PT 109 (1963)

Purely Joyful Movie!

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 a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The first half of this movie is rather ridiculous at best. All we basically hear about is cleaning up the 109.The real acting kudos goes here to James Gregory as the Commander. The year before he gave an outstanding performance as Angela Lansbury's dimwitted Senator husband up to his neck in political intrigue. With his loud, boisterous, booming voice, Gregory does well here as well.Even with the rather boring first half, the scenery is so beautiful that I expected a chorus of guys to come out and sing Bali Hai! That would have really been something.The picture does pick up when the boat is slammed and those on board are in the jungle. It appears that no one can find them. It is at this point that Kennedy showed excellent leadership qualities. Still, some of the scenes trapped on the islands reminded me of Gilligan's Island. There isn't that much action and am surprised that Hollywood didn't take liberties to spice those scenes up.Cliff Robertson gives a restrained performance as the future president. At least, he didn't try to emulate the Kennedy speech patterns. With it all, the picture is still a major disappointment.

It was a excellent movies and well worth a viewers time.For a era piece I feel that it showed how Kennedy got hurt and how he saved the lives crew even after getting hurt bad himself. The locations for the filming of this piece was excellent and true to life. The life on those cardboard boats were tough and the men had to endure very severe living quarters as such. It also showed how Kennedy got his crew selected and how they came to help get the boat seaworthy in such a short time. i would recommend this file to all war film buffs and those who enjoy a action film. The acting was good for the times of the 60's when we were getting ready for Vietnam and the bay of pigs issue.

I first saw this film during it's initial theatrical release and have seen it several times since. This a good movie but at 2 hours and 20 minutes it runs a little long. This could have been made more concise and more adventurous and should have come in at 90 minutes and it would have been a better movie. Director Leslie Martinson only made nine mostly forgettable films in his long directorial career that was mostly in television. This was his best film. He was a much sought after television director and directed some of the most popular television series from the early 50's through the mid 80's. This was the last film in the long career of producer Bryan Foy. Foy was a producer and director from the 1920's and began producing full-time in the 1930's specializing in mainly B-movies. A great cinematographer here in Robert Surtees who had photographed Ben Hur, Oklahoma, quo Vidas and would go on to photograph The Graduate, The Summer of 42, The Last Picture Show and The Sting among his many films. A good editor on this film too in Folmar Blangsted who edited Rio Bravo and The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell and would go on to edit The Summer of 42 and ironically Camelot among his many films. This is the story of the naval career of future US President John F. Kennedy as a lieutenant in WWII. This is adapted from the best selling book PT 109 John F. Kennedy in WWII which was inspired by a 1944 article in the New Yorker magazine called Survival by John Hersey. The PT 109 story of the patrol boat in the South Pacific captained by Lt. John F. Kennedy that was cut in half in a collision with a Japanese destroyer was a big part of the Kennedy story. During his 1961 Inagural parade a full size replica float of the boat was featured in the parade route with all of the original crew members on the float as a surprise to the new president. He kept the coconut shell that he had written a message on encased in class in his Oval Office along with a model replica of a PT boat. Warren Beatty apparently was Kennedy's first choice to portray him in this film which would have made sense as when this was filmed in the summer of 1962 in the Florida Keys, Beatty was 25 years old, exactly the same age as Kennedy was in 1943 when the film's setting takes place. Beatty reportedly turned down the role and Kennedy's second choice was Cliff Robertson who at 36 years old when production was done on this film was a full 10 years older and quite a few pounds heavier than Kennedy was in 1943. Also in the cast are Robert Culp, Norman Fell, James Gregory, Ty Hardin and Robert Blake. Look for future Star Trekker George Takei on the Japaneses destroyer. Character actor Andrew Duggan narrates. This film has more of a look and feel of a made-for television movie but it's definitely worth a watch. I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.

I came across this film while flipping channels on a Saturday afternoon. It was about 1/4 way through when I realised that it was about JFK. While the film was very well done and enjoyable I found that the role of JFK was simply too good to be true. At every despairing event JFK would simply just roll up his sleeves and declare that he was going to get everyone home safe and sound even under ridiculous circumstances, just because he said so. Basically if he said so, it would happen. Throughout the film this prophesy prevailed which made you wonder was this retrospective propaganda or actual fact. This dilemma would not be of any consequence in a regular film, but when it portrays a sitting President in 1963 a few warning flags should be waved. However now in 2005 following the multiple tragic lives of the Kennedy dynasty, this self belief of being right no matter what the conditions (if true as portrayed in the film) might have proved a genetic flaw that his siblings should well have acknowledged.