In order to avoid the draft, Buddy Hackett (as Admiral John Paul Jones) and Mickey Rooney (as Kermit Beetle McKay) have joined the Navy. "Everything's Ducky" for the pair when they're assigned an easy mission; in "Operation Bird Brain", they are to set free a recently dead officer's duck. The sailors become attached to "Scuttlebutt", the duck who can talk. Mr. Hackett and Mr. Rooney take the duck out drinking, and become financially attached to Scuttlebutt. They try to save their feathered friend from Navy officers, who want to cut the bird's brain out.
Contrived lunacy as in the hands of Hackett and Rooney is criminal. This film is both unfunny and unpleasant. Despite Scuttlebutt's boasting he can handle a few martinis, the duck gets roaring drunk. The sight of the drunken, neck-wobbling duck is unsettling. It's also obvious filmmakers have put some irritant in the duck's mouth, in close-ups, to make it appear to be talking. The duck looks very uncomfortable.
Jackie Cooper (as Parmell) makes an impressive re-appearance on film, after a long absence; his appearance is mercifully short, considering the star-billing, and weakness of material. And, singer Joanie Sommers (as Nina) appears, without singing.
** Everything's Ducky (1961) Don Taylor ~ Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper
