PT-109 (1963)

                Joseph Kennedy had been a Hollywood producer and still had connections to the studios.  He convinced Warner Brothers to buy the rights to Robert Donovan’s PT-109:  John F. Kennedy in World War II.  He saw a film about his son as a political plus.  Jack Warner took a personal interest in the project.  There would be some problems.  Kennedy had input on casting and the script.  He insisted on historical accuracy and that the profits would go to the men and families of PT-109.  (Unfortunately, there were no profits as the movie got a lukewarm reception.)  He sent his good friend and war buddy Alvin Cluster as liaison to the studio.  Cluster had been a PT boat commander during the war and had been Kennedy’s commanding officer for a while.  Several actors were considered for the lead.  Jackie wanted Warren Beatty, but he did not like the script.  The studio suggested teen idol Edd Byrnes, but JFK did not want “Kookie” playing him.  Cliff Robertson got the job, even though he was 40 years old playing a 26 year-old.  Robertson got approval to not attempt the accent, but he did change the part in his hair.  The studio wanted Raoul Walsh to direct, but after the White House screened his “Marines, Let’s Go!” and JFK hated it, he was out.  Lewis Milestone of “All Quiet…” fame landed the job, but he didn’t last either because he did not like the script or the studio did not like his cost overruns.  Leslie Martinson, a career TV director, was a big step down.  However, he was a safe choice who did not make waves about the standard, unchallenging story.  The filming was done in the Florida Keys using Air Sea Rescue boats modified to look like patrol torpedo boats.  They did not bother to paint them the wartime dark green.  The movie was released five months before the assassination and became the first movie about a President to be released while he was in office.

                Narration by Andrew Duggan tells the audience that the setting is the Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands.  The mission of the PTs is to harass the enemy and buy time for “a navy that was still on the drawing board.”  The craft were fragile wooden boats that were described as “wooden coffins”.  Kennedy (Robertson) pulls strings to get a combat assignment.  He is given a lemon with a motley crew.  It has just survived an attack by Zeros (actually AT-6 Texans, of course) dropping bombs they don’t have.  The boat will need fixing and the crew will need firm leadership.  This will be easy as the crew has no dysfunction and a future President in charge.  Their first mission is to rescue a Marine raiding unit from an island.  It gets hairy with some suspense and plenty of noise.  Later, the boat is buzzed by a Zero that doesn’t bother to strafe them.  I guess it just wanted some screen time.  (In a head scratcher, PT-109 shoots down the plane, but does not fire a torpedo in the whole movie.)  This all leads to the dark night when the boat gets rammed by a Japanese warship.  Two of the crew are killed, but Kennedy helps get the survivors to a nearby island.  Now it’s a matter of maintaining morale and arranging a rescue.  The future President will be up to the tasks.

                Kennedy supposedly enjoyed the movie, but later told Warren Beatty that he had been right about the inadequacies of the script.  Of course, what could he have expected?  A warts and all biopic like “Patton”?  The studio chose well when it tabbed Martinson to direct.  The movie has the vanilla flavor of a 1960’s TV movie.  It is a standard small unit movie with the requisite leadership arc for the main character.  Unfortunately, since JFK obviously had fond memories of his crew, none of the characters rock the boat.  There’s no tension.  There’s some minor grumbling when they are shipwrecked, but nowhere near a mutiny.  Normally, in a picture like this, the leader makes some mistakes to learn from.  But this is Kennedy.  He’s basically a saint in the movie.   And his crew is bland.  With that said, the movie does not lay his story on thick.  Nothing happens that is ridiculous.  Kennedy is no superhero.

                The cast is full of familiar faces.  Ty Hardin is the exec, Robert Culp plays a Ens. Barney Ross.  (The real Ross has a role as a CPO who chews Kennedy out.)  We also get Robert Blake and Norman Fell.  James Gregory plays Kennedy’s a-hole commanding officer because someone had to.  They are all competent and manage to take the dialogue seriously, no mean feat.  Luckily for their thespian efforts, the music was put in during the editing stage.  This movie has some of the most generic, lame war movie music you will ever hear.  It’s not often you can say that a score is the biggest flaw of a movie.  The action scenes are well done, especially the ramming.  That reenactment is fairly close to reality.  Overall, the movie is as accurate as you could expect.  Kennedy was a legit hero and his story was entertaining enough without enhancement.  Speaking of heroes, the movie gives some recognition to the coast watchers.

                I remembered “PT-109” fondly from my childhood.  It is the kind of movie that had an impact on teenage boys in the 1960’s.  It does not hold up well under scrutiny as a war movie, but it is not an embarrassment and I don’t question myself for having liked it.  The more war movies I have seen, the more the generic elements stand out.  Like the music and the dialogue.  Plus since the trend has been to deal with personality flaws in biopics, this movie has the feel of hagiography.  There is not even a hint that Lt. Kennedy screwed up that fateful night.  There’s no irony that a Presidency may have been launched from a mistake.   But then, we would not have had the movie if questions were raised or character was questioned.

GRADE  =  C+

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  Kennedy’s father pulled strings to get him into the Navy.  His son suffered from a bad back, ulcers, and asthma.  And then he convinced Lt. Commander John Bulkeley (of “They Were Expendable” fame) to take him into PT boats.  He did well, in spite of his health problems.  Next, a senator used his influence to get JFK transferred to combat in the Solomons.  On the transport on the way over, an attack by a number of Japanese planes killed the captain.  Kennedy helped pass shells to an anti-aircraft gun.  When he arrived at Tulagi, he was given PT-109, but it was not a bad boat.  It had been in combat for several months and the crew was veteran.  Kennedy did help with routine repairs.  There was a big attack on the base.  The incident involving the rescue of the Marines actually happened a few months after the sinking of PT-109 when Kennedy was captain of the PT-59.  The boat did run out of gas and had to be towed, but the Japanese firing on it was probably Hollywood.  The mission when the ramming occurred involved more than a dozen boats attempting to intercept four Japanese destroyers.  Although numerous torpedoes were fired, none hit.  PT-109 did not fire any.  The ramming occurred as the Japanese were egressing.  The official version is Kennedy attempted to evade the warship, but the boat did not maneuver quickly enough.  This could have been slow response from Kennedy or possibly a mess-up by a crewman that Kennedy took responsibility for.  The Amagiri probably did not even know it had sliced through the little boat.  PT-109 was cut in two and two crewmen were killed instantly.  They swam four hours to a nearby island with Kennedy towing a badly wounded man.  Unfortunately, the island was devoid of food or water.  The next night, Kennedy swam into the passage to try to contact another PT boat.  Two nights later, the crew swam to another island where they found coconuts, but still no water.  Then JFK and George Ross swam to a third island where they encountered two natives.  Unlike in the movie, the natives were not typical.  They worked with a coast watcher who had been searching for Kennedy’s crew since he had seen the explosion of the boat.  Kennedy sent a note carved on a coconut shell by way of the natives and a PT was sent to pick them up.