MISTER ROBERTS (1955) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy
Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell,
Jack Lemmon, Ward Bond, Betsy Palmer,
Ken Curtis, Nick Adams, Martin Milner
A much-loved movie with a backstory that could make a movie all its own. It's based on a long-running play about a young Navy lieutenant who's stuck on a cargo ship in the Pacific and longs to get out from behind the lines and into the actual war, the war being World War Two. Henry Fonda had played the role on stage for something like four years, and got the part in the film despite the fact that he was a little too old by then. (Fonda was 49. Doug Roberts is supposed to be 26.) Josh Logan, who had launched the play on Broadway, was set to direct, but the studio, Warner Brothers, let Logan go and hired John Ford, who had connections and could get the cooperation of the U.S. Navy. Ford had the script altered to make it more broadly comical. Fonda hated that and said so. He and Ford argued, and the story goes that Ford threw a punch that hit Fonda in the face, knocking him back over some furniture. (That Fonda chose to retaliate with a shove instead of a fist was a lucky break for Ford.) Ford apologized almost immediately, but the clash effectively ended what had been a long, rewarding professional relationship. As the shoot went on, Ford drank, his behavior became erratic, and according to at least one source, Ward Bond took over behind the camera when Ford was too pissed to know what was going on. It all took a toll on Ford's health, and when he landed in the hospital to have his gall bladder removed and dry out, the studio replaced him with Mervyn LeRoy, who finished the picture. But not quite. Josh Logan came back in to shoot or reshoot some scenes, and the editors put together the best movie they could from all that mismatched material. Somehow it worked. The picture was a hit. Roberts became one of Fonda's signature roles. Ford recovered and went on to make "The Searchers", "Two Rode Together" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". He never worked with Fonda again. "Mister Roberts" remains one of the most widely revered service comedies ever, partly because of the star-power casting of Fonda, Cagney, Powell and Lemmon, and partly because beneath all the goofing around, it takes the war seriously. It was William Powell's last film.
Betsy Palmer
(1926-2015)
To find out more about Fonda, Ford and the making of "Mister Roberts", the Movie Buzzard recommends "The Man Who Saw a Ghost: The Life and Work of Henry Fonda" by Devin McKinney and "Searching For John Ford" by Joseph McBride.
