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AT WAR WITH THE ARMY
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis provide sporadic laughs in their 1950 outing At War with the Army that suffers due to a problematic screenplay that doesn't really play to the team's strengths.
Martin plays Sergeant Vic Puccinelli and Lewis plays Pvt. Alvin Corwin, two guys who were allegedly buddies before joining the army but now, being separated by rank, their friendship seems to have suffered with Vic taking advantage of Alvin at every turn, including trying to hang Alvin out to dry for his own problems. Alvin is having trouble becoming the soldier he should be because of a song he wrote that he wants Vic to record and because his wife is expecting a baby.
This is not foreign territory for the team. The underlying theme of friendship being threatened by circumstance or social class was very common with Martin and Lewis comedies, but the problem here is that the screenplay keeps the pair apart for a large chunk of the running time. It's like Vic and Alvin's stories are two separate movies that are unfolding simultaneously and the pair do not share the screen enough here for us to invest in the team as we have before. What made Martin and Lewis so special as a screen team is what they did onscreen together and they just don't have enough time together here.
There are some funny scenes here and there...the scene where Alvin goes into a bar in drag looking for Vic and finding another Sergeant, well played by Mike Kellin, coming on to him, is very funny. There's another scene between Lewis and Kellin where after Kellin exits, Lewis repeats the entire scene doing a perfect imitation of Kellin that worked and Lewis displayed his usual penchant for physical comedy on a military obstacle course. Martin also was allowed to display his skill for mimicry during a musical scene where he does a dead on impression of Bing Crosby, but during the funniest moments in the movie, the stars aren't onscreen together.
Martin and Lewis work hard to make this work with the aid of slightly manic direction by Hal Walker. Polly Bergen and Jean Ruth are fun and decorative leading ladies and Kellin steals every scene he is in. There are some fun songs by Jay Livingston and Mack David including "The Navy's Got the Gravy", "Tonda Wonda Hoy", and "You and Your Beautiful Eyes", but when it all comes out in the wash, you have a comedy starring a great screen team where the writers forgot they were writing for a team.
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis provide sporadic laughs in their 1950 outing At War with the Army that suffers due to a problematic screenplay that doesn't really play to the team's strengths.
Martin plays Sergeant Vic Puccinelli and Lewis plays Pvt. Alvin Corwin, two guys who were allegedly buddies before joining the army but now, being separated by rank, their friendship seems to have suffered with Vic taking advantage of Alvin at every turn, including trying to hang Alvin out to dry for his own problems. Alvin is having trouble becoming the soldier he should be because of a song he wrote that he wants Vic to record and because his wife is expecting a baby.
This is not foreign territory for the team. The underlying theme of friendship being threatened by circumstance or social class was very common with Martin and Lewis comedies, but the problem here is that the screenplay keeps the pair apart for a large chunk of the running time. It's like Vic and Alvin's stories are two separate movies that are unfolding simultaneously and the pair do not share the screen enough here for us to invest in the team as we have before. What made Martin and Lewis so special as a screen team is what they did onscreen together and they just don't have enough time together here.
There are some funny scenes here and there...the scene where Alvin goes into a bar in drag looking for Vic and finding another Sergeant, well played by Mike Kellin, coming on to him, is very funny. There's another scene between Lewis and Kellin where after Kellin exits, Lewis repeats the entire scene doing a perfect imitation of Kellin that worked and Lewis displayed his usual penchant for physical comedy on a military obstacle course. Martin also was allowed to display his skill for mimicry during a musical scene where he does a dead on impression of Bing Crosby, but during the funniest moments in the movie, the stars aren't onscreen together.
Martin and Lewis work hard to make this work with the aid of slightly manic direction by Hal Walker. Polly Bergen and Jean Ruth are fun and decorative leading ladies and Kellin steals every scene he is in. There are some fun songs by Jay Livingston and Mack David including "The Navy's Got the Gravy", "Tonda Wonda Hoy", and "You and Your Beautiful Eyes", but when it all comes out in the wash, you have a comedy starring a great screen team where the writers forgot they were writing for a team.