Naval commander McHale has left the service and set-up shop on Caribbean island, which supplies his former mates at a military base nearby with everything. The base is now commanded by hard-headed Capt. Binghampton and island governor has a deal with a terrorist to use the island as base. McHale gets back into his crew when his arch-enemy Major Vladikov sets up an operation to destroy the island. Retired Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale spends his days puttering around the Caribbean in the old PT-73 selling homebrew, ice cream, and swimsuit calendars. He's brought out of retirement when his old nemesis turned the second best terrorist in the world, Major Vladikov, takes over the island of San Moreno and starts building a nuclear launch silo on it. With help from his old crew and hindrances from Captain Wallace B. Binghampton, who sank a cruise liner a while back, McHale tries to put Vladikov out of business. This attempt to recreate the magic of the early 1960's series succeeded only in making me wax nostalgic for the series. They made two theatrical movies of the series in the mid-60's; they were both poor; this is abominable. On paper, Tom Arnold as McHale and Dean Stockwell as Binghamton sounded like it should have had some possibilities. Arnold, at least, has the right attitude, but Stockwell, doing his worst Dan Hedaya imitation, is atrocious. The rest of the acting is equally out of synch, but not nearly as bad as the dialogue. Do not waste your time on this adolescent trash. Another rehash of vintage American television. (Some of it aged like fine Baron Philippe de Rothschild wine; however, most have turned to vinegar.) The humor, has become overtly anachronistic. This time around, MCHALE'S NAVY is in a late 1990's setting, with Tom Arnold at the helm. (He also co-produced). My first question was, why make the remake? The original series was amusing, but really not a landmark series. (I've seen a reel of out takes from the old series, which were hysterically funny, but in no way, shape or form would've made it on the air).<br/><br/>The only possible answer I could come up with, was trying to cash in on baby boomer sentiments. Well, it would seem the boomers are not quite THAT sentimental. <br/><br/>In a nutshell, this overlong, boring and painfully unfunny movie, was a waste of time for everyone on both sides of the screen. Tom Arnold has some genuine ability, and he was quite good in TRUE LIES. Why he has chosen some really, I mean excruciatingly bad, movie roles is beyond the scope of human imagination. <br/><br/>MCHALE'S NAVY should be avoided at all costs. McHale's Navy is an astonishingly bad film. Even if you never saw the early '60s TV series on which it is loosely based, you'll hate it. [18 Apr 1997, p.39]
Amebald replied
371 weeks ago