Enjoyable Little Film

I enjoy movies about wars where the war is just a backdrop. Movies like Gone with the Wind, Kelly's Heroes or more recently, Monuments Men. This movie falls into a similar genre where the war is just a plot device and not the reason for the film. In other words, this is not a movie about the war like Sands of Iwo Jima, but is about the characters who are being affected. What's Next, Corporal Hargrove? is a sequel to "See Here, Private Hargrove" based on the life of war correspondent Marion Hargrove.

Robert Walker is newly promoted artillery battery leader, Corporal Hargrove. Through a series of circumstances Corporal Hargrove and his men wander into a French village and are received as liberators. When the full Army arrives, Hargrove is promoted to being a liaison with the village. He also meets a pretty French girl, Jeanne, who is very aggressive and absolutely gorgeous. Hargrove continues to stumble into more scenarios that make him out to be a hero, but are just blind luck. Keenan Wynn plays his buddy, Thomas Mulvehill. Tom is a schemer, making for a nice foil to his more straight-laced partner. My favorite character was Chill Willis' Sgt. Camp. Willis gives a fantastic performance by being both gruff and a mother hen at the same time. I had a first sergeant like him. One minute he was chewing me out and the next he would asked if I wanted to go to chow.

Walker plays Hargrove as just a bit naïve without being a fool. Wynn is good as the guy we all knew in the military who was always playing an angle or running a con. The supporting cast of commanders and fellow soldiers don't really reflect the people I met in my military career, but they reflect the Hollywood version of soldiers.

Despite this being a comedy, there is a great scene of Hargrove as a forward controller calling in artillery strikes. Its played straight and gives you a pretty good indication of how this process worked. I was pretty impressed with this bit of reality in an otherwise average comedy.

My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.