Operation Mad Ball

First: The Sony movie channel has been periodically showing this, in a hilariously good, maybe even remastered transfer. Look for it.

Second, ignore the poster, the marketing of the time, even the title. It's not slapstick, no impossibly improbable stuff and really, it's more like a heist movie than a pure comedy. All machinations of some scheming lower ranks to get a party together, all within or by skirting regulations.

No physical impossibilities, no moustache twirling villains breaking the law themselves, no one runs around in a gorilla suit. It's even relatively realistic B&W.

Nothing like Bilko or so on, and all the better for it.

I have enjoyed this film for many years. Casting a film is an art in itself. And this film is a classic of casting. The Oscar-winning actor Jack Lemmon, is a perfect foil for the fussy Ernie Kovacs. Young James Darren, and Dick York, and the inimitable Mickey Rooney, all make a fine ensemble. Veteran Arthur O'Connell, and all of the rest serve up a delicious film.

This is one of the biggest sleepers of all time, and really never got the recognition that it deserved. I like to think of it as a "Proto-M*A*S*H", as it clearly presents a lunacy of a military hospital, and the goofy characters.

A precious "gem" of a film.

Operation Mad Ball is a peculiar combination of MASH and McHale's Navy, taking some of the best elements of both tried and true military service comedies. Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs are a pair of beautifully matched antagonists.

It's France after VE Day and our army is just an army of occupation now and awaiting orders either for home or may be the Pacific Theater. Jack Lemmon would like to throw a big blowout for everyone before they all separate. But the killjoy of the proceedings is Ernie Kovacs who is a petty martinet and constantly getting in the way of all Lemmon's schemes the way Captain Binghamton used to do with Lieutenant Commander McHale. And sad to say he doesn't have an island at his disposal where he could ship McHale off to the way Joe Flynn exiled Ernie Borgnine and the rest of his PT Crew.

There's a little bit of Frank Burns on Kovacs's character as well as he tries to do things the military way while the commanding officer Arthur O'Connell is a doctor who just wants to run a hospital. See what happens at the beginning when Kovacs tries to court martial Lemmon and how O'Connell just gets out of it.

But the main problem is getting the party together without Kovacs finding out about it. Lemmon is nothing if not resourceful and his main problems is getting women for the party. What's a party without them, but the only women available are the nurses and the army's seen fit to commission them bringing in that pesky no fraternization rule. That in fact is what almost got Lemmon that court martial as Kovacs thought he was getting to familiar with Kathryn Grant. After all that was territory he had staked out and no enlisted man was going to move in on him.

Look for a nice performance by Mickey Rooney in the small role of a human encyclopedia running a port facility, a key guy in Lemmon's plans. And you haven't lived until you've heard an extremely bad version of In The Mood done on harmonica and ocarina. Good thing Glenn Miller had died before listening to this.

Operation Mad Ball sad to say is too little seen these days. It's a great introduction to those who want to study the comedic art of Jack Lemmon. Try not to miss it when broadcast.

Jack Lemmon, two years after winning an Oscar for "Mister Roberts," stars in the tale of Army hijinks just after the end of WWII somewhere in France. It's amazing to watch just how much influence he has and he's not even a superior officer. He's trying to organize a ball for the men before they get back to the states. For many, it may seem like why should we care. But, for those who are patient, it does get better as it goes along. Mickey Rooney shows up in the second half, who always is a "ball" waiting to happen. It may not be Lemmon's best material, but costarring Ernie Kovacs, Dick York, and Arthur O'Connell, it deserves to be seen more often.

I loved this movie! A wonderful cast and very funny. Mickey Rooney was a riot, and Ernie Kovacs was a treasure, too bad there aren't more places to see him. The words 'comic genius' are tossed around excessively these days, but he was the genuine article. Jack Lemmon, as the young and proper private, was funny in the Lemmonish way we've come to love, and several others, just beginning their careers in the movies, are interesting to watch. I've been trying to find this movie to rent, but apparently it's not been released. I wonder why not. It could be considered a classic comedy of the post-World-War-II era. If there is information about this issue, it could be posted on this board, so those seeking to view the film would know that it is unavailable at this time.