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16 reviews in total

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15 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
"The Navy Gets The Gravy, But The Army Gets The Beans.", 2 August 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

For their new comedy team of Martin and Lewis Paramount acquired the rights to a short run play on Broadway entitled At War With The Army and adapted it for Dean and Jerry. Although they don't have all that much together time on screen, Dean and Jerry do have their moments individually and together.

At War With the Army was their first starring feature and while the vehicle seems stage bound in its first half, the second half more than makes up for it. Especially with Jerry Lewis on the obstacle course being 'helped' by Sergeant Mike Kellin.

Kellin, who was in the original Broadway cast, really competes with Lewis for the laughs in this film. His characterization as a brain dead drill sergeant is really good.

Dino gets to sing Tona Wanda Hoy in this film and while it sold a few platters he never got a real big hit out of a Martin and Lewis film until That's Amore in The Caddy.

At War With the Army bears some resemblance to the Abbott and Costello films Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives where Bud and Lou play separate roles and aren't really a team. Dean and Jerry do that here, but there's enough team work so their fans wouldn't be disappointed.

The film was directed by Hal Walker who did a few of their early films and who had good training as he did a Road picture or two with Paramount. They also did a takeoff of Going My Way with Jerry nailing Barry Fitzgerald down. Then again everyone said Dino sang like Bing anyway.

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11 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Martin and Lewis become movie stars, 23 June 2004
Author: Gary Imhoff (gary@dcwatch.com) from Washington, DC

A decade earlier, Abbott and Costello became movie stars with a pair of World War II military films, "Buck Privates" and "In the Navy." Here Martin and Lewis march in their bootsteps during the Korean War. The plotted and scripted comedy framework for this film may not be anything special, but the Martin and Lewis set pieces remain great. With hindsight, you can see the grounds for the pair's breakup this early in their career. Martin is charming when he's allowed to sing or do a solo bit, but his character is an unsympathetic bully to Lewis' hapless fumbler -- Bud Abbott at his most brutal to poor Costello.

The glimpses of bits of their stage and radio act, however, are funny -- their byplay before a band; their imitation of Bing Crosby (Martin, of course) and Barry Fitzgerald (Lewis)in "Going My Way"; Lewis in blonde drag (with a hairy chest showing over the v-neck of his dress) singing a husky-voiced torch song to Mike Kellin, and Martin's underplayed double-take and mumbled, "No, couldn't be," as he passes by them.

One special highlight is Polly Bergen in an early brief part as Martin's girlfriend. (The movie's credits read "introducing Polly Bergen," but IMDb lists two previous roles for her, one just a voice part.) This is Bergen before she had an absolutely perfect face with an absolutely perfect nose, but still, as Martin sings "You and Your Beautiful Eyes" to her, she is given a lengthy, star-making closeup in which she smiles and becomes luminous, and her future career is assured.

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14 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
The Film That Established Dean Martin And Jerry Lewis As A Top Comedy Duo, 25 October 2002
Author: soranno from Las Vegas, Nevada

After stealing the shows with their supporting roles in "My Friend Irma" and its sequel "My Friend Irma Goes West" Paramount decided to build an entire film around their popular contract player comedy duo, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. This 1950 release was a huge hit that would inspire numerous other successful teamings before they split up in 1956. Placing the two of them on an army base and getting them involved in all sorts of crazy situations on and off the front lines adds up to some sheer hilarity and one of their best teamings.

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15 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Martin & Lewis Take on Uncle Sam, 7 May 2004

Author: RobboWaggs

1st Off, Great Movie. I was in the Army, and I can tell you the orderly room sequences were very realistic, much more like the Army I was in than lets say From Here to Eternity. The First Sgt, the Company Commander, The Supply Sgt, The Platoon Sgt and the Privates were just too hilarious & realistic to believe. Along with the great Musical & Comedy skits by Dean & Jerry I rate this movie much higher than some of their later ones, ie, "The Caddy" & "Thats My Boy".

But all in all I recommend the viewer to watch this movie in its entirety and if the viewer happens to have served in the military before, I guarantee this will ring the remember bell of the funny & not so funny times of their military service. Along with films like "Stripes" this one is a keeper. Check it out.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Beans! Beans! Beans!, 18 September 2005

Author: Spuzzlightyear from Vancouver

When one views a Martin and Lewis film, one wasn't expect much I guess. You have Lewis's patented clowning around, and Martin's singing straight man. At War with the Army is the first movie I've seen of theirs as a team (I've seen other films with them as stars separately). It's somewhat interesting to watch them as a team. They play off each other quite well, even though the material here is quite treacly and quite hammy. You can probably predict that they're Army soldiers going into one hi-jinx after another in the barracks. This is taken from a stage play, not too sure if Martin and Lewis starred in the actual play, ( my guess is that they did). Not exactly Tony material.

