Operation Petticoat
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Operation Petticoat
Plot
Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) visits the submarine Sea Tiger on the morning of its decommissioning and reminisces about his time as the first commander of the boat, in 1941. Three days after Pearl Harbor, the sub is damaged during an enemy air raid in the Philippines; rather than abandoning her, Sherman and his chiefs refloat the boat. He's forced to accept the services of Lt. (jg) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), who has no sea experience. Sherman appoints Holden -- a born conniver, deal-maker, and scrounger (his motto: "In confusion, there is profit") -- as supply officer, and through a series of burglaries and petty thefts he gets the Sea Tiger seaworthy again. Up to this point, the movie is an increasingly amusing service comedy, akin to the lighter moments of Mr. Roberts, running on Grant's wry exasperation and Curtis's cool arrogance, coupled with Arthur O'Connell's periodic sardonic yet optimistic jabs at their situation and Gavin MacLeod's fidgety nervousness. The Sea Tiger puts to sea ahead of the Japanese with a quintet of stranded army nurses aboard. The film shifts to a new level of humor as the officers and crew try to cope with living in close quarters with five attractive women in their midst. Grant gives a very witty performance as a man who is both exasperated by the situation he is in, having to adjust his masculinity to keep it from clashing with the feminine sensibilities of his guests, and also trying to control the mating urges of his men, starting with Holden, who can't stay away from Lt. Duran (Dina Merrill). Complicating matters more is Grant's awareness that the Sea Tiger is a "virgin" -- she has never engaged the enemy, but when they finally do, the accident-prone Lt. Crandall (Joan O'Brien) causes their torpedo to miss a tanker and sink a truck (probably the funniest sight gag in the movie). The boat also gets an accidental coat of pink paint when their supply of red and white runs low, and ends up carrying several Filipino families -- including two pregnant women. Since neither the Japanese nor the Americans officially has a pink submarine, the Sea Tiger ends uphunted by both sides and come under attack by an American destroyer. That's where the women's presence becomes a godsend. The movie ends 18 years later, with Holden a serious career navy man and responsible father, married to Duran, and Grant married to Crandall, who is as accident prone as ever. ~ Bruce Eder, RoviReview
In order to properly appreciate Blake Edwards' Operation Petticoat, or understand why it has endured in popularity for more than 40 years, one must first accept that it's a much more complicated movie than it seems. For starters, though it is set in December of 1941 and January of 1942, its plot and sensibilities are really much more reflective of postwar America; and it's also two very different kinds of comedy within one movie, each overlaying the other and working in tandem during the last 70 minutes of its two-hour running time. The first half of Operation Petticoat is an amusing service comedy that builds slowly and subtly in its intensity, playing off of Cary Grant's wry persona and his character's exasperation (really a very slow burn) over the situation in which he finds himself, stuck with a damaged submarine in the middle of a war that broke out only days earlier; and the Tony Curtis character's mix of foppish ne'er-do-well and knowing conniver/scrounger. That half of the movie is something seen before, albeit not done in quite as relaxed a manner, in the comical elements of John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy's Mister Roberts (1954) and Richard Quine's Operation Mad Ball (1957). Then, in the second half of the movie, the stranded army nurses come aboard the submarine Sea Tiger, and suddenly, in the wink of an eye, Operation Petticoat switches gears as director, script, and cast all open the throttle at once -- all of its cylinders start firing, and the movie blossoms into a much more complex and daring piece of entertainment and humor, concerning the close-quarter mingling of the sexes. This being a 1959 movie, it was impossible for Russell Harlan's camera not to linger on the voluptuous physiques of Dina Merrill, Joan O'Brien et al -- audiences expected it and, indeed, the studio making the movie would have demanded it; but those shots, and the dialogue and plot developments that go with them, linger more than they leer, and come with a fairly sophisticated purpose. The whole second half of Operation Petticoat is a sly look at late 1950's concepts of male and female sexuality, reveling in them on the one hand and cheerfully satirizing them on the other. Faced with sharing very tight quarters with a group of nubile women, Grant's and Curtis's characters (and, to a lesser degree, Arthur O'Connell's engine room chief and Dick Sargent's junior officer, and the rest of the crew) must grope -- and this reviewer uses that term in the least sexual manner possible -- around the recesses of their own masculinity and its motivations, to come to terms with their new living situation. In many ways, the movie brushes up against the same material targeted by Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (also starring Curtis), with Joan O'Brien furnishing the iconic female form (and cute, if less distinctive, personality) that Marilyn Monroe provided in the Wilder movie. The movie has a good time tweaking the more frivolous sides of femininity as it was understood in 1959; it also targets several aspects of male sexuality of the period, most importantly the misogynist mentalities of older men embodied by Grant's and O'Connell's characters, and their distrust of women, as well as the "Playboy magazine"-style hedonism embodied by Curtis's character -- it even manages to work in a gentle dig at the go-getter, success-at-any-price ideas that afflicted America in the 1950's. In the end, the Sea Tiger's loopy, halting ride across the Pacific becomes a much smoother, more subtle, and enjoyable ride for the viewer, who can absorb Operation Petticoat at its most superficial, or find amusement at deeper and more serious levels. ~ Bruce Eder, RoviCast
