Main Cast: Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, Trevor Howard, Jack Good, Sharyl Locke
Release Year: 1964
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
Plot
Deliberately casting his established screen image to the four winds, Cary Grant plays Walter Eckland, an unkempt, uncouth and unshaven beach bum in Father Goose. During World War II, Walter keeps busy relaying radio reports of Japanese air activity. But he's no hero, and in fact volunteered for this mission only because he's been promised a shipment of liquor by Australian naval officer Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard). Making matters worse for the misanthropic Eckland is the arrival of French schoolmistress Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) and her seven little-girl charges, whose plane has crashed nearby. The animosity between Walter and Catherine erupts into a slapping contest, with Walter dishing it out as well as taking it. Only when Catherine is bitten by a deadly snake does Walter express his affections for her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Father Goose is a favorite of Cary Grant fans, even though it indicates his limitations as an actor: he rarely stops being his usual charming and sophisticated self to transform into Walter Eckland, drunk and loner. The film, though, is a audience pleaser, thanks significantly to the Oscar-winning screenplay by S.H. Barnett, Peter Stone, and Frank Tarloff, which expertly exploits the humor inherent in the school marm-versus-reprobate plot. What works about the film is the chemistry between Grant and co-star Leslie Caron. The film has a nice, pleasant look, thanks largely to the cinematography of Charles Lang and the work of director Ralph Nelson, who seems to grasp the lack of seriousness of the material. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Pip Sparke - Anne; Verina Greenlaw - Christine; Stephanie Berrington - Elizabeth; Jennifer Berrington - Harriet; Laurelle Felsette - Angelique; Nicole Felsette - Dominique; Alex Finlayson - Doctor; Peter Forster - Chaplain; Richard Lupino - Radioman; John Napier - Submarine Executive; Simon Scott - Submarine Captain; Donald Spruance - Navigator; Ken Swofford - Helmsman
Credit
Henry Bumstead - Art Director, Alexander Golitzen - Art Director, Ray Aghayan - Costume Designer, Tom Shaw - First Assistant Director, Ralph Nelson - Director, Ted Kent - Editor, Cy Coleman - Composer (Music Score), Joseph E. Gershenson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Caroline Leigh - Songwriter, Bud Westmore - Makeup, Charles B. Lang - Cinematographer, Ernest B. Wehmeyer - Production Manager, Robert Arthur - Producer, George Milo - Set Designer, John McCarthy - Set Designer, Waldon O. Watson - Sound/Sound Designer, William Russell - Sound/Sound Designer, S.H. Barnett - Screen Story, Peter Stone - Screenwriter, Frank Tarloff - Screenwriter
During the early days of World War II, South Pacificbeachcomber Walter Eckland (Grant) is coerced by his old friend, Commander Frank Houghton (Howard), into becoming a coast-watcher for the Allies. He is escorted to a deserted island, to watch for Japanese planes passing overhead. As incentive, whisky is hidden in various spots around the island; every time he reports a sighting, once the sighting is confirmed by coast-watchers on other islands, he is rewarded with directions to a bottle. To further ensure he stays put, when Houghton leaves, his naval vessel "accidentally" hits Walter's boat, punching a gaping hole in its hull.
Later, Houghton finds a replacement. The only problem is, Walter has to retrieve him from a nearby island in enemy-infested waters. When Walter goes there in a dinghy, he unexpectedly finds Frenchwoman Catherine Frenau (Caron) and seven young schoolgirls under her care stranded there. She informs him that the man he came for was killed in an air-raid. He reluctantly takes them back with him.
There is no way to evacuate them safely, though Houghton arranges for more supplies to be dropped by parachute. The fastidious Catherine and the slovenly Walter soon get on each other's nerves; they call each other "Miss Goody Two Shoes" and "a rude, foul-mouthed, drunken, filthy beast". But after a while, he adjusts to her and her girls. Catherine is amused to learn that Walter had been a history professor before he ran away to the South Pacific to escape the rigid conformity. The two fall in love and arrange to be married by a minister over the radio.
A strafing Japanese airplane interrupts the ceremony. Since they have been detected, Houghton sends a submarine to pick them up, but an enemy patrol boat shows up at the same time. Walter takes his boat out to lure it out beyond the reef, so it can be torpedoed by the submerged sub. In the process, his boat is blasted out of the water, but he survives and everybody is safely evacuated.
The film won the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, which was written directly for the screen by S. H. Barnett, Peter Stone, and Frank Tarloff, and was also nominated for Best Film Editing and Best Sound. It received a nomination for the 1965 Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy award.
