Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
Encyclopedia
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958
) is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Max Shulman
, directed by Leo McCarey
, starring Paul Newman
and Joanne Woodward
, and released by 20th Century Fox
. The title comes from a line in the song "Battle Cry of Freedom
".
Harry is made the liaison for the military, and Grace's activities cause him no end of trouble. Added to the dilemma is Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins
) whose efforts to get Harry for herself lead to dizzying recriminations and misunderstandings.
, but was taken over by Jack Carson after Douglas ended up being ill, according to a July 1958 The Hollywood Reporter
news item.
A March 1958 item noted that New York-born actor Mickey Shaughnessy
was set for a featured role, however, he did not appear in the film. A Daily Variety
news item says that in March 1958, Buddy Adler was set to produce the movie, and was considering the film to star Frank Sinatra
, Deborah Kerr
and William Holden
. Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! first premiered in New York City
theatres on December 23, 1958.
held on September 23, 1959 and received 4th place for both Top Comedy Female Performance (Joanne Woodward) and Top Comedy. Director Leo McCarey was later nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award in 1960 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!.
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
) is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Max Shulman
Max Shulman
Max Shulman was an American writer and humorist best known for his television and short story character Dobie Gillis, as well as for best-selling novels.-Early life and career:...
, directed by Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey
Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. During his lifetime he was involved in nearly 200 movies, especially comedies...
, starring Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
, and released by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. The title comes from a line in the song "Battle Cry of Freedom
Battle Cry of Freedom
"Battle Cry of Freedom" is a song written in 1862 by American composer George F. Root during the American Civil War. A patriotic song advocating the cause of the Union, it became so popular that composer H. L. Schreiner and lyricist W. H. Barnes adapted it for the Confederate States of America...
".
Plot summary
Set in the fictional town of Putnam's Landing, Commuter Harry Bannerman (Newman) is slowly going insane because of his wife Grace (Woodward), who insists on attending every civic committee meeting. When the government selects their town for their new missile base, Grace joins a committee to stop it.Harry is made the liaison for the military, and Grace's activities cause him no end of trouble. Added to the dilemma is Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
) whose efforts to get Harry for herself lead to dizzying recriminations and misunderstandings.
Production
Production on Rally Round the Flag, Boys! started in mid-June 1958 and ended in mid-August. The role of Captain Hoxie was originally going to be portrayed by Paul DouglasPaul Douglas (actor)
Paul Douglas was an American actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer.-Career:...
, but was taken over by Jack Carson after Douglas ended up being ill, according to a July 1958 The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
news item.
A March 1958 item noted that New York-born actor Mickey Shaughnessy
Mickey Shaughnessy
Joseph Michael "Mickey" Shaughnessy was an Irish American character actor who specialized in playing lovable, but not-too-bright lugs...
was set for a featured role, however, he did not appear in the film. A Daily Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
news item says that in March 1958, Buddy Adler was set to produce the movie, and was considering the film to star Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
and William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
. Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! first premiered in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
theatres on December 23, 1958.
Awards
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! was nominated for the Golden Laurel AwardsLaurel Awards
The Laurel Awards were cinema awards to honor pictures, actors, actresses, directors and composers. This award was created by Motion Picture Exhibitor magazine, and ran from 1958 to 1968, then 1970 and 1971....
held on September 23, 1959 and received 4th place for both Top Comedy Female Performance (Joanne Woodward) and Top Comedy. Director Leo McCarey was later nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award in 1960 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!.
Cast
- Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
as Harry Bannerman - Joanne WoodwardJoanne WoodwardJoanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
as Grace Bannerman - Joan CollinsJoan CollinsJoan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
as Angela Hoffa - Jack CarsonJack CarsonJohn Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...
as Captain Hoxie - Tuesday WeldTuesday WeldTuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
as Comfort Goodpasture - Dwayne HickmanDwayne HickmanDwayne Bernard Hickman is a former American actor and television executive at CBS.He is known primarily for his "teenage" actor roles on television sitcoms. The naturally brown-headed Hickman is best known for playing Chuck MacDonald, Bob Collins's crazy teenaged nephew, on the popular 1950s...
