Operation Petticoat (1959)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Paul King (story) and
Joseph Stone (story) ...

Release Date:

18 December 1959 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

20,000 Laughs Under The Sea!

Plot:

World War 2 comedy about a submarine commander who finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) sub, a con-man executive officer and a group of army nurses.

Plot Keywords:

Submarine | Nurse | Pink | Scavenger | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman
Tony Curtis	...	Lt. JG Nicholas Holden
Joan O'Brien	...	Lt. Dolores Crandall RN
Dina Merrill	...	Lt. Barbara Duran RN
Gene Evans	...	Chief Molumphry
Dick Sargent	...	Ens. Stovall (as Richard Sargent)
Virginia Gregg	...	Maj. Edna Heywood RN
Robert F. Simon	...	Capt. J.B. Henderson
Robert Gist	...	Lt. Watson
Gavin MacLeod	...	Ernest Hunkle
George Dunn	...	The Prophet
Dick Crockett	...	Harmon
Madlyn Rhue	...	Lt. Reid RN
Marion Ross	...	Lt. Colfax RN
Clarence Lung	...	Sgt. Ramon Gillardo (as Clarence E. Lung)

Runtime:

124 min | Germany:100 min | Canada:120 min (Ontario)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:Approved (PCA #19345) | Finland:K-12 | UK:U | West Germany:6 | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Key West, Florida Keys, Florida, USA

Company:

Granart Company

Trivia:

Tina Louise was offered but turned down the role of Nurse Crandall that then went to Joan O'Brien because Louise didn't like the abundant boob jokes directed at the character.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Holden is stealing the pig, he falls down in the mud and clearly gets the seat of his uniform muddy. Yet when he is climbing into the truck, the trousers are clean.

Quotes:

Chief Mechanic's Mate Sam Tostin: [speaking to Maj.Heywood in the engine room] You know, I spent alot of years disliking women. But I don't dislike you.
Maj. Edna Heywood, RN: Oh?
Chief Mechanic's Mate Sam Tostin: You're not a woman. You're more than a woman. You're a *mechanic*

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004) (TV)

Top talent makes this a winner.

There's really no reason to expect that this easy-going military comedy should hold up so well after almost 50 years. While extremely popular as a Christmas release in '59, it then boasted two top box office stars to bring in the crowds, which most critics agreed were the primary attraction supporting some rather thin and predictable material. But the merits are considerably more than reviewers originally gave credit for, and the film endures as a cleverly crafted entertainment on several levels. Its uncomplicated premise accommodates humor less derived from incident than from character and situation, making it seem far less pretentious than most films of its kind. Service comedies of this period tend to follow a pattern set by MR. ROBERTS, which was based on a hugely successful stage play and quite reverent to those origins. PETTICOAT is far more spontaneous, so even if plot threads tend to be a bit familiar, its the delivery rather than the content which holds our attention. Of course it doesn't hurt to have Cary Grant at the peak of his powers, hitting all the right notes, balancing the role of naval officer with innate dedication combined with his own charismatic charm and seemingly effortless humor, a performance which is both naturalistic and funny. Curtis, too, had found his groove at this point (he had just completed his tour de force for Billy Wilder, SOME LIKE IT HOT) contributing just the right balance of ingenuousness and star-of-the-month savvy to make his `second banana' role a success. But the lion's share of the credit must go to Blake Edwards, then in the early stages of his most successful period as a master comedy craftsman, boisterous yet sophisticated, among the last of a breed of Hollywood stylists on the rise at a time when the old studio system was nearing its end.