- Cary Grant - Adm. Matt Sherman
- Tony Curtis - Lt. Nick Holden
- Joan O'Brien - Lt. Dolores Crandall
- Dina Merrill - Lt. Barbara Duran
- Gene Evans - Molumphrey
Credit
Alexander Golitzen - Art Director, Robert Emmet Smith - Art Director, Bill Thomas - Costume Designer, Frank Shaw - First Assistant Director, Blake Edwards - Director, Frank Gross - Editor, Ted Kent - Editor, Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), David Rose - Composer (Music Score), Bud Westmore - Makeup, Russell Harlan - Cinematographer, Clifford Stine - Cinematographer, Robert Arthur - Producer, Oliver Emert - Set Designer, Russell A. Gausman - Set Designer, Leslie I. Carey - Sound/Sound Designer, Joseph J. Stone - Screen Story, Paul King - Screen Story, Maurice Richlin - Screenwriter, Stanley Shapiro - Screenwriter| Operation Pacific (1951 Film), Operation Orient (Film) | |
| Operation Petticoat (1977 Film), Operation Reunion (2003 Film) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Operation Petticoat
| Operation Petticoat | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Produced by | Robert Arthur |
| Written by | Paul King Joseph J. Stone Stanley J. Shapiro Maurice Richlin |
| Starring | Cary Grant Tony Curtis Dina Merrill |
| Music by | David Rose Henry Mancini (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Russell Harlan |
| Editing by | Frank Gross Ted J. Kent |
| Studio | Granart Company |
| Distributed by | Universal International |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Operation Petticoat is a 1959 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. It was the basis for a television series in 1977 starring John Astin in Grant's role. The film tells in flashback form the misadventures of a fictional American submarine, the USS Sea Tiger, during the opening days of World War II.
Other members of the cast include several actors who went on to become television stars in the 1960s and 1970s: Gavin MacLeod of The Love Boat and McHale's Navy, Marion Ross of Happy Days, and Dick Sargent of Bewitched.
Paul King, Joseph Stone, Stanley Shapiro, and Maurice Richlin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing.
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Contents
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Plot
United States Navy Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant), ComSubPac in 1959, boards the pre- World War II-era American submarine USS Sea Tiger prior to its departure for the scrapyard. The first commanding officer of Sea Tiger, Sherman sits in his former stateroom and begins reading his personal logbook, starting a flashback.
A Japanese air raid sinks Sea Tiger while it she docked at the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines on 10 December 1941. Lieutenant Commander Sherman and his crew begin repairs, hoping to sail for Darwin, Australia before the Japanese overrun the port. Lieutenant (junior grade) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis) is reassigned to Sea Tiger despite lacking any submarine training or experience. He and Sherman clash over Holden's attitude toward the Navy; Holden became a naval officer not out of patriotism but to escape poverty and find a wealthy spouse, and is engaged to such a woman. Holden demonstrates great skill as a scavenger and con artist to obtain materials for repairs, however, and becomes the ship's supply officer.
The unpainted Sea Tiger—its backfiring #1 engine still producing black smoke—reaches Marinduque, where Sherman reluctantly agrees to evacuate five female Army nurses stranded there. Holden is attracted to Second Lieutenant Duran (Dina Merrill), while Sherman has a series of embarrassing encounters with the well-endowed but clumsy Second Lieutenant Crandall (Joan O'Brien). When Sherman prepares to attack an enemy oiler, Crandall accidentally launches the torpedo prematurely, blowing up a truck on the beach.
Sherman tries to leave the nurses at Cebu but the Army refuses to accept them, as it is preparing for guerrilla warfare to oppose the coming Japanese occupation. When Sherman is unable to obtain needed supplies officially, he allows Holden to set up a casino to get them. The crew does not have enough red lead or white lead primer paint to coat the entire submarine in a single color, so the two have to be mixed together, resulting in a bright pink. The plan is to apply a second, gray coat after a New Year's Eve celebration, but a Japanese aerial attack forces a hasty departure.
Tokyo Rose mocks the mystery pink submarine in the Celebes Sea, while the Navy believes the submarine's color is a Japanese trick and orders that it be sunk on sight. An American destroyer fires depth charges at Sea Tiger, but Sherman shoots the nurses' underwear out a torpedo tube. The destroyer's crew finds Crandall's bra (on Holden's suggestion) and takes it to the captain, who concludes that it cannot be Japanese and stops the attack.
The arrival of Commander Holden, his wife (Duran), and their sons in present day-1959 interrupts Sherman's reminiscences. As current commanding officer of Sea Tiger, Holden asks if there are any "last minute reprieves" to save her from the scrapyard. Reluctantly, the admiral replies no, but at the same time promises Holden command of a new nuclear-powered submarine, also to be named Sea Tiger. Sherman's wife (Crandall) arrives late and rear-ends her husband's staff car, bumping it into the rear bumper of a Navy bus, which then drives away, dragging the admiral's staff car in tow and the admiral's driver chasing after it. As Holden takes Sea Tiger out of the port for scrapping, her #1 engine again backfires and emits black smoke one last time.
