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You're In The Navy Now

Due to a late night, a late start this morning, and a yard-work-canceling afternoon thunderstorm, today was a day spent indoors enjoying a movie marathon. We finished the last one a few minutes ago. It was You're In The Navy Now from 1951. As a rule, I don't care for old movies. There are a few exceptions. I can watch Casablanca, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Wizard of Oz, and a handful of others without wincing at technical shortcomings. This one has technical shortcomings. Strike one. It stars Gary Cooper as an inexperienced commander of a misfit crew. OK, that's been done many times. Strike two. The misfits, though. That was a surprise. The opening credits didn't reveal any of them. There's a young and uncredited Lee Marvin, a young and uncredited Charles Bronson, and a young and uncredited Jack Warden. It gets points from me for that. Nothing here you haven't seen before but I suppose it was better than a poke in the eye.

This story in USA Today caught my eye for this paragraph:

"He's unbelievable — he just keeps on going," said Ryan Nerz, who works for Major League Eating, which he describes as "a world governing board for all stomach-centric sports."

Major League Eating? Someone actually named a company that and is somehow making a living at it. Boggles the mind.

96 days until football season ...

Quote of the Day
Years from now when they talk about post-traumatic stress, New Orleans after Katrina will be the poster child.
Dr. Frank Minyard, New Orleans coroner

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "is it crazy to try to compete with the NFL ? I don't think so. Here is why:"

Posted by Rob on June 2, 2007 11:44 PM |

What others are saying

I see from that image that Jane Greer was in the movie, too. She was in one of the all-time great films noir, too: "Out of the Past," with Robert Mitchum.

Interesting point about older movies. The filmmakers had fewer tools at their disposal. The better ones did breathtaking stuff with the gear they had (at the time, of course, they were on the cutting edge), and it's thrilling to see some of the stuff they came up with in terms of composition and lighting and getting the camera to move. Not sure special effects are among the technical shortcomings you're talking about, but to me, older movies tended to make up for that with scripts and acting.

Posted by: Dan | June 3, 2007 12:17 PM

Yes, she was in it but only barely. She did, however, have some of the most suggestive, sexiest dialog I ever heard in an older movie. Blew Gary Cooper right out of the scene. The technical shortcomings that bother me the most are their mostly primitive attempts at blue screen filming. If the movie is less than great, it distracts me. If it's great, like Casablanca, I let it pass. The blue screen filming that depicted Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Paris was allowed to pass in this manner but the PC1168 ship in You're In The Navy Now that was speeding towards bridges and other ships was a distraction.

Posted by: Rob | June 3, 2007 12:26 PM