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This is a movie that was not generally recognized when released, but which has over time become a cult favorite. John Ford once again returns to Monument Valley to give us a tale of soldiering, military justice, and who-done-it, with a strong racial overtone. The film is a good one, with an unusual mystery angle, and survives by overcoming the handicap of some very bad acting. Jeffery Hunter and Constance Towers are fine in their roles, Juano Hernandez is believable as an old soldier whose friend has been accused of a heinous crime, and Woody Strode handles the title role with dignity and appealing intensity. Strode once remarked that in this film John Ford "put some good words in my mouth," and he certainly did. The anchor that this film drags is in the deplorable acting by most of the supporting cast. The murdered young girl and her boyfriend are uncredited, and deservedly so. The usually dependable Willis Bouchey blusters and stumbles through his role as the president of the court-martial, while the other court members engage in what can only be called slapstick. Billie Burke, in her final role, is plain silly, and Carleton Young is irritatingly overbearing as the chief prosecutor. The Razzie for this film, though, goes to Fred Libby as the post sutler, who chews the scenery completely up in the film's climax, a performance that is painful to watch. The film, despite this major drawback, is worth seeing. Ford, who had approached the subject of racism four years earlier in "The Searchers," is less subtle in his approach here, but handles the subject expertly, telling the story of the Ninth Cavalry's "Buffalo Soldiers" with the respect that their place in history deserves.

A nice adaptation of the stage play, maybe the best ever for a movie. Thank Hollywood for starring Preston instead of whatever actor was currently hot, something they don't always do. (See 'My Fair Lady,' 'Hello Dolly,' etc.) I, too, wish that Barbara Cook had been Marian, although I have no problem with Shirley Jones in anything she does. I disagree with the slam against Susan Luckey, though. I have been in two community theater productions of MM, and seen it twice done by professional companies, and the character of Zaneeta Shinn was in all four productions played exactly as Susan Luckey played her. 'Ye gods!' One other small issue with a previous review, writer Marion Hargrove is a 'he,' not a 'she.'

All-in-all, a fun movie, based on the best Broadway musical of them all.

I've loved Goldie Hawn since her 'Laugh-In' days, and never miss anything she does, but this one was confusing to me. Were the producers trying to make a comedy? They did, up to a point. The movie is crude comedy typical of other Hollywood 'misfit in military training' slapsticks (see 'Stripes'), up to the scene in Colonel Thornbush's office in which Judy accuses the Colonel of attempted rape. From that point on, there is not a single laugh, and the plot shifts to cold war politics, a potentially abusive relationship and revenge. Even the Eileen Brennan character, a comic foil for Hawn in the first half, becomes a mean-spirited superior, out to destroy Benjamin's career. The lead user comment on this site refers to Judy Benjamin as a woman seeking her identity. I would say the same for the movie, and regret that it never discovered exactly what it was trying to be. 5/10.

This is a surprisingly engaging war film, considering there are no action scenes. The movie is well-acted, although Dennis Weaver's "Chester" accent is a bit over-the-top. Cagney is superb as Admiral Halsey, in my opinion his best role ever. His understated pain in ordering only a 'routine' search for his missing son is beautiful, and the heart-to-heart with Roy Webb over the day's combat losses is a textbook lesson in the responsibilities of command. The use of the off-screen narrator in lieu of subtitles to present the Japanese side of the issue is tremendously effective; one wishes it had been used in other films as well. Although there are no combat scenes in the movie, the suspense is palpable as the command staff lives the battle through the air-to-air and ship-to-ship transmissions of men fighting for their lives.

For the war movie or history buff, or the die-hard Cagney fan, this is a fine movie!

The best indictment of the believability of this movie came while I was an instructor in the USAF Fighter Lead-in Program at Holloman AFB, NM. We had a USN student in one class, and I was ragging on him pretty good about all the Hollywood BS that was in "Top Gun." After I mentioned that the Soviet tactic for defeating the F-14 was to get in front and catch it in your jetwash, he shut me up real good when he replied, "Sir, you keep this up and I'll bring up "Iron Eagle!" He sure had me there.

Good flick if you know nothing about military flying or you're about 10 years old and dream of being 16 and flying jets. Otherwise forget it.

Every time a Chevy Chase movie comes around, with the exception of "Caddyshack," I swear that I am NOT going to watch it! Every time, I do, and laugh my butt off! Then I hate myself for my weakness. This one is no exception, with low-brow, sometimes crude humor, several thoroughly obnoxious characters and one irritating hard-luck development after another, yet once again I laughed my butt off. Must be something to it. I treasure this movie mostly for one of the great lines of all time, Cousin Vicki's remark about french kissing(see 'Memorable Quotes'), delivered in true Elaine Vassal style by a 15-year old Jane Krakowski, playing, essentially, "Ally McBeal's" Elaine as a teeny-bopper. So much for "Vacation," now to wait around for "Fletch" and go through it all again.

Had this movie been titled "Airline Investigator" or "Cause and Effect" or even "How Did It Happen?", I would not have been quite so disappointed. Unfortunately, the title of the movie is "Fate Is The Hunter," supposedly based on Ernest K. Gann's grand and sweeping autobiographical work. The book is Gann's masterpiece, chronicling the career of an airline pilot from his first solo flight to his retirement, featuring wonderful accounts of many of the events that occur during a life spent in the air. The movie retains only the title; the rest of it was written as a basically original screenplay, not even close to Gann's work. It's not a bad movie, but it's not "Fate Is The Hunter!"

Jenkins's novel is one of the funniest books ever written, and THE funniest sports novel. The movie is a total trashing of Jenkins's work. It retains only the title, the names of a few of the characters, none of the book's plot, and none of its humor. The storyline bears absolutely no resemblance to the book. Billy Clyde's diary of the week leading to the Super Bowl, with all its hilarity, has been replaced by a silly look at self-improvement fads and crazes and Gene Autry music. Reynolds and Kristofferson are not believable as professional football players, although Kris would have been a great Elroy Blunt, had that important character been retained from the book. The problem was that Jenkins lost control of the scriptwriting. When the scene in which Billy Clyde and Shake are discussing their rating system for women was written, it used the Dudley Moore scale of 1-10, with 10 being tops. Jenkins informed the director that in the book, the scale went the other way, with a "1" being the top vote. He was informed, "This is the movie!"

I give this one a "1", using the movie's scale.

Seeing this movie always reminds me of what I remember summer being like, God! such a long time ago. The entire scene involving the "overnight", from the canoe procession to the end of the trip, is precious, and Tripper's story about the homicidal maniac is urban legend right out of my youth. A highly entertaining movie, made many times better by the awful sequels that followed.

Saw this movie at the age of 16 and fell immediately in love with Susan Hayward. The plot seems a bit contrived now, although it is fairly faithful to Froman's physical problem and her contributions in entertaining the troops in WWII. The music is wonderful! "Get Happy" is still one of my favorite movie production numbers. By the way, it is not Hayward doing the singing, but Jane Froman herself whose voice was dubbed into the soundtrack.