Cast
- Cary Grant as Lieutenant Commander (later Rear Admiral) Matthew T. "Matt" Sherman, USN
- Tony Curtis as Lieutenant JG (later Commander USN) Nicholas "Nick" Holden, USNR
- Joan O'Brien as Second Lieutenant Dolores Crandall, NC, USA
- Dina Merrill as Second Lieutenant Barbara Duran, NC, USA
- Gene Evans as Chief Petty Officer Molumphry
- Dick Sargent as ENS Stovall, USN (listed as Richard Sargent)
- Arthur O'Connell as Chief Machinist's Mate Sam Tostin
- Virginia Gregg as Major Edna Heywood NC, USA, the nurses' commander
- Robert F. Simon as Captain J.B. Henderson, USN
- Robert Gist as Lieutenant Watson, USN
- Gavin MacLeod as Seaman Ernest Hunkle, USN
- George Dunn as The Prophet (of Doom)
- Dick Crockett as Petty Officer Harmon
- Madlyn Rhue as Second Lieutenant Reid, NC, USA
- Marion Ross as Second Lieutenant Colfax, NC, USA
- Clarence Lung as Sergeant Ramon Gillardo, USMC (as Clarence E. Lung)
- Frankie Darro as Pharmacist Mate 3rd Class Dooley
- Tony Pastor Jr. as Fox
- Robert F. Hoy as Reiner
- Nicky Blair as Seaman Kraus
- John W. Morley as Williams
- Ray Austin as Seaman Austin
Production
Curtis took credit for the film's inception. He had joined the Navy during World War II with the intent of entering the submarine service, in part because Grant, his hero, appeared in Destination Tokyo (1943). After he became a star, Curtis suggested making a film in which Grant would stare into a periscope as he did in Tokyo, and very much enjoyed working with him.[1]
The film was produced with extensive support of the Department of Defense and the Navy. Most of the filming was done in and around Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, which substituted for the Philippines, and Naval Station San Diego, California.
USS Sea Tiger was portrayed by three different American World War II-era submarines:
- USS Queenfish, in the opening and closing scenes (circa 1959), in which the "393" on the conning tower is visible,
- USS Archerfish, for all the World War II scenes where the boat was painted the standard gray and black,
- USS Balao, for all the scenes in which Sea Tiger was painted pink.
Historical basis
Some of the plot points of the movie were based on real-life incidents, such as the sinking of the submarine USS Sealion at the pier at Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines, Commander Sherman's letter to the supply department on the inexplicable lack of toilet paper (based on an actual letter to the supply department of Mare Island Naval Shipyard by Lieutenant Commander James Wiggin Coe of the submarine USS Skipjack), and the need to paint a submarine pink due to the lack of enough red or white lead undercoat paint. The heat from the burning Sealion also scorched off the black paint of the nearby USS Seadragon and for a time this boat fought with only her red lead undercoat visible. This led Tokyo Rose to disparage American "red pirate submarines."[2]
Box office performance
This film was a huge box office hit, making it the #3 moneymaker of 1960, earning $6,800,000.[3]
1977 television series
The movie was adapted as an ABC-TV series which ran from September 17, 1977 to August 10, 1979.[4] Initially starring John Astin in Grant's role of Lieutenant Commander Sherman, the TV series was probably most notable for the casting of Tony Curtis' daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis as Lieutenant Duran. Most of the cast was replaced for the show's second season, a decision that led to low ratings and cancellation.[citation needed] Only 32 episodes of the series (22 in season 1, 10 in season 2) were produced in total.[1]
References
- ^ Private Screenings: Tony Curtis. Turner Classic Movies, 19 Jan 1999.
- ^ United States Submarine Operations in World War II, p. 71
- ^ Steinberg, Cobbett (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File, Inc.. p. 23. ISBN 0-87196-313-2. When a film is released late in a calendar year (October to December), its income is reported in the following year's compendium, unless the film made a particularly fast impact (p. 17). The #1 film of 1960 was Ben-Hur ($17,300,000), and the #2 film was Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho ($8,500,000).
- ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (Oct. 1995) [1979]. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present (Sixth ed.). New York: Ballantine Books, a Division of Random House, Inc.. p. 780. ISBN 0-345-39736-3.
External links
- Operation Petticoat at the Internet Movie Database
- Operation Petticoat at AllRovi
- Operation Petticoat at the TCM Movie Database
- Historic reviews, photo gallery at CaryGrant.net
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Mentioned in
Operation Petticoat
(1977 Comedy Film)
Stanley Shapiro
(Writer, Comedy/Romance)
Jo Ann Pflug
(Actor, Crime/Mystery)
David J. O'Connell
(Actor, Comedy/Western)
Tony Pastor Jr.
(Vocal Music Artist, '60s-2000s)
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