MovieChat Forums > What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) Discussion > what is so funny about this movie, daddy...

what is so funny about this movie, daddy?

posted 13 years ago by mam13143
7 replies | jump to latest

Well I'm not going to harp about sterotypes, or anti-war messages or anything like that. There is only one thing that bothers me about this movie -- it is a Blake Edwards comedy that is not funny in the least. I remembered seeing it when it first came out and thought it wasn't funny then; and now I decided to see it today to see if my memory served me wrong -- and it didn't. Hard to believe this is the same Blake Edwards that made all those other great comedies. The dirth of comments on the movie gives you an indication of how unappealing it is. A waste of time -- sadly.

[–] Sgt_klink 13 years ago

It is that or just you don't have a sense of humour? I think your just too PC for this kind of movie. Lighten up, it's just a movie.

[–] pmiano100 13 years ago

And it stinks.

[–] phrumpster 13 years ago

Sux almost as much as his Pink Panther movies.

Poets are made by fools like me, but only God can make STD.

[–] Frog-Legs 11 years ago

Not enough humour, way too long and a waste of James Coburn's talent

[–] mam13143 10 years ago

I saw this when it first came out and didn't think it was funny then and when I saw it years later I still thought it was boring. Even the audience didn't laugh. Dick Shawn always been a lightweight and the rest of the cast looks like they are going through the motions, and there are some first class actors in it. Blake Edwards early in his career trying out things we get to see more polished in future movies. Just my opinion. I'm sure some folks like it, and that is fine too.

[–] mchnive 9 years ago

I concur- I didn't find any humor in this movie. It hardly resembles a Blake Edwards comedy at all. A really bad movie.

[–] sambuca62 9 years ago

Definitely could have been funnier. The concept itself is great. James Coburn, Dick Shawn and Aldo Ray all were wasted and have been much funnier in other movies. Even Coburn's Flint movies are much lighter and fun.

I have a hunch that this movie's comedic pacing was botched. The trivia section said Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty wanted the first twenty minutes to be a straight war film that later turns comedic. The trivia comment said they instead decided to go for the comedy from the start. This confused me because the first twenty minutes seem far too serious. Who wants to see Dick Shawn as an overly-serious by the book military officer? Even the scene where he first meets his men in the chow line, he is far too straight-laced. There's also a small bordello in the town that hardly gets any notice in the film. This seems like a logical source of comedy and frivolity. As with some movie comedies, the film gets somewhat bogged down struggling to finish the story and providing limited war action even if that action is non-violent.

Harry Morgan does a turn here that is an obvious precursor to his one episode appearance in M*A*S*H as the crazy, unstable General Steele. He later became a regular as Colonel Potter.