Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

* Yet the real moral of the story is that an articulate disgruntled crew member (officer or enlisted) who is not happy with the commander can be detrimental to morale by convincing others to agree with him. Keefer uses Captain Queeg's ball-bearings as a sign of insanity when they were really just a harmless nervous habit no worse than Keefer's smoking cigarettes. The captain offered the young officers a chance to discuss their feelings of his command and offer suggestions but perhaps brainwashed by Keefer's psychobabble refused to do so. Unlike the previous easy-going skipper Queeg was a by the book man but that should have been accepted and respected. Has those officers supported and respected Queeg instead of heeding Keefer things would have worked out.

The Caine Mutiny is regarded as a classic thriller of a mutiny aboard a naval ship in World War II that turns into a court room saga. In fact 'A Few Good Men' is really an updated remake.The destroyer Caine is a small creaky old ship whose rather relaxed captain is replaced by Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) a disciplinarian. As time goes on he upsets both his officers and crew and shows signs of paranoia, stress and even cowardice.Lieutenant Thomas Keefer (Fred MacMurray) who was a writer before being called up notices the signs of mental illness and tries to convince Executive Officer Steve Maryk (Van Johnson) to do something about it. Maryk refuses at first but finally takes over command when in a storm Queeg nearly capsizes the ship.Maryk and some of the other officers stand trial for mutiny and they are reluctantly defended by Lieutenant Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer) only after other military lawyers have turned them down.Of course it is not going to take much for Greenwald to expose Queeg's instability, under intense pressure Queeg takes out his stress balls. However Greenwald reserves his ire after the trial on Keefer for engineering the mutiny so one day he can publish a book about it and Maryk as well as others for not helping Queeg when he asked for help and it was clear he had seen too much of war.The film loses focus often when it concentrates on an irrelevant love story between an Ensign and his girlfriend. The film also has an uneven tone, not helped by the musical score.However Bogart delivers another 'against type' performance. His Queeg starts out confidently before spiralling downwards. There is solid support from Van Johnson and Fred McMurray whose character really is cynical and slippery, therefore rightly exposed at the end of the movie.

Being a late boomer on old movies, I've recently started watching some of them. I saw "Casablanca" for the first time about a month ago, and I basically thought it sucked. It was boring, and IMO, Bogart's acting in that movie just wasn't very good.I'd always heard about how this one was a great movie, though I was worried that Bogart's acting would be sub-par in it as well. In short - I feared another "Casablanca".Boy was I wrong!THIS was a great movie. Bogie really did deliver the goods in this one, and though it wasn't a huge part, Jose Ferrer was absolutely nails. Great acting in the rest of it as well, and it was a surprise to me to see Fred MacMurray play the part of a loser.Probably would have given it a 10 had it not been for the few strays of Keith's love life, and the toy ship in the typhoon was a little bit silly - but hey - it was 1954, so they did what they could.Great, great movie.

THE CAINE MUTINY is an extremely tense war drama based on several personal drama elements, conflict of male temperament, courage, duty and cowardice. A completely irrelevant romance pervaded the story. It does not cause a lot of damage, but it complicates the scenario. The plot is located on the Pacific battleground of World War II and describes the mutiny of the crew of the US destroyer-minesweeper USS Caine provoked by new and mentally unbalanced captain.This is an intriguing film, which in some parts causes anxiety. Characterization is good and relations between the protagonists are quite complex. Set design is quite expensive, considering that it does not help the credibility of the story. The music is pretty powerful trump card. The picture and staff were at times impressive. Theatricality at the end of the film is quite a surprise, the existence of a sort of anticlimax also.Van Johnson as Lieutenant Steve Maryk is the prime suspect and savior at the same time. He is alarmed officer who attempted to solve a complex problem. Fred MacMurray as Lieutenant Tom Keefer is fascinating as dwelt type of villain and an epitome of cowardice. Humphrey Bogart as Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg is the most complex character in the film. Quite a mysterious protagonist, who is lost in his own paranoia and hysteria. Robert Francis as Ensign Willis Seward "Willie" Keith is a romantic ensign who has a problem with his superiors. Very bad characterization, especially considering how much attention was given to the relationship between the mother and the son, who were eventually left undefined. José Ferrer as Lieutenant Barney Greenwald is quite interesting in the role of lawyer. I have impression that he was a lawyer to everyone in this film. The protagonist who brings understanding and insight into the story in a rather...strange wayGood war atmosphere does not guarantee a good movie, but this war drama is worth watching.