In defense of Captain Queeg............

Rating: Null/10 (23 August 2011)

While many despise Captain Queeg as an egocentric crackpot, the more you learn about the man himself, the more you might see things his way. After all, the Caine was a disgrace of a ship, the sailors were a bunch of slobs, and so was their previous captain. Any incoming CO would have been horrified at the ship he inherited.
Of course, Queeg cracks up during the trial, as we all knew he would, but it's not until Jose Ferrar's post trial speech to the men does Queeg become a sympathetic character. He explains that while others on the ship were writing books or scoring touchdowns in college, poor old Queeg was in the front lines of Naval warfare during WWII for over six years. If he seemed a little crazy, it's because maybe he had a right to be. Plus, when he recognized his mental problems after a while, and reached out to his officers for help, they wouldn't lift a finger for the poor guy. Very sad.
Anyway, I saw this movie about ten times, and it wasn't until I watched it last night that I learned that the new Captain of the Caine at the end of the flick, was, in fact, the OLD Captain! And all these years I thought it was Van Johnson- they do sort of look alike, don't they?
Anyway, in case anyone's wondering whatever happened to Willis Kieth, (actor Robert Francis)," after he made this movie, he was killed in a plane crash shortly after film was made.....