Hellcats of the Navy
by Nathan Juran
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arthur Franz, Nancy Davis, Robert Arthur, Ronald Reagan, William LeslieDirector: Nathan Juran
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Hellcats of the Navy
Movie Review: Ron and Nancy's only silver-screen hookup
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, most of us saw this movie just to see Ron and Nancy in their only silver-screen hookup. The novelty factor clearly is there, but is there something more to this movie?
I think so.
Although not on par with "Hunt For Red October" or "Run Silent, Run Deep," this is a great sub flick. I think it certainly is within the genre's top 10. Having Admiral Nimitz in the film's introduction was nice touch, but it left me wondering if this was fiction, history, or historical fiction. It was based on real events and by a novel co-written by an admiral and an Air Force general. Anyhow, it was filmed in connection with the USN, and has the tang of bittersweet authenticity.
The setting and macro-conflict is the Pacific Theater of WWII, but the critical issues revolve around the ethical mirco-conflicts between the many and the one that are the meat and drink of warfare.
The first conflict--which sets the film's theme and tone--involves Abbot choosing to abandon a frogman rather than sacrifice his entire sub to the Japanese fleet. In this instance, the many won out over the one.
(By the way, this film is authentic--you do get the J-word.)
The tension sharpens when a crewman and the OX object to Abbot's decision. Not just for the sake of the one seaman, but because that particular seaman has stolen Abbot's girl (Nancy). How is that for a sticky plot?
The second involved Abbot turning back from a mission to save a wounded seaman. In this case, the one won out over the many.
The third involved Abbot's choice to take his crippled sub and map out a minefield necessary for the broader macro-conflict. He chose to risk the sub, map the field, and lost the sub and sixty seamen, but got the map back to HQ, in preparation for the invasion. The many--the whole Pacific front--won out over the few--the 60 seaman.
Throughout the film the XO criticized Abbot, even to the point of backstabbing. Yet the fourth and final conflict involves a bit of poetic justice with the shoe being on the other foot. Abbot is underwater untangling a cable caught in the screw. With the approach of a Japanese destroyer, the XO chooses to submerge with Regan still snarled in the cable. Again, the many wins out over the one.
Abbot is consistently ethical. Although the second conflict seems to be an exception, it is not: the context of the choice was different than the other three. Since there was no immediate danger (as in the first and fourth cases), nor an immediate opportunity to turn the tide of the war (as in case three) , the decision is consistent.
Admittedly, it would have been better to have all of his principles and algorithms, but the format did not allow. "In fact this is the reason why all things are not determined by law, that about some things it is impossible to lay down a law, so that a decree is needed." Nic. Ethics V.10.
The Film is a series of hard ethical choices, and the message is clear: in a pinch, the larger picture wins out over any smaller considerations. In the "Big Speech" scene where Abbot lets the XO have a piece of his mind, he observes that you need to make ethical choices based on reason, cold, solid, lonely reason. There is no room of any bleeding-heart emotion in life and death situations.
The XO is not rational, but an emotionalist. All of his decisions--such as plugging the leaks in the crippled sub and sparing a seam who should be doing it--are based on the warm fuzzes. In peacetime, it may be acceptable, but during a war and on a warship this is unacceptable. Over the long term, such small decisions will destroy the long-term objective of winning the war.
That is profound enough, but the writers make another observation: The emotionalist thinks everyone makes decisions emotionally--case in point being the first conflict. The XO assumes that Abbot let the frogman die in order to get his girl back, similar to the Biblical case of King David and Uriah. Of course this is false, and Abbot's point stands--the emotionalist cannot understand the rationalist in the same sense that a savage cannot understand Socrates. Consequently, a emotionalist really cannot live--in the Socratic sense of a well-examined life.
So what does this film mean, considering the Global War on Terrorism? After the first conflict, I was surprised 1) that the Vice-Admiral sanctioned the action, and 2) there was no leaking of this to the media. Nowadays if a skipper did this, there would be a media condemnation, trial, conviction, hanging, and a false extrapolation of blood corruption and bloodlust to all servicemen. You fill in the blanks.
Since we are unwilling to be rationalist in times of war, the question remains, "Can we win this war?"
Additionally, there are two other revealing ethical calls. The first has to do with a floating craps game. He knows its going on, telegraphs his entrance, and confiscates the dice, but overall he winks at it. He keeps his sub shipshape, but is not a Queeg.
The second has to do with the backstabbing aboard the new sub. What the OX did was clearly insubordination, and he at least deserved to be formally reprimanded or transferred. Yet Abbot not only let it slide, he turned the other cheek and commended the XO's courage. "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" What a class act!
*
The transfer is unquestionably 5, the DVD extras are about a 2--at least the menus look nice. Reagan's acting is a 3.5, Nancy makes a better First Lady than actress, and characterization is merely platonic forms. Do expect a morality play.
Summary of Hellcats of the Navy
Ronald Reagan plays Casey Abbott, commander of a WW2 submarine, while Nancy Davis portrays Helen, a navy nurse, Abbott's off-and-on girlfriend. Abbott is forced to leave a frogman behind to save the rest of his crew. But Abbott's second-in-command is convinced that Abbott's sacrifice of Barton was due to the fact that the dead man had been amorously pursuing Helen.As the sole movie co-starring Hollywood's only First Couple, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis, Hellcats of the Navy is either a privileged artifact or a hootworthy campfest, depending on your politics. Reagan plays a submarine ("hellcat") commander in the Pacific during World War II; Davis is the game little nurse back on shore who's decided he's (this is a quote) "Mr. Right." They share maybe eight minutes among the film's 82. Reagan's commander is a pretty glum guy, making unpopular life-or-death decisions into which his executive officer (Arthur Franz) reads nasty personal motives. This is a B movie all the way: drab supporting cast, script and direction that can't even get the cliches right, and bland studio footage of the actors intercut with speckly stock action shots and blatant miniatures exploding. Any contemporaneous episode of the syndicated TV series The Silent Service got more sense of excitement and wartime pressure aboard a submarine. Now if only the DVD had included that classic Saturday Night Live takeoff with Ron Reagan Jr. time-traveling back to the Hellcats set to spark the romance between dad (Randy Quaid) and mom (Terry Sweeney).... --Richard T. Jameson
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