L'île des sans soucis (1960)

Gus Brubaker has been drafted... again. Due to a clerical error, Gus finds himself deployed to a little Japanese island where everyone is bored to death. So Gus decided to build a hotel and hire locals to run the place.

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Richard L. Breen, Howard Singer (novel)

Stars:

Ernie Kovacs, Dick Shawn, Margo Moore

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ernie Kovacs	...	Capt. Charlie Stark
Dick Shawn	...	Gus Brubaker
Margo Moore	...	Lt. Nora McKay
Jack Warden	...	Capt. Dave 'Doc' Farrington
Nobu McCarthy	...	Ume Tanaka (as Nobu Atsumi McCarthy)
Don Knotts	...	Sgt. Percy Warren
Robert Strauss	...	Sgt. Sam Weiscoff
Noreen Nash	...	Marge Brubaker
Parley Baer	...	Col. Archie Hollingsworth
Robert Emhardt	...	Joab Martinson
Marvin Kaplan	...	Hap Cosgrove
Tommy Nishimura	...	Pvt. Jim (Mushy) Harigawa
Raymond Bailey	...	Gen. Weigang
Robert Burton	...	Col. Dowling
Frank Behrens	...	Maj. Bigelow

Storyline

Gus Brubaker has been drafted... again. Due to a clerical error, Gus finds himself deployed to a little Japanese island where everyone is bored to death. So Gus decided to build a hotel and hire locals to run the place.

---

Plot Keywords:

u.s. military | military spoof | homosexual subtext | nagging wife | manipulative female | 

---

Taglines:

G.I.s on the loose with 100 Geisha Girls...on a forgotten island in the South Pacific...WOW!

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to studio publicity materials, Ernie Kovacs did his own parachute stunts.

---

Goofs

Gus places 5 beer in the water to keep cool. When the cans explode there are 8 popping noises.

---

Quotes

Gen. Weigang: I'm General Weigang, Inspector General's office.
Pvt. Jim Harigawa: Oy vey!

---

Connections

Referenced in This Is Us: A Hell of a Week: Part Three (2020)

---

Soundtracks

Give Me the Simple Life
(uncredited)
Music by Rube Bloom
Played when the photographer shows up at Joab's room

User Reviews

This is a keeper

The film parallels the book with a few risqué exceptions. What is unique is that even though major actors were picked for the movie they could not be closer to the character description from the 1959 book of the same name by Howard Singer.

Russ is a schnook. Therefore if something can go wrong it will. His wife is into insurance of all kinds. She wants him to get his GI insurance while he can. After she forces him to apply (schnook), he must explain that he has two serial numbers (schnook). When he was shot down over Germany he was presumed dead and needed a second number to get discharged (schnook). So naturally realizing that the (schnook) being in the service only one-day on the second serial number, is called up to finish his time.

He ends up on an island in the middle of the Sea of Japan. There he has a revelation that saves his sanity and that of 400 other servicemen. A plan so brilliant that I am not about to tell you what it is or how it is executed.

In the book the plan cured his shnookyness, in the movie it takes a trial. The cast includes Dick Shawn as the schnook and Ernie Kovacs as his commander and hotshot fighter pilot.

I can relate to this as I also have two serial numbers.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

10 June 1960 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

L'île des sans soucis

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mervyn LeRoy Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Color by Deluxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1