Discover
-
Allen Rivkin
Screenplay -
John H. Auer
Director -
Elmer Bernstein
Original Music Composer -
William Wister Haines
Story -
Bob Mark
Makeup Department Head -
George Milo
Set Decoration -
Adele Palmer
Costume Supervisor -
T.A. Carman
Sound
-
CinemaSerf
11/14/2022 2:31:05PM
This is another film that is really let down by it's title. One that suggests more of a swashbuckler - or a romance, at any rate - than a biopic of American Admiral Hoskins (Sterling Hayden) who was a pioneer of the use of jet aircraft from aircraft carriers. As it is, it's an OK depiction of the struggles of the man against the elements, technology, human frailty and government to get his ideas implemented. Hayden is a charm-free actor here, his dedication to his task is laudable, but cheerless and any semblance of romance with wife Sue (a rather prim Alexis Smith) left me cold. It does have oodles of wonderful original aerial photography to augment it, though - and that helps. Sadly, though, this is all as flat as the deck on the "USS Princeton".
Frank Ferguson
Admiral L.D.Sterling Hayden
Rear-Adm. John Madison HoskinsWilliam Kerwin
ColeDean Jagger
Vice-Adm. Thomas L. SempleHayden Rorke
Capt. William BurackerBen Cooper
Seaman P.J. 'Zuggy' ZugbaumDouglas Kennedy
Capt. Walter RileyAlexis Smith
Sue Hoskins