McHALE'S NAVY

US, 1997, 108 minutes, Colour.
Tom Arnold, Dean Stockwell, Debra Messing, Ernest Borgnine, David Allen Grier, Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell.
Directed by Bryan Spicer.

Mc Navy was a very popular television series starring Ernest Borgnine. This was a remake for the thousands of fans of the television series and those interested in a remake – which, in fact, not entirely undeservedly, was nominated for a Razzzie Award for the worst remake of the year.

Tom Arnold is Mc Hale – revealed at the end of the film to be the son of Cobra, a high-powered official in the Pentagon, playing by Ernest Borgnine himself. Tom Arnold, who could pass for Borgnine’s son, suits the role of the former naval officer now become scrounger and supplier of all kinds of goods, alcohol, ice cream, sexy pictures… to sailors on the Caribbean island, his former crew, but now idling away their time.

A new officer is sent, someone who is prone to accidents and has an elevated opinion of himself – with Dean Stockwell hamming it up in the role. His assistant is Debra Messing, at the time of the beginning of the series Will and Grace. She begins as a by the book officer, shocked at the behaviour of the sailors as well as of Mc Hale, but soon sees through her commander, is interested in Mc Hale and helps him in his quest. Amongst the sailors on the island is David Allen Grier, miming his way, over the top, through his performance as an inept officer who is used as a spy by the new commander, but helps Mc Hale and his group, even rescuing (or being rescued) by the young boy that Mc Hale is caring for after the death of his father in the campaign in Panama – but promising to look after him and his family not knowing at the time that the family was the extended group in the village. The new commander is hostile to Mc Hale, tries to imprison him, then receives news from Cobra that there is a terrorist on an adjacent land and that Mc Hale is to lead the attack against him.

Actually, the film opens with the terrorist arriving, with three international backers, and taking control of toadying mayor of the island – and in answer to complaints by the villagers that his bases to close, he bombs or the buildings to move the villagers away. He is played for satirical laughs by Tim Curry, over the top, but acceptably so for the character and for Tim Curry’s performance – along with a British psychologist who has two counsel him hour by our.

The world’s second terrorist was trained at Quantico, knows the American secrets, has his own private army, had previously tangled with Mc Hale in Panama. He sets up missiles and fires them onto Mc Hale’s house as well is his boat. In the meantime, Mc Hale’s Navy does some espionage on the terrorist site, even going to Cuba to get some technical replacements – with the opportunity of Grier mimicking Fidel Castro.
As it is, the terrorist explodes his bomb onto his colleagues, wanting not a new world order but no world order.

The film culminates with the commander detonating all the weapons, Cobra flying to the island and almost shot down in his helicopter, boat chases between Mc Hale and the terrorist – with the ultimate elimination of the terrorist, people getting medals, Debra Messing riding off with Mc Hale – and the commander reduced to playing baseball with the children on the new baseball field.