KPFK

[Dennis Breslin]

>
> The Caine Mutiny was most interesting as both novel and movie.  It's
> fascinating to see a novelist offer such a dim view of the sly,
manipulative
> ways of novelists, as he does in his portrayal of Lt. Keefer (if I
remember
> it right) who really was the architect of the Caine Mutiny, as Lt. Barney
> Greenwald points out in his scorching confrontation with Keefer.  The
story
> also has a really stinging surprise ending with a (I must admit)
> hard-hitting defense of the professional military as people who --
whatever
> their limitations -- keep savagery at bay.
>
> Carl
>

I always disliked the ending in the movie - what with Queeg (sp?) having his
honor defended and, as you point out, defending the professionalism of
the military.  I served with some people who must have used Queeg as
a managerial model.  Luckily, one aborted a promising career by leaving
a very expensive submarine stuck on the mud of the Thames river
(in New London, that is).  Better the ending of A Few Good Men
where Nicholson's character barks his own defense of keeping the
savagery at bay but the attempt to shame the wimp lawyer makes
Nicholson's character look like a relic of another Hollywood
display of military leadership.  A shame Sept 11 will pull out
of mothballs a lot more relics.

DB