McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965)

Tim Conway cracks me up. I always enjoyed his antics when he was paired with Don Knotts, but now I find he is even funnier with Joe Flynn. Having not seen the television series McHale's Navy, nor the feature film, I plunged into this sequel regardless and loved it! You don't have to be familiar with the show or its characters to enjoy this one. I didn't even miss Ernest Borgnine who wasn't present in this McHale outing sans "McHale".

Why he isn't in this sequel is a mystery... even Borgnine later confessed that he never knew the reason why he wasn't asked to be in it. Perhaps Universal wanted to test the waters with Joe Flynn and Tim Conway as a new Laurel & Hardy-like comedy duo...or they may have been simply saving money by axing the main star. Whatever the reason, with or without him it is a hoot. 

The comedy all starts with a case of mistaken identity—Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) gets confused as a defecting Russian naval officer after having one gin too many, so Quartermaster Christy dresses him in the uniform of Air Force Lt. Wilbur Harkness (Ted Bessell), General Harkness' son, who has a reputation as a ladies' man. Before long, our clueless hero is suddenly irresistible to the likes of Susan Silo, Jean Hale, and other young women who are convinced he’s a legendary Romeo. Things spiral further when Parker is forced to pose as a bomber navigator, dragging a very unwilling Binghamton (Joe Flynn) along for the ride. The two manage to turn a routine flight into a catastrophe, eventually plummeting out of the plane in a jeep dangling from a rope!

Throughout the 1960s, Universal Pictures were outputting the best comedies of all the studios. McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force was a typical product of this studio, much in the vein of the Don Knotts comedies from that same era. Sure, the sets are basic (they look like they were made for the TV series), but the acting is a riot, and it is packed with familiar character actors like Tom Tully, Jacques Aubuchon, Cliff Norton, Henry Beckman, and Willis Bouchey. And let’s not forget Bob Hastings as Carpenter, Binghamton’s ever-loyal lackey.

Best of all, it has plenty of Tim Conway and Joe Flynn. I grew up with Joe Flynn from his Disney work so the character of Captain Binghamton is new to me but it's Flynn all over. He always played men of authority who were frustrated by the idiots around him - yet, he was often the biggest boob of the bunch! McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force has a number of great scenes with Binghamton getting frustrated with Parker...the best of which is when the two of them squeeze inside a link trainer and Parker keeps making remarks that imply that they are flying ("We must be hitting turbulence"..."I think we hit water!"). Binghamton's exasperation keeps growing as he blurts out, "Link trainers can't fly!".... yet they end up in the Pacific Ocean! Another fun scene is where Parker and Binghamton come across a shipment of brassieres without the faintest idea of what they are. It’s all silly, harmless fun—but crazy enough to get you laughing. 

Thankfully, McHale's Navy ran for four seasons on television so now that this film whetted my appetite for navy comedy, I'll be plunging into the series. If you want to check out McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force for yourself, it is paired with McHale's Navy (1964) on a double-feature DVD from Shout! Factory. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Now here's a tricky one... a man, a horse, and a fence. Bet you haven't seen many movies with that threesome!

This screenshot comes from a movie that you may have seen. If you can name the film it is from, you've won this round of the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game....but you'll never know unless you guess, so give us your best shot down below in the comment box.

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

Get Smart: The Exploding Bomb Game (1965)

 Would you believe that there was a Get Smart boardgame with an exploding time bomb? That's a gimmick that only Ideal could have come up with and the toy company did a great job of capturing the spirit of the popular spy spoof series with this fun game. 

Each player plays Maxwell Smart (Secret Agent 86), who must collect clue cards from various locations to piece together a picture of an enemy KAOS agent. But watch out for Kaos agents for they are everywhere! Worse yet, there is an exploding (spring-driven) time bomb that is ready to go off at any second! 

