatorship. After hearing a story of babies being stolen from women giving birth while in custody, she begins to wonder about the origins of her own daughter. Her research gradually leads her to the truth. Extremely well acted, if talky, story based on real political events of the time. Its indirect, almost timid, approach to the subject matter limits the emotional impact it should have had, but still devastating. The final scene is haunting.

Ferdinand (2017)

Academy Awards, USA 2018

Nominee Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film Carlos Saldanha

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by Carlos Saldanha
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

At a Spanish ranch for bullfighting, a young bull is ridiculed for his non-violent nature and tendency to smell flowers. When his father is called to the ring and never returns, young Ferdinand escapes from the ranch and ends up at a flower growing operation. He is adopted by a young girl who raises him as her pet. Years later, the mature Ferdinand is told to stay home for the annual flower festival. Unable to resist, he goes anyway and causes chaos. He is captured and sent back to the bullfighting ranch. A respected matador shows up to choose a bull for his last fight and Ferdinand inadvertently shows he is the strongest. After a failed escape attempt, he ends up in the ring in Madrid to face the matador. Potential anti-violence message, and more subtle message about gender roles, lost amidst too much silly dancing and modern cultural references. 

Cimarron (1931)

Academy Awards, USA 1931

Winner Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Writing, Adaptation Howard Estabrook
	Best Art Direction Max Rée
Nominee Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Richard Dix
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Irene Dunne
	Best Director Wesley Ruggles
	Best Cinematography Edward Cronjager

RKO Radio Pictures

Directed by Wesley Ruggles

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4

IMDb Wikipedia

(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Restless Richard Dix moves his family from Kansas to Oklahoma hoping to claim real estate in the land rush of 1889. He is outwitted by a prostitute named Dixie Lee, so instead moves to the nearby town of Osage to start a newspaper. His progressive editorials make him popular with the locals, especially when he backs it up by shooting outlaws. However, his pro-Indian stance is not so popular, especially with his wife. Years pass, and Dix becomes restless again. He abandons his family for another land rush and disappears for five years. When he returns, he finds his wife running the newspaper and his children growing up. However, when he defends his old nemesis Dixie Lee in court he alienates them, and the town. He disappears once again and decades pass. His wife becomes the first female member of Congress and his son marries an Indian princess. He returns one more time, an old man, war veteran, and hero, having sacrificed himself to save another man in an accident at a local oil rig. The opening scenes of the epic land rush are still impressive today. However, the film tries to cover too much history, and loses the characters along the way. Irene Dunne's transformation from frontier housewife to newspaper editor and politician is particularly unconvincing. Racist overtones seem out of place today. 

Turbo (2013)

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by David Soren
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

An ordinary garden snail gets sucked into a drag race car where the nitrous oxide gives him super speed. He is captured by the co-owner of a run-down taco restaurant who holds snail races in their strip mall. Turbo wipes out the competition and the restaurant owner decides to drive his taco truck from California to the Indianapolis 500. He manages to raise the entry fee and convince the race organizers to allow a snail to compete. The race comes down to the snail and his hero, a famous French racer who turns out to be a cheater. Story of an underdog snail who wins the Indy 500 may have sounded good on paper, but hindered by a predictable plot and stereotyped characters.

The Broadway Melody (1929)

Academy Awards, USA 1930

Winner Oscar	Best Picture
Nominee Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Bessie Love No official nominees had been announced this year.
	Best Director Harry Beaumont No official nominees had been announced this year.

MGM

Directed by Harry Beaumont

My rating: 2 stars out of 4

IMDb Wikipedia

(DVD, Warner Bros.)

A sister act arrives in New York where the older's boyfriend has a hit song waiting for them and they hope to find stardom on Broadway. His connections get them an audition in a big show, but it is sabotaged by a rival. However, the younger sister's good looks get the attention of the producer and they get hired. After their number is cut during rehearsal, the younger girl's looks save them again. Meanwhile, she is falling in love with her older sister's boyfriend. She takes up with a notorious playboy for distraction, much to the dissatisfaction of her sister and boyfriend, who try to break them up. Eventually the truth comes out, the lovers are reunited and the sister act breaks up. However, after the honeymoon they make up and the younger sister finds a new partner for the act. Entertaining early talkie with well-drawn characters, but emphasizes the romantic melodrama rather than the backstage drama. 

