Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Leo McCarey's next to last film and last in the comedy genre is Rally Round The Flag Boys. After his previous film My Son John got such bad reviews McCarey was hoping for a comeback of sorts. It was not to be for him.The man who gave us such comedy gems as Ruggles Of Red Gap, Duck Soup, and The Awful Truth had seen his best days. Why a lot of the gems from Max Shulman's book on which this film is based were left out of the screenplay we'd have to have a séance to ask McCarey. It's not a bad film, in fact it's pretty funny in spots, but it lacks the consistency of McCarey's previous cited work. And McCarey who was a serious practicing Catholic I don't think was the man to direct a sexpot like Joan Collins in the sexpot character she played here.The stars are the newly married Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward who wind up on the opposite sides of a local issue in their suburban town of Putnam's Landing. To wit the establishment of a local military base in their town. The army has a public relations problem and that's Newman's field. They even go so far as to have General Gale Gordon call in a favor or two and have Newman's Naval Reserve status activated and special orders cut attaching him to the army. They need his public relations skills badly because half baked blundering oaf Jack Carson is the commander of said base.The subplot also involves Newman feeling neglected as Woodward wraps herself up in various civic causes, the prevention of the army base being the latest. He's feeling a real itch and neighbor Joan Collins who is also neglected by eternally busy husband Murvyn Vye is quite ready to scratch it.The physical comedy comes off the best, the highlight of the film in my opinion is the historical pageant that Joanne attempts to put on which ends in disaster. Joanne at this stage of her career is far better at comedy than her husband. Paul would have to wait until Slapshot before he had a real hit in comedy although I've always felt The Secret War Of Harry Frigg is underrated.Before they became Dobie Gillis and Thalia Menninger on television Dwayne Hickman and Tuesday Weld played opposite each other in this film. Someone must have noticed the chemistry there.Rally Round The Flag Boys has some good moments, but it is far cry from the pinnacle of Leo McCarey's career in the Thirties.

I saw this film with my then fiancée, Sheila, in Kilburn, London in 1959. From the very beginning we knew we were watching something special. A great battle of the sexes with wonderful chemistry between real-life husband and wife team Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. We couldn't stop laughing and even now, 48 years on, we still think it was a really good and funny film. Joan Collins gave a good performance, perfectly cast as "the other woman". It is a pity that this team of very talented actors were not brought together for more projects in the same genre. When or if it comes out on DVD, we'll certainly get a copy. Certainly a "feel-good" film to relish, in the same vein as the wonderful "What's up Doc?" with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal.

when she realizes she likes boys, she just doesn't like Dwayne Hickman, it's sheer truth and delight! the rest of the cast is forced...Joanne Woodward is strident. Paul Newman is slumming, Joan Collins is adequate. Jack Carson is Carson. Dwayne Hickman deserves Weld's scorn. bad comedy, except for Weld's self-recognition. these 50's films try to be smart, but aren't. once in a while a performer can rise above the material. here it's only a young, precocious teenager who mesmerizes.Weld was given praise by none other than Pauline Kael. in her review of Weld's classic '68, "Pretty Poison", she suggested Weld didn't have the career she deserved, "and maybe it isn't just her unlucky name...maybe she's the kind of actress who doesn't let you know she's acting, like Geraldine Page or Estelle Parsons do. how else can an actress give the kind of performances Tuesday Weld has given in "Rally 'round the Flag, Boys!", "Soldier in the Rain", "The Cincinatti Kid", and "Lord Love a Duck", and still not being taken seriously?"

"Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!" may be a movie that you never get to see. As far as I know, it's not available on video or DVD; I saw it on TV one night. But anyway, here's the story: Harry Bannerman (Paul Newman) and Grace Oglethorpe (Joanne Woodward) are a typical (or not so typical) suburban couple in an idealistic 1950's small town in Connecticut. Then, when the army announces plans to build a secretive base near the town, Harry is hired to promote it, while Grace does everything possible to oppose it. In the process of everything, the townspeople begin to see things that they've never seen before - namely, when Grace catches Harry...well, I won't spoil it for you (don't worry, it's not (particularly) dirty). The whole thing ends in one wacky climax.Anyway, this is one of those interesting movies from the late '50s starring A-list stars, that for some reason doesn't seem to be very well remembered today. Good support comes from Tuesday Weld and Dwayne Hickman as local teenagers.