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Reviews
McHale's Navy: The August Teahouse of Quint McHale (1963)
Joe Flynn in one of his best "Binghamton" performances....
I won't bore you with a rehash of the plot, you've probably read it already, but just wanted to say Flynn is outstanding as a man on the receiving end of "gaslighting" scheme. And his portrayal of someone unconsciously speaking Japanese during a normal conversation in English is a riot. The "monsoon" scene is priceless....
McHale's Navy: The Balloon Goes Up (1964)
Funny episode, but built on a couple of weaker plot devices....
I loved watching the 73 crew and especially Petty Officer Moss dressed as a native and doing some wacky made-up South Pacific dance in front of the Japanese soldiers/black-marketers.
I suppose the writers had to come up with something to spoil Captain Binghamton's big chance to transfer to COMFLEET, but anyone who has had to reconcile an inventory for simple custody transfer reasons knows that the Barrage Balloon and probably half of that other crap on that inventory could have been "creatively" dealt with in the "final disposition" column of the Navy inventory form just by McHale, Gruber, and the Captain sitting down for a few minutes with a number 2 pencil, and Binghamton would have winging his way up to a happy Admiral Rogers....
Could you imagine trying to transfer a commanding officer during WW2 if he had to locate every unaccounted for paper clip before he could physically depart his present command?
McHale's Navy: A Da-Da for Christy (1964)
...maybe a better approach to the Captain...?
I won't burden you with retelling of the overall plot.
What I enjoy is picking out simple plot devices in episodes that perhaps would have gone differently, i. e. more successfully or realistically, in similar circumstance. For instance, in this episode, I think if McHale and Parker had BEGAN their verbal request of Captain Binghamton for use of the base radio with a quick explanation of the short term opportunity Petty Officer Christopher had that evening to receive a ham radio transmission of his toddler's voice, THEN broached the subject of use of the Taratupa base radio, the Captain may have been more receptive to the idea. At least that is what I was yelling into my TV screen when I watched this enjoyable episode which I gave a 7 out of 10.
The best parts of this episode were of Ensign Parker and his magnificent grenade handling skills, and later the Captains' responses to Lieutenant Carpy's nagging about continuing to aggressively investigate the 73 crew near the end of the episode when Binghamton is merrily talking to the "baby."
McHale's Navy: All Chiefs and No Indians (1965)
Blooper
In the shot where Fugitive is speaking to McHale on the telephone, you can see the shadow of the camera boom moving and film crew moving around in the background near the bushes....
McHale's Navy: The Truth Hurts (1965)
One of my favorite episodes... I've always wondered in fantasyland what would've happened to the Captain after that irrational behavior toward the Admiral and the M.D.
This is one of the more satisfying endings to a McHale's Navy episode and really highlights the genius comic talent of Joe Flynn. Went, under the influence of the "truth serum" medication, the captain publicly rails on about his true demented feelings toward McHale AND Admiral Rogers, it is true comeuppance for the captain. An episode to be viewed over and over again.
McHale's Navy: The Happy Sleepwalker (1963)
Mr. Parker's mother must be ahead of her time....
Great episode.... But I wonder if anyone else picked up on the continuity slip when Mr. Parker complaints to the rest of the crew that crewman Happy Haines swiped the picture of his (Ensign Parker) mother from his hut while sleep walking. Mr. Parker exclaims it's the picture of his mother in a Bikini. The "Bikini" wasn't invented until 1946 and was named after the island chain where the post-war atomic bombs were being tested in the Pacific Ocean area.