The Rose Tattoo (1955)

Academy Awards, USA 1956

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Anna Magnani Anna Magnani was not present at the awards ceremony. Marisa Pavan accepted on her behalf.
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White James Wong Howe
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Hal Pereira Tambi Larsen Sam Comer Arthur Krams
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Hal B. Wallis
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Marisa Pavan
	Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Edith Head
	Best Film Editing Warren Low
	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Alex North

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Daniel Mann
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Paramount)

Somewhere near New Orleans, an Italian-American women is left a widow when her no-good, truck driving husband is killed in a road accident while smuggling. The shock causes her to lose her baby and become a recluse for several years. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter is graduating from high school and falling in love with a sailor. This causes the woman more stress as she clashes with both of them. After neighbors accuse her long-dead husband of having an affair, she goes on a crusade to discover the truth. She grills a priest in confession but he refuses to tell what he knows so she attacks him. Luckily Burt Lancaster is nearby. A truck driver himself, he tries unsuccessfully to seduce her, even getting a tattoo just like her husband one drunken night. This only infuriates her more, but his persistence eventually pays off. Ridiculous, over-the-top melodrama, with Anna Magnani unconvincing and Lancaster downright embarrassing in his role. This is what bad Tennessee Williams looks like.

The Ninth Circle (1960)

Academy Awards, USA 1961

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Yugoslavia.

Directed by France Štiglic
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia

In Nazi-ridden Zagreb, a man convinces his son to marry a friend of the family to keep her from being sent to the concentration camps like her parents. He reluctantly agrees, but soon finds his lifestyle cramped by being married. When his classmates find out he married a Jewish girl, he is subjected to threats and harassment, particularly by a Nazi collaborator. Meanwhile, he finds himself actually falling in love with the girl. She ends up being discovered by a Nazi who recognizes her and she is sent to a camp anyway. Her husband finds the camp and is determined to get her out. The first part of the film is familiar territory and even tends toward melodrama at times. However, the scenes in the concentration camp are harrowing, and its got an unexpected ending.

My Dearest Senorita (1972)

Academy Awards, USA 1973

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Spain

Directed by Jaime de Armiñán
My rating: BOMB
IMDb Wikipedia

A middle aged woman is living a lonely life in rural Spain. She has a live-in maid but they constantly fight and bicker. She is courted by a banker, but resists his overtures of marriage. Her maid urges her to see a doctor to figure out what is "wrong" with her. The doctor informs her that she is actually a man! She moves to Madrid to start a new life and new identity. He struggles to find work and takes on sewing jobs. One day he runs into his maid who works in a coffee shop. Their friendship turns into romance once he embraces his sexual identity. I don't even know where to begin. It is obvious from the opening shot and photographs that "Adela" is really a man. Her reaction in the doctor's office to being told is priceless, but not in a good way. Her relationship with the maid is just not credible. I suppose this might work as unintentional comedy. I thought it was hilarious. 

The Croods (2013)

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Nominee Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Chris Sanders Kirk DeMicco Kristine Belson

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

A prehistoric family is forced out of their cave when it is destroyed by an earthquake. A friendly boy, much smarter than any of them, warns them of an impending apocalypse and agrees to lead them to safety in a faraway mountain range. Along the way, they have several adventures, overcome many obstacles, and the boy and cave girl fall in love. The father of the family makes a great sacrifice at the end and realizes he must change his thinking if the family is to survive. Standard animated plot is bolstered by imaginative landscape filled with colorful characters (piranhakeets and ground whales, for example). Voice cast is also good, with Nicolas Cage frequently improvising to great effect. 

The Elementary School (1991)

Academy Awards, USA 1992

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Czechoslovakia.

Lucerna Film - Alfa
Directed by Jan Svěrák
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Magic Box)

In post WWII Prague, life for two young boys revolves around their elementary school. The classroom is completely undisciplined, their female teacher driven to insanity by their behavior. The principal hires a military war hero to try to get them under control. His unorthodox methods work, and soon he has complete command of the boys. His macho image also attracts many women, including the boys mother, and gets him into trouble when he seduces to underage twins. They run off his replacement and convince the authorities he is innocent. He returns to seduce them with more war stories. Hailed in its native Czechoslovakia, to American audiences it may seem like an unlikely combination of Raising Arizona and A Christmas Story, the former due its distractedly dizzy camerawork and the former due to its nostalgic, distorted view of childhood. 

Monsieur Lazhar (2011)

Academy Awards, USA 2012

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Canada.

Music Box Films
Directed by Philippe Falardeau
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Music Box Films)

After a school teacher hangs herself in an empty classroom, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace her. While the elementary children deal with their own grief, he is dealing with the recent death of his wife and child back in Algeria and seeking political asylum. He is a natural teacher and has great empathy for the children. However, his style does not always adhere to the strict curriculum and he clashes with the principal. He does start a tentative relationship with one of the other teachers, but he can't open up to her. Back in the classroom, some of the students continue to grapple with their grief. Eventually, some parents find out his background and get him fired, but he has one last day in the classroom which he uses to great effect. Set in a cold, snowy Montreal, this is a very emotional film on many levels. Mohamed Fellag is excellent in the lead, as are several of the students, especially Sophie Nélisse.

