Waste of time

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The first half of this movie is rather ridiculous at best. All we basically hear about is cleaning up the 109.The real acting kudos goes here to James Gregory as the Commander. The year before he gave an outstanding performance as Angela Lansbury's dimwitted Senator husband up to his neck in political intrigue. With his loud, boisterous, booming voice, Gregory does well here as well.Even with the rather boring first half, the scenery is so beautiful that I expected a chorus of guys to come out and sing Bali Hai! That would have really been something.The picture does pick up when the boat is slammed and those on board are in the jungle. It appears that no one can find them. It is at this point that Kennedy showed excellent leadership qualities. Still, some of the scenes trapped on the islands reminded me of Gilligan's Island. There isn't that much action and am surprised that Hollywood didn't take liberties to spice those scenes up.Cliff Robertson gives a restrained performance as the future president. At least, he didn't try to emulate the Kennedy speech patterns. With it all, the picture is still a major disappointment.

The world of celluloid knows the 35th president of the United States as John F. Kennedy. He is certainly the most charismatic of all modern presidents and one destined to grace the memorable portrait walls of his Camelot. There are hundreds of notable exploits of the young Kennedy, but this film " P.T. 109 " ranks among the most memorable. Although the film accentuates the brief period the young Lt. J.G (junior Grade) arrived to the Solomon islands and took command the now famous craft, the actual story begins on the night of August 2nd, 1943. It was during a night action that Kennedy's ship was attacked by an enemy destroyer and it's survivors left for dead. Were it not for Kennedy's (Cliff Robertson) unwavering faith and confidence, the injured crew envisioned inevitable captured and slow starvation. As it was, his men later recounted their commander's indomitable courage and despite his injured spine, gave hope to his despairing men during that terrifying ordeal. The supporting cast includes Ty Hardin, James Gregory as Cmdr. C.R. Ritchie, Robert Culp, Norman Fell and Robert Blake as Charles 'Bucky' Harris. The fact the now legendary boat is a piece of history as is the equally immortal Kennedy, who is forever enshrined in the hearts of Americans, this movie easily takes it's place among the Classic annals of heroic men. ****

As someone born long after the Kennedy years, I admit that I don't really know what he was like, and I've certainly never read his book about his WWII experiences. But I have seen the movie version of "PT 109". I will say that it's worth seeing just because it is about one of our most beloved presidents, but otherwise, it's kinda jingoistic and not 100% interesting. We see how JFK (Cliff Robertson) was sort of unsure what to think of the war initially, but knew what to do once he started fighting.So, it's clearly a product of America's "age of innocence". But still, I recommend it just because it shows how Kennedy was actually someone whom we could trust in wartime. Also starring Robert Culp ("Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"), Grant Williams ("The Incredible Shrinking Man"), Robert Blake and Norman Fell.And yes, I think that the title sounds like a Beach Boys movie. That's just me, I guess.

I remember seeing this movie in the sixties, and have seen it several times over the years. It is entertaining, and very positive in it's portrayal of a young JFK. It is more of a love letter to JFK from Hollywood than a authentic retelling of history, however. This was done when the United States was in the midst of a romance with the new "Camelot", and accordingly much artistic license was taken at the expense of a authentic and unbiased depiction of the episode. Perhaps the film was meant to capture more of the spirit of the time than to portray strictly the hard facts of the event. In any case, it is still an enjoyable movie and is worth watching.