No Time for Sergeants (1958)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Mac Hyman (novel)
Ira Levin (play) ...

Release Date:

27 June 1958 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Will Stockdale is a country bumpkin drafted into the Air Force and too dumb to realize he's driving everyone around him crazy -- no one more than Sgt. King.

Plot Keywords:

Hillbilly | U.S. Air Force | Jump From Airplane | Basic Training | Missile

Cast

Andy Griffith	...	Pvt. Will Stockdale
Myron McCormick	...	Sgt. Orville C. King
Nick Adams	...	Pvt. Benjamin B. 'Ben' Whitledge
Murray Hamilton	...	Irving S. Blanchard
Howard Smith	...	Maj. Gen. Eugene Bush
Will Hutchins	...	Lt. George Bridges (pilot)
Sydney Smith	...	Maj. Gen. Vernon Pollard
James Millhollin	...	Maj. Royal B. Demming (psychiatrist)
Don Knotts	...	Cpl. John C. Brown (Dexterity)
Jean Willes	...	WAF captain
Bartlett Robinson	...	Captain
Henry McCann	...	Lt. Cover
Dub Taylor	...	McKinney (draft board man)
William Fawcett	...	Pa Stockdale
Raymond Bailey	...	Base Colonel

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This was Don Knotts' first film. He met Andy Griffith when Knotts had a small part in Broadway's "No Time For Sergeants". Griffith remembered Knotts when he was looking for someone to play bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960). The two formed a lifelong friendship, with Knotts later making guest appearances on Griffith's TV series "Matlock" (1986). In 2006, Griffith even broke the news of Knotts' passing to the media.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Although the film is about the Air Force, the credits are superimposed over a picture of Army sergeant's chevrons. Air Force sergeant stripes are of a completely different design (like those worn by Master Sergeant King in the movie).

Quotes:

[Will and Ben are waiting in the General's office and hear the ceremony over the P.A]
Voice of announcer: General Bush has just taken his place on the reviewing stand. And now the four lieutenants who braved the atomic blast and will receive the air medal are bravely mounting the platform.
Benjamin B. Whitledge: The lieutenants? They're alive! They're gettin' medals! They're heroes!
Will Stockdale: Gollee!
Benjamin B. Whitledge: If we'd a stayed on the plane, we'd a been heroes.
Voice of announcer: It is a solemn moment, ladies and gentlemen. The many visiting dignitaries standing at attention; the flag at half-mast in honor of the two men who gave their lives in Operation Prometheus: Privates Stockdale and Whitledge.
Will Stockdale, Benjamin B. Whitledge: [together] Stockdale and Whitledge?
Voice of announcer: Yes. Stockdale and Whitledge... names that will live as long as men are free.
Will Stockdale: We are heroes, Ben!
Benjamin B. Whitledge: But we ain't dead!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Remake of "The United States Steel Hour: No Time for Sergeants (#2.14)" (1955)

One of the very best comedies

Movies like this are what they're taking about when they talk of classic comedies. This was the movie version of a Broadway stage hit that ran forever, and anyone who watches this film will readily understand why. Andy Griffith is absolutely perfect as Will Stockdale and Nick Adams, Sergeant King and Don Knotts fit their parts like a glove. They simply don't make many comedies that are as flat out funny as this one. They never did and still don't.