Umberto D. (1952)

Academy Awards, USA 1957

Nominee Oscar

Best Writing, Motion Picture Story Cesare Zavattini

Dear Film
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

An elderly retiree in Rome struggles to make ends meet on his pension. He lives in a rented room with a horrid landlady who demands he immediately pay off his debts or get evicted. He tries to raise the money in pawn shops, borrowing from friends, and finally by begging on the streets. Still short, he feigns serious illness and gets admitted to a hospital for a few days. After release, he finds his room being torn apart and remodeled. Back on the streets, he begins to contemplate suicide but first must find a home for his little pet dog. However, the tables are turned and it is the dog who ultimately saves him. Simple and obvious story lacks the dramatic inertia of say Bicycle Thieves, which De Sica had made only 5 years earlier, but is still an important film in Italian neorealism.

The Policeman (1971)

Academy Awards, USA 1972

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Israel.

Cinema 5 Distributing
Directed by Ephraim Kishon
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Sisu Home Entertainment)

A middle aged police officer in Tel Aviv is approaching retirement. Never promoted, he is mostly ineffectual on his job and is now being considered to let go. However, he does occasionally prove to be useful, with his knowledge of multiple languages defusing potentially violent situations. He befriends a prostitute during a raid, then falls in love with her, but can't bring himself to divorce his wife. When he befriends the leader of a criminal ring, they decide to try to help save his retirement by arranging for him to catch them in the act of stealing from a church. He is finally promoted, but then forced into retirement. Episodic, and dated, film carried almost entirely by the performance of Shaike Ophir. 

The Missing Picture (2013)

Academy Awards, USA 2014

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Cambodia

Les Acacias (France)
Directed by Rithy Panh
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Strand Releasing)

The director recalls his childhood in Cambodia when it was taken over by the brutal Khmer Rouge communists. His family, and most of the rest of the population of Phnom Penh, were evacuated and sent to "re-education camps" which were essentially forced labor camps. In the name of communism, he was sent to the rice fields each day and lived in squalor. His parents, and millions of others, died. The story is told by a combination of newsreel and propaganda footage along with carved figures. Unfortunately, I found the latter distracting, since they were simply static figures set in various detailed dioramas. 

Kapo (1960)

Academy Awards, USA 1961

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Italy.

Cineriz
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Janus Films)

Young Susan Strasberg and her parents are rounded up by Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. In a harrowing scene, she watches her parents being sent to the gas chambers. Stunned, she wanders the camp and manages to find a sympathetic doctor who givers her a new identity, and chance of survival. She survives for awhile in the awful conditions until hunger drives her to giver herself to the Nazi commanders. Soon she becomes a kapo, trusted to guard her fellow prisoners. She learns all of the tricks and has plenty of food and the best hope of survival. However, she falls in love with another POW and aids in his escape plans. It does not go well. Strasberg's fast and unconvincing transformation from naive teenager to brutal prison guard is the only spoiler in this otherwise excellent film depicting the nightmare inside the concentration camps.

Himalaya (1999)

Academy Awards, USA 2000

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Nepal.

Kino International
Directed by Éric Valli
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Kino)

Villagers in Nepal make an annual trek across the mountains with their herd of yaks to gather the salt they use to trade for grain. One such caravan has returned with their leader dead after taking a dangerous shortcut. In the ensuing power struggle, the leader's father, a village elder, insists on leading the next caravan until his young grandson can be trained. Meanwhile, a rival insists that he will lead the next caravan. The younger man ignores tradition and leaves days earlier than the elder, who waits for the right day according to the stars and other superstitions. Still, his experience allows him to catch up to the other caravan deep in the mountains. When he predicts a snow storm on a clear day, no one believes him, but when he sets out early to beat it his caravan gets trapped, requiring the younger man to rescue him. Set among the spectacular landscapes of Nepal, what should have been a gripping story turns out to be rather routine, even predictable. The slick production by an all-French crew never manages to capture the grit and grime of life in remote Nepal. 

Wartime Romance (1983)

Academy Awards, USA 1985

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Soviet Union.

Directed by Pyotr Todorovskiy
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, CP Digital)

A Russian soldier in the trenches of WWII falls in love with a nurse who is having an affair with his commanding officer. They exchange glances, a few words, a flower... then he disappears into battle. Many years later, he is married and living in a large city, a student and part time projectionist. He sees the girl on a street corner selling snacks. She does not recognize him. He visits her over and over, finally manages to convince her to go out with him. They start what appears to be a platonic relationship. Her rough exterior is gradually won over by his patience. His wife, meanwhile, discovers their relationship but seems uninterested in stopping it. She even throws them an awkward party. While trying to get her financial help, he inadvertently sets her up with a high ranking Communist official. They start a relationship, leaving him to reconcile with his wife. Odd little melodrama showing the illusion of love between two hopelessly incompatible people.

Divided We Fall (2000)

Academy Awards, USA 2001

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Czech Republic.