The board featured some cute graphics of the four Kaos agents wreaking havoc and an ambulance with what looks like a caped woman hanging on by the bumper. The game usually sells for $50-$75 but often the spring on the time bomb is broken...or the bomb is missing completely (what kid could resist pocketing it?). 

Ideal also made a Get Smart Card Game for those who didn't want to mess with bombs. Don Adams lent his likeness to other toy companies in the 1960s and 1970s, namely for a line of "Skittle" games for Aurora toys. There was Skittle Tennis, Skittle Horseshoes and Skittle Tac-Toe among others. 

From the Archives: A Ticklish Affair (1963)

 
Little Grover (Peter Robbins) was taking a flight on some tethered weather balloons when he decided to cut the ropes and really soar in 1963's A Ticklish Affair. This brought Officer Key (Gig Young) and a fleet of patrol cars out trying to chase him down...a difficult task to do with San Diego's shifting winds.

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)

In 1948, Busby Berkeley was hired to direct the all-American musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game but midway through production he had to withdraw due to health issues. That's when Gene Kelly stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun with a blockbuster! 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was the first film to team Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin and this winning threesome were so entertaining they joined forces right afterwards for the classic On the Town, both directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. 

The Donen-Kelly duo were also responsible for penning this story, a wholesome blend of Americana, baseball, and good ol' gambling. Gene Kelly stars as Eddie O'Brien, short-stop of the fictional Wolves pro-ball team. When playing with his buddies, first baseman Dennis Ryan (Sinatra) and third baseman Nat Goldberg (Munshin), they're unbeatable. The owner of the Wolves recently passed away and his niece K.C. Higgins (Williams) arrives to take a "hands on" approach to ownership. At first, they resent this, but then they come to admire her.... all except Eddie, who is steamed that she moved up their curfew and increased the fine for breaking it. Eddie likes to entertain the girls at night, so that cramps his style. 

Eddie likes to entertain, period. When he isn't playing ball, he is cutting capers. Off season, he and Dennis are a popular vaudeville act. When Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold), a big gambler in town, bets heavily against the Wolves, he uses Eddie's love of show business to lure him away from training. But when Eddie learns he has been made a stooge he rallies back to help the Wolves - and his buddies - win the pennant. 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was a box-office success on its release and raked in nearly $3,000,000. It had that magical aura that only the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer could create. This one also bore the unique stamp of Busby Berkeley, Stanley Donen, and Gene Kelly, who directed most of the dance sequences. 

Berkeley and Kelly originally wanted Judy Garland to play the leading lady but she was having substance problems, so Ginger Rogers was cast as her replacement. Ginger then backed out a month prior to filming and Esther Williams took over. What a jim dandy substitute! 

Williams was ideal for the role and perfectly cast. She was already a leading star and this role let her take a quick break from swimming - she only had one simple pool routine in the picture. However, as Williams put it in her autobiography, filming Take Me Out to the Ball Game was an experience of "pure misery." Kelly was too demanding as a director and, along with Donen, seemed to resent her. 

Betty Garrett, who had a wonderful role as a boy-crazy girl chasing the girl-shy Dennis Ryan, had a different experience. In her autobiography she wrote that "making Ball Game.. was pure joy and Frank was an absolute delight to work with." 

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"There ain't nobody my size!"

Jules Munshin was making his breakthrough screen role in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. He had previously had a bit part in Easter Parade (1948) as a waiter and, on the strength of that performance, got this role. He made a great "third wheel" and was even more entertaining in On the Town.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game included a number of pleasant - albeit forgettable - musical numbers, the best of which feature Gene Kelly dancing. "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" and "It's Fate Baby, It's Fate" are the most fun to watch, but the patriotic "Strictly U.S.A" number is classic MGM - lavish and entertaining. 

All in all, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a pitch-perfect blend of song, slapstick, and sentiment and - with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra rounding the bases - the film scores big in every inning so, if you're in a baseball mood, this one's a grand slam in entertainment.