''Onionhead'' is a 1958 American

comedy drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

set on a U.S. Coast Guard ship during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, starring

Andy Griffith Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was an American actor, comedian, television producer, singer, and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characters with a folksy ...

and featuring Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, Erin O'Brien, James Gregory,

Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a Talk ...

and

Claude Akins Claude Aubrey Akins (May 25, 1926 – January 27, 1994) was an American character actor. He played Sonny Pruit in '' Movin' On'', a 1974–1976 American drama series about a trucking team; Sheriff Lobo on '' The Misadventures of Sheriff Lob ...

. It is directed by

Norman Taurog Norman Rae Taurog (February 23, 1899 – April 7, 1981) was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Skippy (film), Skippy' ...

and is written by Nelson Gidding and Weldon Hill from Hill's novel. ''Weldon Hill'' is the pseudonym of William R. Scott, a native Oklahoman who based the novel on his own World War II service in the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

. Griffith had experienced success earlier in 1958 with his service comedy '' No Time for Sergeants'', and ''Onionhead'' was an attempt to cash in on that success. It was mistakenly marketed as an uproarious comedy, but it is actually a comedy-drama with some dark themes, including theft and adultery. ''Onionhead'' was such a notorious flop that it drove Griffith into television, according to Griffith in a videotaped interview in the

Archive of American Television The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled the Archive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, that records interviews with notabl ...

Plot

In the spring of 1941, Al Woods quits an

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

college to join the armed forces after a quarrel with his co-ed sweetheart, Jo. He joins the Coast Guard, partly by chance due to the flip of a coin. After boot training, Al is assigned to a buoy tender in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, the ''Periwinkle'', as a ship's cook, although he has no cooking experience. He encounters immediate hostility from the chief of the galley, Red Wildoe, from new crew mates and cooks' helpers Gutsell and Poznicki, and from his arrogant department head,

Lieutenant (junior grade) Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

Higgins. In a Boston bar, Al picks up Stella, who appears to do this kind of thing with some regularity. They develop a strong attraction, but she seems to be holding out for something more. He befriends Gutsell by fixing him up with a girlfriend of Stella's and learns from Wildoe how to be a ship's cook, making a number of embarrassing mistakes. Al, frustrated after Stella will not spend a night in a hotel room with him, stops seeing her, after which he and the alcoholic Wildoe get drunk together and bond. Wildoe begins seeing Stella with Al's blessing. Pearl Harbor is attacked and war declared. Wildoe abruptly proposes to Stella and they marry. A free-for-all breaks out at their wedding celebration, with a jealous Al instigating a fight with soldiers who are clearly familiar with Stella. Wildoe is assigned to another vessel performing convoy duty at sea. During this time, Stella begins seeing other men. Al tries to prevent this on Wildoe's behalf, but can't resist Stella. Aboard the ''Periwinkle'', Al becomes the new chief cook. Higgins, promoted to

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

, is discovered entering amounts less than they pay for the cost of officers' meals to the ledger of the ship's

mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

and pocketing the difference. He purchases substandard food for the crew to keep the mess budget from showing a deficit. Higgins also objects to finding Al's hair in his food, so Al shaves his scalp bald, earning the nickname "Onionhead". Erroneously aasuming that all the officers are in on the scam, Al bypasses channels to report the theft to the District Office. During leave home to attend his father's funeral, Al reconnects with Jo, realizing that she is the one who he loves. In port again, Wildoe asks Al to take home Stella from the bar when he is recalled to his ship. Stella tries to seduce Al, who calls her a tramp. She replies, "I can't help what I am." The ''Periwinkle'' sinks a

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

in combat, with Al playing a major role, but his accusation of embezzlement impugns the honor of the innocent captain and exposes the ship to scandal at the board of investigation. Al declines to produce any proof of Higgins's misdeeds to save their reputations but privately slips the captain the proof. In a meeting with Al and the executive officer, the captain tells Al that his punishment for an unsubstantiated allegation against an officer is loss of his

rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

and reassignment to

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, but also informs Higgins that he will have to repay every embezzled dollar before his

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

. He gently chastises Al for not having come to him with the proof earlier, but gives him the leave to marry Jo before he ships out for Greenland.

Cast

as Alvin Woods * Felicia Farr as Stella * Walter Matthau as "Red" Wildoe * Erin O'Brien as Josephine Hill *

Joe Mantell Joe Mantell ( Joseph Mantel; December 21, 1915 – September 29, 2010) was an American film and television actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as best friend Angie in the 1955 film ''Marty (film), ...

as Harry O'Neal *

Ray Danton Ray Danton (born Raymond Caplan; September 19, 1931 – February 11, 1992) was an American radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous roles were in the screen biographies ''The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamo ...

as LTjg Dennis Higgins * James Gregory as The Captain *

as Gutsell *

Roscoe Karns Roscoe Karns (September 7, 1891 – February 6, 1970) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 150 films between 1915 and 1964. He specialized in cynical, wise-cracking (and often tipsy) characters, and his rapid-fire delivery enlivened many ...

as Windy Woods *

as Poznicki * Ainslie Pryor as Chief Miller * Sean Garrison as Yeoman Kaffhamp * Dan Barton as Ens. Fineberg * Mark Roberts as Lt. Bennett * Peter Brown as Clark * Tige Andrews as Charlie Berger * Karl Lukas as Agnelli

Production

Filming on ''Onionhead'' was held up for a week in November 1957 when Andy Griffith came down with a virulent flu from the " Asian flu" pandemic. The film was shot at Warner Bros.'s studio in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

; location shooting for the film took place at the

station in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

, aboard USCGC ''Yamacraw'' (WARC-333), at Coast Guard Base Yerba Buena Island and in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

for interiors on USCGC ''Heather'' (WAGL-331).

References

Notes

External links

* * * {{Norman Taurog 1958 films 1958 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films Films about the United States Coast Guard Films based on American novels Films directed by Norman Taurog Military comedy films Warner Bros. films American World War II films 1950s American films English-language comedy-drama films

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links