One thing that did surprise me though, is what a showman Jerry Lewis is. His singing and dancing along with his comic timing is quite impeccable here, a sure sign of things to come.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
"He used to be a soda jerk, he just ran out of soda.", 2 August 2006

Author: classicsoncall from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It was a long time after I'd watched Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in individual vehicles that I learned about their early career team up. Both are so widely disparate in temperament and personality that the combination seems implausible. Even here, their brand of humor doesn't suggest camaraderie, as Sgt. Puccinelli (Martin) takes special delight in lording over the hapless Private Korwin (Lewis).

I was surprised to see in the early credits that the film introduces Polly Bergen. She shares about equal screen time with the picture's other female complements, Jean Ruth and Angela Greene. The impression that stands out of course is that long close up during a duet between Bergen and Martin that endorses her future celebrity. It had the aura of a shampoo and toothpaste commercial rolled into one; you almost expect one of those magical twinkles to flash in her eyes.

I guess you WOULD have to go back to 1950 to enjoy a five cent soda from a vending machine; I'm always happy to see those reminders of a simpler time.

Say, just how drunk would you have to be to come on to a guy in drag with a hairy chest wearing a dress? Mike Kellin portrays the inebriated Sgt. McVey and in his way looks like another version of the rubber faced Lewis. Makes you kind of wonder how one guy becomes a super star and another gets by as a character actor.

There's a surprise bit in the film when Lewis and Martin mimic Barry Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby in a scene from "Going My Way", both are dead on in one of the highlights of the movie.

"At War With The Army" can easily be found individually or in compilation with a host of public domain films of the era. It's worth a viewing for an early look at future celebrity legends whose careers eventually took separate paths.

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10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Jerry and Dean in the army, 19 June 2000
Author: Petri Pelkonen (petri_pelkonen@hotmail.com) from Finland

At War with the Army is set during the World War II.Alvin Corwin and Vic Puccinelli used to be good buddies but after joining the army Vic becomes a bossy sergeant.At War with the Army is an average Jerry Lewis comedy from 1950.The movie offers many funny scenes, that make you laugh.There are also some music scenes, like Jerry and Dean movies usually had.If you are a fan of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin comedies, like I am, then this is a movie for you to watch.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Great musical comedy, featuring Jerry Lewis at his slapstick best., 14 January 1999
Author: Steve Guernsey from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

This is a fun WWII-era B&W movie, full of Jerry Lewis and his ridiculous goofiness! Featuring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in their first collaboration, this film gave our family some wonderful laugh relief from our January, cabin-fever suffering.

Jerry is a hapless private and Dean is the bossy First Sergeant of a slipshod platoon at a stateside training base. Jerry and Dean were friends who grew up in the same neighborhood before Uncle Sam made GIs out of them. All of the stereotypical military comedy characters are present, including the loudmouth drill instructor, the conniving supply sergeant, the doting corporal and the bumbling, hen-pecked company commander.

Most of the action takes place in the orderly room, but our favorite scene involved Jerry singing a love song...I don't want to reveal any more details, but I think Jim Carrey may have studied acting by watching Jerry Lewis movies.

My kids liked this film more than (the original) "The Nutty Professor", because of its lighter tone. I rate this comedy "8" on a scale of 1 to 10, and highly recommend it!

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
At War In The Army, 26 July 2010
Author: Jizdenky from Fraggle Rock

'At War With The Army' starts off a bit messy and much of the humour feels a little dated. The first half hour is a little out of place but some of the jokes get you through it. However, it is the latter half that I enjoyed the most. The slapstick and situational comedies keep the viewer highly entertained, whether it's the sequence with Lewis dressed in drag and adjusting his voice trying to sound like a woman (having the effect opposite to the intended). I also enjoyed the songs in this part of the movie. It is perhaps common opinion that Martin and Lewis are a formidable comedic duo on screen. Their impressions in the final sequence and the on screen banter are amongst the highlights of 'At War With The Army' and the plus, easily outweigh the negative. This may not be the best of what the duo have accomplished but thanks to them it's good enough entertainment.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
At War with the Army Review, 3 April 2010

Author: d-mullins-702-629596 from United States

This was to me one of the funniest movies ever that Dean and Jerry made together. They were absolutely great together sort of like a big brother, little brother relationship that actually worked well on screen for both them playing off of each others weaknesses and strengths. I give this movie 10 stars out of 10! I may be a bit biased since I was too young to remember much of the other comedy duos as Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and not to take anything away from them as they were great in their own right as well e.t.c.. However, Dean and Jerry were the best ever comedic acting duo and writing this review makes me want to see this movie again real soon! I'm not sure how many times I have seen this movie but suffice it to say at least 5-10 times or more over the years. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys the war time type of movie setting as it made for a great backdrop for a movie. I don't see anyone coming along to ever replace guys like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis they were truly a once in lifetime experience of great talent and knew how to make an audience laugh and forget about their troubles even if for just a couple of hours at a time. God bless them both!

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