as Grady Metcalf, Comfort's suitor - Gale GordonGale GordonGale Gordon was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television situation comedy, The Lucy Show...
as General Thorwald - Tom GilsonTom GilsonTom Gilson was an American actor in TV and occasional films from the 1950s, who was shot dead by his wife, model and actress Sandra Edwards, on October 6, 1962.-Biography:...
as Corporal Opie - O.Z. WhiteheadO.Z. WhiteheadOothout Zabriskie Whitehead was born in New York City and attended Harvard University. Called "O.Z." or "Zebby", he was a stage star and a prominent character actor who also authored several volumes of biographical sketches of early members of the Bahá'í Faith especially in the West after he...
as Isaac Goodpasture, Comfort's Father - Robert Banas as Delinquent
- William BenedictWilliam BenedictWilliam Benedict was an American actor. Born in Haskell, Oklahoma, he took part in school theatricals, and on leaving school he made his way to Hollywood. His first film was $10 Raise starring Edward Everett Horton, which launched Benedict on a busy career...
as Bellhop - Robert Bohanan as Man at Phone
- Tap Canutt as Soldier
- Alan CarneyAlan CarneyAlan Carney was an American actor and comedian.Alan Carney was born David Boughal in Brooklyn, New York. He had performed in vaudeville for years as a comic dialectican. After making his first film, 1941's Convoy, Carney signed a contract at RKO Pictures, in choice supporting roles in such films...
as Bartender, Owner - Richard Collier as Zack Crummitt
- Richard H. Cutting as St. Regis Hotel Clerk
- Franklyn FarnumFranklyn FarnumWilliam Smith , better known by his screen name, Franklyn Farnum, was an American character actor and Hollywood extra who appeared in 433 productions between the years 1916 and 1961....
as Man at Town Meeting - Bess FlowersBess FlowersBess Flowers was an American actress. By some counts considered the most prolific actress in the history of Hollywood, she was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in over 700 movies in her 41 year career....
as Red-Hatted Lady at Town Meeting - Jack GingJack GingJack Lee Ging is an American actor best known for his role as General Harlan 'Bull' Fullbright in the NBC television series The A-Team.-Early life:...
as Hoxie's Driver - James Gonzales as Commuter
- James Goodwin as Young Drunk
- David HedisonDavid HedisonAlbert David Hedison, Jr. is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage television series Five Fingers, NBC insisted that he change his name...
as Narrator - Percy HeltonPercy HeltonPercy Helton was an American film and television actor.One of his most memorable supporting roles was playing a drunken Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street. He also appeared in small but memorable roles in Criss Cross , The Set-Up , Kiss Me Deadly and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...
as Waldo Pike, the Plumber - Joseph Holland as Town Official
- Jess Kirkpatrick as Train Conductor
- Stanley LivingstonStanley LivingstonStanley Livingston is an American actor, best known for playing Richard "Chip" Douglas, the third son of Steve Douglas on the long running television series My Three Sons. He and MacMurray were the only actors to appear throughout the series...
as Peter Bannerman - Jon LormerJon LormerJon Lormier was an American actor.Born as Jonathan Lormier, he appeared in three separate roles in Star Trek: The Original Series: as Dr...
as George Melvin - Ken Miller as Delinquent
- Jimmy Murphy as Soldier
- Burt MustinBurt MustinBurton Hill "Burt" Mustin was an American character actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to W. I. and Sadie Mustin, Mustin was a 1903 graduate of the Pennsylvania Military College , earning his degree in civil engineering...
as Milton Evans, Town Meeting Chairman - Sammy Ogg as Delinquent
- Nora O'Mahoney as Town Meeting Speaker
- Ralph Osborn III as Danny Bannerman
- LeRoy Prinz Jr. as Delinquent
- John Roy as Air Force General
- Page Slattery as Club Car Commuter
- Charles Tannen as TV Director
- Arthur Tovey as Man at Town Meeting
- Nick VenetNick VenetNick Venet was an American record producer who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz...
as Delinquent - Murvyn Vye as Oscar Hoffa