The Caine Mutiny

I owe this a rewatch, but my recollection is that it's poorly written and with hammy performances, despite consensus to the contrary.

One of those films which falls short of perfection, but which nonetheless invites repeat viewings by its very solidness. The story of THE CAINE MUTINY is a gripping one, and the excellent performances--Humphrey Bogart as Queeg, Van Johnson as Maryk, Fred MacMurray as Keefer, and Jose Ferrer as Greenwald especially--make for compelling viewing. At times, the story feels truncated (the result of studio-imposed cuts) and Edward Dmytryk's direction is a little flat, but it retains most of its power.

Fine story of a mutiny occurring in the US Navy (which has never happened IRL, BTW), with inspired casting of screen tough guy Bogart; this is what might happen to a tough guy when he starts getting old and has just been beaten by life too much for too long

Should be much better than it is, but bogged down by stupid love story. Bogart's breakdown at the end is the highlight and a showing of just how brilliant he was.

Damn fine work. While it does spend too much time cheering on the boys and on the pointless love story, it at least serves the purpose of easing us into Bogart's increasingly dominating performance. Once things gets rolling this as fine as any film gets with a superb climax.

Great film.

Bogart was the picture of instability

I like the complexity of the questions it tackles, but the narrative is shaky, with a confusing exposition dump at the end strong-arming the viewer into accepting the movie's establishmentarian message. It also unintendedly reverberates my view of psychopathology as a sham pseudu-science. Last but not least, a lot of the acting is crap, most notably the criminally overrated Humphrey Bogart's. Wouk's novel would be re-adapted decades later by Altman, then Friedkin, whose versions are better.

Bogart is kind of compelling to watch, but otherwise this is really stodgy. Most interesting thing about this is that Michael Caine got his stage name from this on a marquee while on the phone with his agent.

It's good, Bogart is terrific. I could have done without the sub-plotting and romance around the young ensign.

Another excellent performance by Bogart and supporting cast.

Well written script with incredible actors makes a movie worth watching.

I would rate this higher based on the strength of the latter half or so, which is phenomenal; it's emotional and gripping with Bogart clobbering his role. That monologue and the ensuing climax is beautiful, especially, but it's all enthralling. Unfortunately the first bit of the movie is pretty standard stuff, with a love story that seems completely pointless (I know that it's trying to add depth to a character but it's unnecessary).

Romance 'B' plot stunk to high heavens, but Bogart had one of his most interesting roles here as a high-strung naval captain oscillating from fragile fear to high-volumed madness.

Rather leadenly directed, but with fine performances by Bogart, Ferrer, MacMurry and Johnson.

The penultimate scene with Humphrey Bogart (on great form) and the final one with José Ferrer are both very, very good. They're awesome actors. And Van Johnson was quite good as well.

"It's like the well-constructed house that's not meant to be distinctive, but was made to endure." - Jeremiah Kipp

Score based on distant memory.

I prefer my crazies a bit more crazy. This wasn't bad, but I didn't consider it particularly good. It has its merits and its problems. I didn't think Bogart was really that good until the court martial. Fred MacMurray stood out. I really hated the score too, like almost every moment was supposed to be some kind of happy laugh out loud moment or something. I think it needed to be more dramatic, with more conflict between the officers and Bogart.

The original "Crimson Tide".

Some nice shots of ships at sea, and some moments of great acting. However there is also a heck of a lot of overacting (particularly by Bogart at the end), and the love story is stupid and should have been scrapped completely.

Watched it by chance the day Van Johnson died (12/12/08). He, Bogart and MacMurray were all fantastic.

Queeg's a mess, sure, but the snarky novelist Keefer (Fred MacMurray) is the arrogant coward who gets it in the end. Thus it's the second-best anti-creative-writing movie I've ever seen, after Storytelling. Decent war flick too: brilliant late Bogey performance and all.

It's wonderfully shot, the actors are terrific (particularily Bogart, McMurray and Ferrer) and the score is inspired. The romance sub-plot doesn't fit well with the main plot and should have been explored further or left out entirely but the court scene and the storm scene are extremely well done.

An all-star cast effectively brings this tale to the screen. Bogart is a standout.

A decent adaptation of the best of Wouk's works, that is paced in a manner badly fitting the book. The only time I've loved Van Johnson, and I think Bogey should have got the oscar for this one. If it were paced right, and more true to the book it could have been great. As it is, you're better off reading the book. Oh, and those baoding balls were quite annoying.