Humphrey Bogart takes on ... Richard Nixon

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2009)

"The Caine Mutiny" always has held a special place in my heart. It is not for everybody, being more a character study than anything else, but if you give it a chance, you may fall in love with it, too.
Humphrey Bogart reportedly read the novel (which I recommend as well) and then campaigned for the part of Captain Queeg. Since he was at the peak of his influence by then, he got the part and was surrounded by an all-star cast led by top director Edward Dmytryk. It's hard to find a single bad performance in the picture, though some will fault newcomer Robert Francis, playing pivotal Ensign Keith, as being wooden. That may be true, but his acting naiveté in my opinion fits the character rather well.
Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, two of the top leading men of the day, are awesome in their roles supporting Bogart. If that wasn't enough, Lee Marvin, Jose Ferrer, E.G. Marshall, Arthur Franz and Claude Akins, any one of whom could carry a film on his own, were hanging around to give some flavor. There aren't many women shown, but May Wynn is vivacious as Keith's troubled girlfriend.
Bogart, who was nominated, is mesmerizing as Captain Queeg. Invariably, Hollywood historical dramas have a very contemporary focus. There are subtle clues throughout that the screenwriters had a very specific person on their minds while working: Richard Nixon. Nixon was very much in the news of the day, completing his meteoric rise to the Vice Presidency under Eisenhower. His World War II naval career was eerily similar to Queeg's, commanding backwater cargo handling units. His famous sloganeering resonates with Queeg's ("I kid you not"), and his eccentric mannerisms such as the famous two-handed "V" sign echo Queeg's handling of ball-bearings when nervous. The real tie-in, though, is Queeg's board-room meeting when he asks the officers for their help rather than their enmity because he really is a normal guy with a wife and a dog. Afterwards, MacMurray's character cynically notes that this was a pathetic attempt at winning sympathy "because even my dog likes me." If this isn't a direct reference to Nixon's famous 1952 "Checkers" speech, then it is some kind of cosmic coincidence. At the end, the Ferrer character gives the other side of the story when he notes that it would have been only human to accept such a humble plea for help - which is exactly how the public responded to Nixon's speech.
The ending of the movie is classic, though it implies certain things about what actually resulted from the trial that the book makes clear were not quite so clear-cut. But the film stands on its own, and Keith's fate after the trial - which does, by the way, match the book - is about as perfect an ending as you will ever see.
Fantastic performance by Bogart, MacMurray, Ferrer and Van Johnson. Read the book if you get the chance. But be sure to take a cruise on the U.S.S. Caine, you'll be glad you did.