''Rally Round the Flag, Boys!'' is a 1958 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by

Max Shulman Maximilian Shulman (March 14, 1919 – August 28, 1988) was an American writer and humorist best known for his television and short story character Dobie Gillis, as well as for best-selling novels. Biography Early life and career Shulman was b ...

, directed by

Leo McCarey Thomas Leo McCarey (October 3, 1898 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 films, the most well known today being '' Duck Soup'', ''Make Way for Tomorrow'', '' The Awful T ...

, starring Paul Newman and

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...

, and released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. The title comes from a line in the song " Battle Cry of Freedom".

Plot

In the fictional suburban commuter town of Putnam's Landing, Connecticut, public relations specialist Harry Bannerman ( Paul Newman) is slowly going insane because his wife Grace (

) insists on attending every local civic committee meeting. When the government selects the town for the site of a new missile base, Grace joins a committee to prevent it from being built. Harry is made the liaison for the military, and Grace's activities cause him no end of trouble. Adding to the dilemma is Angela Hoffa (

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...

), whose efforts to get Harry for herself lead to dizzying recriminations and misunderstandings.

Cast

* Paul Newman as Harry Bannerman *

as Grace Bannerman *

as Angela Hoffa *

Murvyn Vye Marvin Wesley Vye Jr. (July 15, 1913 – August 17, 1976) was an American character actor. He is best known for portraying Prince Ken Arok in the comedy film '' Road to Bali''. Early years Vye was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and educa ...

as Oscar Hoffa *

Jack Carson John Elmer Carson (October 27, 1910 – January 2, 1963) was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941) with James Cagney and ...

as Captain Hoxie *

Tuesday Weld Tuesday Weld (born Susan Ker Weld; August 27, 1943) is an American actress and model. She began acting as a child and progressed to mature roles in the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Over t ...

as Comfort Goodpasture *

Dwayne Hickman Dwayne Bernard Hickman (May 18, 1934 – January 9, 2022) was an American actor and television executive, producer and director, who worked as an executive at CBS and had also briefly recorded as a vocalist. Hickman portrayed Chuck MacDonald, B ...

as Grady Metcalf, Comfort's suitor *

Gale Gordon Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr., February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfiste ...

as General Thorwald * Tom Gilson as Corporal Opie * O.Z. Whitehead as Isaac Goodpasture, Comfort's Father *

Stanley Livingston Stanley Bernard Livingston (born November 24, 1950) is an American actor, director, producer, editor and writer. Biography He is best known for playing Richard "Chip" Douglas, the third son of Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) on the television ...

as Peter Bannerman *

Percy Helton Percy Alfred Helton (January 31, 1894 – September 11, 1971) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was one of the most familiar faces and voices in Hollywood of the 1950s. Career A Manhattan native, Helton began acting ...

as Waldo Pike, the Plumber * Joseph Holland as Manning Thaw *

David Hedison Albert David Hedison Jr. (May 20, 1927 – July 18, 2019) was an American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work until 1959 when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espion ...

as Narrator (voice only)

Production

George Axelrod George Axelrod (June 9, 1922 – June 21, 2003) was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play ''The Seven Year Itch'' (1952), which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Marilyn Mon ...

worked on the script for a year with McCarey. He later recalled they came up with an approach to do the film "but it was too far out for

Buddy Adler E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for 20th Century Fox studios. In 1954, his production of ''From Here to Eternity'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and in 1956, hi ...

", the head of production at Fox:

Max Shulman's book was a very funny book, and very literary, in that he used literary devices – which don't often translate to the screen very well. The story itself was rather boring, but the author's comments were funny. So I invented a narrator, named Max, who wove the film together. It was a throwback to the old Pete Smith comedy shorts. But they hated the idea of narration – just as they hate the idea of fantasy – so they threw it out. And then I had to spend a lot of time getting my name off the picture, because I don't want my name on something I didn't write.

Production on ''Rally Round the Flag, Boys!'' started in mid-June 1958 and ended in mid-August. The role of Captain Hoxie was originally going to be portrayed by

Paul Douglas Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senat ...

, but was taken over by Jack Carson after Douglas fell ill, according to a July 1958 ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' news item. The part of Angela was originally intended for actress

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

, but after intense lobbying from Paul Newman and his wife

, she was replaced with

(who had co-starred with Mansfield in ''

The Wayward Bus ''The Wayward Bus'' is a novel by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1947. The novel's epigraph is a passage from 15th-century English play ''Everyman'', with its archaic English intact; the quotation refers to the transitory nature of ...

''). A March 1958 item noted that actor Mickey Shaughnessy was set for a featured role; however, he did not appear in the film. A ''Variety (magazine), Daily Variety'' news item reported that in March 1958,

was set to produce the movie, and was considering the film to star Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and William Holden.

Release

''Rally Round the Flag, Boys!'' premiered in New York City theatres on December 23, 1958. It was released nationwide in February 1959.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 30% rating based on reviews from 10 critics.

Awards

''Rally Round the Flag, Boys!'' was nominated for the Golden Laurel Awards held on September 23, 1959, and received fourth place for both Top Comedy Female Performance (Joanne Woodward) and Top Comedy. Director Leo McCarey was later nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award in 1960 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for ''Rally Round the Flag, Boys!''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rally Round The Flag, Boys! 1958 films 1958 comedy films 1950s English-language films 20th Century Fox films American comedy films American satirical films CinemaScope films Films based on American novels Films directed by Leo McCarey Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Films set in Connecticut Independence Day (United States) films 1950s American films