''Hay Foot'' is a 1942 American military comedy, a sequel to '' Tanks a Million'' which brings back most of the characters from that film. The two leading characters, sergeant Doubleday (played by William Tracy) and his rival Sergeant Ames ( Joe Sawyer), would go on to feature in six more films. This was one of Hal Roach's Streamliners, films less than an hour designed to fill out a double feature bill. Fred Guiol directed seven of the eight Doubleday/Ames films, the exception being 1951's ''As You Were''.

Plot

Dodo Doubleday, the raw recruit who quickly made sergeant's rank due to his encyclopedic mind and a few lucky accidents, has been inexplicably reduced from first sergeant to

staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

and has resumed being orderly to his

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

al commander Colonel Barkley. Sergeant Ames is still a buck sergeant who hates Dodo because he advanced to outrank Ames within Dodo's first 24 hours in the army. Dodo's former comrade in arms Charlie Cobb is also a buck sergeant. As both Cobb and Ames are the best

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized telescopic sight, scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper ri ...

in the regiment but constantly boast of their prowess, Colonel Barkley seeks to find an expert who can outshoot them. Though possessing a photographic memory that enabled him to advance from private to senior non-commissioned officer in less than 24 hours, Dodo has one weakness: though his book knowledge enables him to give lectures on weapons disassembly and

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; the science or art of designing and acceler ...

, he is gun shy and an incompetent marksman. After nearly shooting several of his fellow soldiers on the pistol range, with the actual target being the safest place to hide, Dodo is ordered to go into the woods to practice. There his missed shots impress the picnicking colonel and his daughter Betty when Dodo accidentally shoots a hawk through the eye whilst in flight and after the colonel catches a fish who breaks the line and is in the process of rolling back into the water, an accidental discharge from Dodo's pistol shoots the fish through his eye. Eager to deflate the boasting Ames and Cobb, the colonel bets a month's pay that Dodo can outshoot Ames and Cobb. Ames and Cobb's hatred of Dodo increases when in the interests of promoting democracy in the United States Army, Betty invites Dodo to dinner at the colonel's quarters, but Ames and Cobb believe they have been invited as well.

Cast

* William Tracy as Sergeant "Dodo" Doubleday * Joe Sawyer as Sergeant Ames * James Gleason as Colonel J. A. Barkley * Noah Beery Jr. as Sgt. Charlie Cobb * Elyse Knox as Betty Barkley * Douglas Fowley as Captain Rossmead * Harold Goodwin as Lieutenant Caldwell

External links

*
''Hay Foot''
at Moviephone
''Hay Foot''
at

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''Hay Foot''
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* 1942 films 1942 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films American black-and-white films United Artists films Military comedy films World War II films made in wartime Films scored by Edward Ward (composer) Films directed by Fred Guiol 1940s English-language films English-language romantic comedy films {{romantic-comedy-film-stub