The Honeymoon Machine (1961)A navy lieutenant and his civilian friend use a classified computer to help them break the bank at a Venetian casino. Director:Richard Thorpe |
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The Honeymoon Machine (1961)A navy lieutenant and his civilian friend use a classified computer to help them break the bank at a Venetian casino. Director:Richard Thorpe |
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Steve McQueen | ... |
Lt. Ferguson 'Fergie' Howard
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Brigid Bazlen | ... |
Julie Fitch
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| Jim Hutton | ... |
Jason Eldridge
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| Paula Prentiss | ... |
Pam Dunstan
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| Dean Jagger | ... |
Admiral Fitch
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| Jack Weston | ... |
Signalman Burford Taylor
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Jack Mullaney | ... |
Lt. Beauregard 'Beau' Gilliam
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Marcel Hillaire | ... |
Inspector of casino games
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Ben Astar | ... |
Russian consul
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William Lanteau | ... |
Tommy Dane
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| Ken Lynch | ... |
Capt. James Angle
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Simon Scott | ... |
Capt. Harvey Adam
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The crew aboard the USS Elmira are working on a project, code named Operation Honeymoon. At the operation's core is the testing of the Magnetic Analyzer Computing Synchrotron, or MACS for short, which is a smart computer designed to do among other things determine where missiles are going to land. Civilian Jason Eldridge is the scientific mastermind aboard in charge of MACS' operation. His friend aboard, Lieutenant Ferguson Howard, sees other possible uses for MACS. He wants to know if MACS, if given the proper data, can accurately predict games of chance, such as those found in casinos. After discussing the situation, Fergie and Jason decide the game which MACS can predict the most accurately is roulette. They decide to test MACS' abilities, and possibly get rich, at their next port of call where there is a casino, namely Venice. They plan on using a system of Morse Code light signals from the ship to shore to transmit the information. Although they go ahead with their plan, they are... Written by Huggo
Sure it's a little formulaic, but not deserving of the excoriation which precedes this mini-review. McQueen is just fine in the role, not so much a pure comic character as the fast-talking con-man Lieutenant, rather the sort of the role Tony Curtis used to play. And to keep the record straight, McQueen did other comedies, such as _Soldier in the Rain_, and the semi-comedic _Reivers_.
McQueen comes up with the idea of using a high-speed electronic computer to beat the roulette wheel and enlists Hutton and another sailor into the scheme.
Hutton, as the computer scientist doesn't have much to do, since he can't also play the fast-talking con-man. (And besides, he's a computer scientist!) But he does get to woo Prentiss, who amuses as the beautiful near-sighted heiress who talks to statues.
Weston up on the ledge with the blinker makes for a quite funny interlude as the others have noted.
But McQueen does not deserve the invective heaped upon him by the other reviewers of this film.