Operation Petticoat
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| Operation Petticoat | |
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| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Produced by | Robert Arthur |
| Written by | Paul King Joseph J. Stone Stanley J. Shapiro Maurice Richlin |
| Starring | Cary Grant Tony Curtis Dina Merrill Joan O'Brien |
| Music by | David Rose Henry Mancini (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Russell Harlan |
| Distributed by | Universal International |
| Release date(s) | December 5, 1959 |
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Language | English |
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| IMDb profile | |
Operation Petticoat is a 1959 comedic film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, and Dina Merrill, later adapted for television in 1977.
The film tells the story of a fictional World War II American submarine USS Sea Tiger, sunk in the Philippine Islands during the opening days of World War II. Operation Petticoat follows the adventures and tribulations of the sub's skipper (Grant) and his crew (including Curtis as a deviously mercenary supply officer), as they try to repair the sub and continue to Australia for the necessary refit. The voyage includes various detours along the way, including the acquisition of a group of stranded female Army nurses and a hurried stopover to overhaul and repaint the sub which quickly goes awry.
Other members of the cast include three actors who became television stars in the 1960s and 1970s: Gavin MacLeod of Love Boat and McHale's Navy as Yeoman Hunkle, Marion Ross of Happy Days as Lt. Colfax, and Dick Sargent, (later to star in the series Bewitched), as Lt. Stovall.
The movie was written by Paul King & Joseph Stone (story) and Stanley Shapiro & Maurice Richlin (screenplay). It received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Screenplay.
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[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of the World War II American submarine USS Sea Tiger, sunk during the opening days of the Pacific War, and the crazy adventures of the subs skipper (Grant) and his crew, including Curtis as a less-than straight-laced Supply Officer, as they try to raise the sub and sail it to Australia for the repairs necessary to re-enter the war. This includes picking up a contingent of female Army nurses on one Philippine island and being forced to paint the sub pink when not enough of either red or white undercoat paint is available at another.
[edit] Historical basis
Some of the plot points of the movie were based on real-life incidents. Most notable were scenes set at the opening of WW-II, based on the actual sinking of the submarine USS Sealion (SS-195), sunk at the pier at Cavite Navy Yard, the Philippines; Commander Sherman's letter to the supply department on the inexplicable lack of toilet paper, based on an actual letter to the supply department of Mare Island Naval Shipyard by Lieutenant Commander James Wiggin Coe of the submarine Skipjack (SS-184); and the need to paint a submarine pink, due to the lack of enough red lead or white lead undercoat paint.
See also: 1959 in film
[edit] 1977 television series
The movie was adapted as an ABC-TV series which ran from 1977 to 1979. Initially starring John Astin in Cary Grant's role of Lt. Commander Sherman, the TV series was probably most notable for the casting of Tony Curtis' daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, in the role of Lt. Duran, the female nurse that the Curtis character marries by the end of the original movie. Most of the cast was replaced for the show's second season, a decision that led to low ratings and cancellation.[citation needed] Only 24 episodes of the series were produced in total.
See also: 1977 in television
[edit] External links
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