A Thousand Men and a Baby

This is one of those TV movies that looked vaguely interesting and turned out to be exceptional. It's a true story, too, but of course has made-up stuff to make things more dramatic. For example, unlike in the film, the Navy doctor who adopted the baby had no qualms about having to quit the Navy if he adopted a foreign child. He was drafted and already planned on getting out of the Navy as soon as the Korean War ended. Moreover, his wife never met the baby until he brought him home and they had a daughter.

Richard Thomas does a good job playing the fictional conflicted doctor in the movie, as does Eve Gordon as his wife. Gerald McRaney is perfect as the captain of the ship. Jonathan Banks is splendid as the Catholic chaplin, and Doris Roberts makes a great Irish nun running an orphanage. The film starts and ends at Christmastime, too, so it can also be seen as a sort of Christmas movie for the whole family to watch.

This is one of my favorite movies in the past 10 years. A wonderful true story that causes us to think about what is really important in life. The efforts of the 1,000 men to help an abandoned baby are very heart warming and encouraging. This is a great family movie that everyone can enjoy without foul language and nudity. This movie deserves an A+ all the way around.

The movie is pretty good, and relatively accurate as I grew up hearing it from my late father. PS 5 Rayo Claudius Holston served on the CVE 119 USS POINT CRUZ from its commission in the Pacific Northwest through its fittings and paces and through the Korean War. It was the proudest part of his life and the saving of "Saby-San" was one of his most memorable events along with Captain Hayward holding captains mast in a Japanese bar for my dad. The movie aired on TV when I was home from college, my father got so excited I thought he had won the Lottery. The Crew has reunions almost every year and "Baby-San" is the guest of honor at almost every one. There is still a strong bond between the crew and the Dr.

D. Holston

My father is a WWII vet and is occupying himself these days by looking up old stories from the war. He read me the story of "baby-san on board" last time he visited. Since then I have been trying to find the movie based on this story. I thought the movie was produced well before 1997, so I'm wondering if this is the one I was thinking of or if there was a previous production. But I can answer the question of where to find more information. To see a write-up and photos of the real story behind this movie, visit: http://www.koreanchildren.org/. Choose "Feature Stories" then choose "The Navy's Baby."

The story is even more touching knowing that it is based on a true story. But the question must be asked, "What about the other children of war that are not loved?"

This is a tearjerker, and knowing that this is based on fact makes it all the better. We need more uplifting films such as this for the family in this day and age. So often, our military is shown in such a bad light, and it is SO refreshing for them to be shown as the heroes they are. This is a wonderful, WONDERFUL film that everyone should watch, especially as a family. This film lets us know how wonderful the military can be, and what the family can be like. Sadly, we don't have television movies out anymore, thanks to horrid 'reality' shows. I wish TVMs like this came out more often. I miss them. PLEASE . . . put this on DVD.