Synopsis
James CAGNEY - Pat O'BRIEN And The Whole U. S. FLEET!
A cocky guy joins the Navy for the wrong reason but finds romance and twice is cited for heroism.
1934 Directed by Lloyd Bacon
A cocky guy joins the Navy for the wrong reason but finds romance and twice is cited for heroism.
Outside of the impressive battle sequence in the last third, there isn't a lot to stand out here. Gloria Stuart and James Cagney are lovely as always, though.
Lloyd Bacon’s Oscar-nominated romantic comedy drama in which an arrogant guy (James Cagney) joins the Navy for the incorrect reason but finds love and two times is named for bravery.
The story concerns a boastful naval cadet who disagrees with an old friend serving with him. Although on a tour of the naval yard, officer Biff Martin (Pat O’Brien) gets into a quarrel with non-combatant iron worker Chesty O'Conner (James Cagney).
James Cagney gives a good performance in his role as Chesty O’Conner, one of the sailors involved who joins the Navy for the wrong excuse but finds romance in the process.
Elsewhere, Pat O’Brien is decent in his role as Biff Martin, the officer who has an argument with…
James Cagney does his best to be as obnoxious as William Haines as the cocky Navy recruit. At least he treats his girl better ten Haines ever would! I enjoyed parts of this. The rivalry between Cagney and Pat O'Brien has it's moments, but gets old fairly quickly, especially in the latter stages of the movie when it becomes all random. Frank McHugh had some good lame jokes. So it passes the time even if it's far from any of these guys best efforts. Oddly enough this earned a Academy nomination for Best Picture!
Man, watching Flirtation Walk (1934) and this film back to back was not a good idea. They are both pretty much the same story - asshole gets pissed off and decides to join the military for completely stupid reasons. In this film's case it's the Navy. James Cagney plays the kind of guy that would probably end up getting shot by "friendly fire" at some point in his military career just because he's such an asshole. He's also so stupid that to try to get to an officer he fought with he joins the Navy, goes through training, gets assigned to the same ship, and only when he gets there realizes that he's a Yeoman and has to follows whatever…
Lots to like about this one! O'Brien doesn't get to do as much as I might've liked, but Cagney sure does, playing a hothead who becomes a reluctant hero. An interesting and slightly unusual story, impressive sea and aerial footage and some good laughs (including the end!) make this a really fun package.
Not even Jimmy Cagney can save this one. The only thing even remotely interesting about "Here Comes the Navy" is that two vessels which were famously lost (the battleship USS Arizona and the airship USS Macon) feature prominently in the story.
Otherwise it's just another weak entry in a weak year of a weak decade of Best Picture nominees.
It’s creepy to watch this take place on a ship that would be destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor less than a decade later.
Another Best Picture nominee off my list.
Being the son of a Navy man, it was thrilling to watch all of the navy ships.
Yet another film that may not be outwardly terrible, but just doesn't offer up much. James Cagney is pretty much himself in the lead role, and Pat O'Brien is stiff as the guy he goes toe-to-toe with. I did like Gloria Stuart though, and it was funny to see her in a film that partially takes place on a ship 63 years before Titanic. I think I just found the plot a bit too ridiculous for me. A guy joins the Navy to get back at a guy who stole his lover and ends up fighting with the guy over control of his little sister.
Also, content warning, there's a scene of blackface in this.
Uneven peacetime war movie with lots of drop-of-a-hat fistfights whose tone is hard to figure; it's too wacky to be a drama and too infatuated with its characters' machismo to be a comedy. James Cagney is a diminutive local tough who joins the Navy explicitly to get revenge on a random guy who slighted him once, in what may be the pettiest scheme ever recorded in a Hollywood picture. The film's engaging enough due to Cagney (though his blackface scene is... regrettable), and an interesting snapshot of its time thanks to the conspicuous participation of a pre-war U.S. Navy, but it's just too silly to carry much weight and its Best Picture nomination is hard to swallow. I don't want…
That was the most weirdly anti-Navy piece of naval wartime propaganda I've ever seen. But I did so very much enjoy Cagney's belligerence and too the gorgeous Orry-Kelly fashion, bless him.
i had higher expectations for a cagney character named 'chesty.' realized that kate winslet's boarding the titanic scene is possibly an homage to a very similarly shot scene of gloria stewart boarding the aircraft carrier. oh and there's a deeply gross blackface scene. best pic nom at 7th oscars.
homophobic moment: after his best friend blows a kiss to cagney, a sailor says, 'what are you two, a couple of violets?'
It’s creepy to watch this take place on a ship that would be destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor less than a decade later.
Another Best Picture nominee off my list.
Being the son of a Navy man, it was thrilling to watch all of the navy ships.
Not sure what the point of this was, besides James Cagney acting like a jackass and somehow wooing Gloria Stuart.
Yet another film that may not be outwardly terrible, but just doesn't offer up much. James Cagney is pretty much himself in the lead role, and Pat O'Brien is stiff as the guy he goes toe-to-toe with. I did like Gloria Stuart though, and it was funny to see her in a film that partially takes place on a ship 63 years before Titanic. I think I just found the plot a bit too ridiculous for me. A guy joins the Navy to get back at a guy who stole his lover and ends up fighting with the guy over control of his little sister.
Also, content warning, there's a scene of blackface in this.
So, I've seen this and (the superior) This Man's Navy...are there any other military dirigible/blimp movies out there?
This one was pretty mediocre, story-wise, but worth watching for the presence of the USS Arizona and USS Macon.
A hot-headed construction worker impulsively joins the Navy just to get back at a guy. But manages to be a hero and get himself a girl. This is actually little more than a recruitment infomercial for the United States Navy (made in 1934, just before World War II). James Cagney stars in it and I have to say if he wasn't such a compelling actor who can sell the material, this would've been more of a drag. He manages to get a few chuckles in this otherwise meh film (though word of warning: one bit will raise eyebrows in our woke culture which is probably why this film isn't talked up much). It's a Best Picture nominee for some reason but it's skippable.
Very choppy and occasionally flimsy storytelling. I thought the cast was great, and it was still a pretty fun watch.
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