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Jan Hřebejk
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Columbia TriStar)

A Czech couple take in a Jewish boy who has escaped from a concentration camp. They hide him in a room behind their pantry, where he spends his days and nights. They get frequent, unexpected visits from a Nazi collaborator and old friend of the wife. He is in love with her and manipulates the couple with insinuations and suspicion. The husband, recuperating from an injury, takes a job with the Nazis while the wife, alone at home, is forced on a lunch date in the country which nearly turns into rape. Later, the collaborator insists they take in an ailing Nazi, sure that the boy they are hiding will be discovered in the process. However, she claims to be pregnant despite the fact that her husband is infertile. Fearing discovery of their situation, the husband insists she get pregnant as soon as possible via the boy they are hiding. It works and they escape with their lives. As the war ends the Czechs arrest all Nazis and their collaborators, meaning their old antagonist ends up in jail. When his wife goes into labor, the husband is desperate to find a doctor, and again thinks fast to save himself and his family. Overplotted melodrama  high on symbolism but low on subtlety.

Balto (1995)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Simon Wells
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)

Balto is a part wolf dog living in remote Alaska. Shunned by most other dogs and humans, he befriends a red husky who is owned by little girl in town. When she gets sick with diphtheria, a sled team is arranged to retrieve the necessary medicine half way across Alaska in the middle of winter. Balto is shunned again for being part wolf, and instead the sled team is led by a selfish bully who only wants the fame. The team gets lost in the wilderness and Balto sets out to find and rescue them. He has to use his wolf instincts to overcome many obstacles, including a fight with a bear. Beautifully animated film from Simon Wells and Universal Animation, with the scenic landscape bursting with hues. The story is straightforward but engaging, though the live-action wraparound segments were probably unnecessary. 

Shark Tale (2004)

Academy Awards, USA 2005

Nominee Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Bill Damaschke

DreamWorks Pictures
Directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, DreamWorks)

Will Smith is the voice of a lowly fish working as a "whale washer" in a lively underwater city. He gets in deep debt to a pufferfish (voiced appropriately by Martin Scorsese) who is connected to a mob of great white sharks headed by none other than Robert De Niro. Smith claims to have killed one of the sharks who terrorizes the city and becomes a hero. The lie spirals out of control and Smith is forced to stop the sharks who come looking for him. He manages to befriend them by appealing to their love of family. Fast paced supposed kid movie is really a satire of The Godfather and too many other 70s pop culture reference to count. Despite Smith's usual antics, I was entranced by the whole thing, with a vivid underwater world, a vibrant soundtrack, and quirky characters. My favorite? Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug as a pair of Jamaican electric jellyfish. More fun than Finding Nemo (released the same year, with a similar concept) could ever hope to be.

Beaufort (2007)

Academy Awards, USA 2008

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Israel.

United King Films
Directed by Joseph Cedar
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Trinity Production)

Israeli soldiers defend a remote castle high atop a mountain in the waning days of the war in southern Lebanon. They are unable to leave until an explosive device is cleared from the only road down. A specialist is called in to disarm it, but he is killed. They end up clearing the road with bulldozers, leading the soldiers to question why it wasn't done that way in the first place. Under constant bombardment from Lebanese missiles, more tragic deaths occur before they are finally given clearance to abandon and destroy it. Well drawn characters populate this tense drama. In particular, the young commander is complex, struggling to reconcile his responsibilities with his own fears of death. Moody soundtrack and location shooting contribute plenty of atmosphere. 

Mister Roberts (1955)

Academy Awards, USA 1956

Winner Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Jack Lemmon
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Leland Hayward
	Best Sound, Recording William A. Mueller (Warner Bros.)

Warner Bros.
Directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Henry Fonda is a dissatisfied officer on a cargo ship in the Pacific during the last days of WWII. He desperately wants to be reassigned to combat, but his commanding officer, James Cagney, refuses to recommend him. Instead, they bicker and fight, often in front of the crew. Speaking of the crew, they have been at sea so long that they resort to spying on naked nurses on a nearby island. Jack Lemmon is another officer who spends so much time in his bunk that Cagney doesn't recognize him. Lemmon is also a self-proclaimed lady killer who wastes no time in trying to seduce the nurses, even enticing them on board. Eventually, Fonda gets the crew some much needed liberty, but has to strike a deal with Cagney. The crew spends their time getting wasted and causing chaos, getting them banned from the port. Cagney and Fonda argue in front of an open mike, revealing the deal they made to the crew. Fonda becomes a hero and they  manage to get him promoted to the combat position he always wanted. There is an ironic, tragic ending. This popular film has not aged well. It is full of cringe worthy sexist remarks and a misogynistic tone. Fonda is miscast and Cagney is abrasive. Worst of all is Lemmon, who is unbearable as the clownish ensign.