Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Top notch acting. Fonda as always who can seemingly accommodate any role, Cagney as the (symbol of) evil in the film excellent, Jack Lemon and his top seamless acting (it seems you could drop this guy anywhere, comedy drama lead role second dense script light script, he'll get it done anyhow just as well) and the rest of the cast. Top stuff.The film for entertainment value is pretty good, makes for a pretty smooth viewing but perhaps a tad long running in over 2 hours and certainly a bit linear (where other films will add intricacies and more depth to the plot...) but there are good morals to enjoy fairly well conveyed: one is karma, work towards good, quietly and without displaying your intentions, and good will come back your way; humility is a virtue; the theme of fulfillment versus fantasy; also, that one man is not merely replaceable by the next in line and can mean the world to his environment; and finally, another theme is the one of fate.Interesting film. 7.5/10.

My late Father's favorite movie. Between him and my Brother, they have 50 years of Navy behind them. Neither one ever set foot on a bucket, though. They were both Navy Aviation. A movie like this is timeless. James Cagney plays such a convincing idiotic officer. I was Army Aviation and Air Defense Artillary for 3 years and I have seen my share of moronic officers. Anyone who hasn't seen it is missing out. The ending was about the last thing you would expect. I have seen the movie quite a few times over the years, going back to the early '60's and saw it again last night after a few year lull. Martin Milner as the VERY southern Shore Patrol Officer was great! I would have never guessed it was him until I saw the credits. "Festus" from Gunsmoke is also in it, though you can't recognize him. No one should miss this one.

I must confess that, as a John Ford fan, I spent the first hour of this film thinking to myself, "what a waste of an hour". The plot seemed to go nowhere. It seemed as if Ford had no greater plan than to put all of his favorite actors onto a boat, and see if anything John Ford-like happens. To be honest, for the first hour, nothing much does. The show just drags on. But the second half makes up for the first. Fonda does some his finest acting, his soft mid-western drawl perfectly suited to a man who spends most of the film depressed and uncertain of his present and his future. And he plays some lovely and touching scenes with the crew of the ship towards the end. Henry Fonda will always be to me the great American actor.William Powell is gently awesome as well, playing a wonderfully jaded yet genial doctor, with his perfect enunciation of every line and elegant manners demonstrating the skills of this consummate actor. Yet he and Fonda in their many scenes together complement each other beautifully, rather that fight for attention. Very lovely stuff.James Cagney is hilarious as a fussy, angry and child-like captain, whose anger is never really investigated. An enigma of a character.And now, some short thoughts: (1) There are 2 fascinating reprisals of moments from earlier John Ford films in Mr. Roberts: (a) Early in the film, when the nurses come on board, Ward Bond, walking behind the lined up nurses, issues forth a loud horse-like whinny; then nothing happens. This is exactly what he did in the monumental "My Darling Clementine" (1946); there, Bond whinnies as he is crossing paths with Linda Darnell, to which she responds by dumping a pitcher of milk on his head. (b) At the end of the film, at an emotional climax, the camera zooms in on a sitting Jack Lemmon; while zooming, the camera briefly goes slightly and softly out of focus before clearing up again, as it settles onto Lemmon's face. This is wonderfully reminiscent of the amazing moment in Stagecoach (1939) when the camera introduces John Wayne's character Johnny Ringo, there zooming in quickly as Wayne holds a rifle, going out of focus for a fraction of a section before clearing up again. In Mr. Roberts, the effect is also effective.(2) As Dolan, John Ford Troupe actor Ken Curtis does a hilarious and quite good James Cagney impersonation at one point, including a full elimination of the letter "r" from all words. (3) I never want to see Henry Fonda laugh uncontrollably ever again. It is very disturbing. (4) John Wayne's son Patrick gets his 2nd movie credit here. This film is not the classic that many people seem to think it is, but for fans of Henry Fonda and John Ford, ultimately worth it for the touching and emotional second half.

From directors John Ford (My Darling Clementine, The Quiet Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang) and uncredited Joshua Logan (South Pacific, Camelot, Paint You Wagon), it was purely because I found out that one of the leading actors won the Oscar that I watched this, but I hoped it would be great too. Basically the USS Reluctant, nicknamed "The Bucket", is the World War II re-supply ship serving in the South Pacific, and working on the ship is cargo officer Lt. JG Douglas A. 'Doug' Roberts (Henry Fonda). The war is coming to an end since the Germans have signed the surrender, but in the ocean the war seems to keep going, and Roberts feels that it is passing by and he will never see any action. Wanting to feel like he is worthwhile and experience new things he constantly requests Capt. Morton (James Cagney) to be transferred to a combat ship, but the Captain knows he cannot let one of his best officers in his crew. Roberts has a strong friendship with many of the zany members, including Ens. Frank Thurlowe Pulver (Oscar winning, and BAFTA nominated Jack Lemmon) and Lt. 'Doc' (William Powell), and he also helps them cope with the Captain's very strict commands, including not letting them ashore for almost a year. Eventually Roberts does manage to persuade Capt. Morton to let the men go ashore, but in return he must carry out orders without comment or objection, and obviously he may consider a transfer. The men do think that Roberts has given in to the Captain's reign, but they do find out what he was able to do for them, and they return the favour, meaning that by the end of the film he is able to go his own way, and Pulver becomes the new pain in the Captain's neck. Also starring Betsy Palmer as Lt. Ann Girard, Ward Bond as Chief Petty Officer Dowdy, Philip Carey as Mannion and Nick Adams as Reber. In the title role Fonda is really good at being both laid back and objectionable to the thundering moments from Cagney, and of course Lemmon nearly steals the show with his fantastically Oscar winning eccentric physical and vocal laughs, I will admit there were moments where I lost track of the story, but the actors and characters were great, the Second World War setting and stuff is interesting enough, the visual and dialogue based jokes are funny, and overall it is an enjoyable comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Sound. Jack Lemmon was number 43 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars. Very good!