Quite a Crew

Rating: 9/10 (17 March 2006)

One of the pleasures of viewing movies made in the 1950's is seeing all the familiar faces. Many of the actors us baby boomers grew up watching on TV got some of their first big chances in the "A" movies of the 50's. Aboard the Caine, (or, at least, in the movies) are: Fred MacMurray of "My Three Sons", (already a star, of course), Warner Anderson and Tom Tully of "The Line-Up" E.G. Marshall of "The Defenders", Lee Marvin of "M Squad", Claude Akins of "Movin' On" and "Sheriff Lobo", Jerry Paris of "The Dick Van Dyke Show", Herbert Anderson of "Dennis the Menace", James Best of "Dukes of Hazard", Robert Bray of "Stagecoach West", as well as frequent TV guest actors such as Whit Bissell, Arthur Franz, Steve Brodie and Don Dubbins. There's also Kenneth McDonald, one of Perry Mason's favorite judges, playing, naturally, a judge. It's the type of movie where every role, no matter how small, is played by someone who makes it memorable.
Of course, the stars shine. This is one of Humphrey Bogart's most famous performances. He covers all the bases, showing Queeg as a reasonable man when not under stress but a fanatical micro-manager when he feels himself losing his grip. MacMurray, for the second of three times in his career, turns his "nice guy" persona inside out. The others are "Double Indemnity" and "The Apartment". (In the first the author was Cain. In the second the ship was the Caine. In the third they raised cain.) Van Johnson, a much underrated actor has the best, (but not the only good) role of his career as the true blue Navy guy who gets swayed by MacMurray into risking his career. The unfortunate Robert Francis, who died in a plane crash the next year, is a rather stiff actor but his earnestness seems to fit his inexperienced character, (even has it totally fails him in the romantic scenes in the pointless subplot). Had he lived he probably would have had a Tab Hunter/Troy Donahue type career. This film would probably have been his peek in any case.
The measure of a great film is if you project yourself into it, having conversations with the characters and wondering what you would say or do. This film sucks you into it about as much as any. What would you have said to Captain Queeg when he called that meeting? (I'd have asked him what he meant by "constructive loyalty".) I'm also impressed by a movie that doesn't give me what I expected. Trial movies are supposed to either be about heroic prosecutors bringing dangerous criminals to justice or about heroic defense attorneys protecting their innocent clients from a miscarriage of justice. Here we have a lawyer who would rather be the prosecutor and a "victory" that is really a tragedy.
By the way, I know of three actors who adopted the names of characters they played, (there may be more). Dawn O'Day changed her name to Anne Shirley when she played Anne Shirley in "Anne of Green Gables" (1934). Byron Barr morphed into Gig Young when he played Gig Young in "The Gay Sisters" (1942) and Donna Lee Hickey became May Wynn for this picture. Thus, "May Wynn" is playing "May Wynn".
One last thought: I wonder if Humphrey Bogart's "Caine" ever passed by Jimmy Cagney's "Reluctant" during its travels.