You're in the Navy Now (1951) on Netflix
Lieutenant John W. Harkness takes command of a patrol craft fitted with an experimental steam engine. The crew are new recruits and the officers know only diesel engines.
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- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb6.3/10942 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Nearing the start of World War II, newly commissioned Lieutenant John W. Harkness reports to Norfolk Naval Base and takes command of the patrol craft PC-1168. A civilian engineering background and a Rutgers education have put him in charge of a secret project: the Navy has given his ship an experimental steam power plant, aiming to raise the speed of patrol craft by ten knots, and Harkness is to run the sea trials. Chief Larrabee is among the few experienced seamen aboard. The rest of the crew are new inductees and the officers are just commissioned: Bill Barron learned seamanship from books, Tony Barbo has no training in engineering, and Chuck Dorrance is seasick. Commander W. R. Reynolds oversees the project for Rear Admiral L. C. Tennant.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about You're in the Navy Now (1951)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Contract player William Lundigan was Twentieth Century-Fox's first pick for the lead role of Lieutenant Harkness, but when the budget grew to cover location filming at U.S. Navy yards in Virginia, the studio hired Gary Cooper instead to boost the film's audience appeal.
- The film's story grew out of John W. Hazard's own World War II service, recounted in his article "The Flying Teakettle" in the January 21, 1950 issue of The New Yorker: his inexperienced crew was chosen for a Navy experimental program that ended in failure.
- Arthur Curtis, author of the 1944 novel Hey, Mac! You're in the Navy Now, sued Twentieth Century-Fox for $100,000 in March 1953 over the film's title; a California superior court ruled for the studio that July, and an appeals court upheld that ruling in April 1956.
- Gary Cooper's part as Lieutenant John Harkness was his first starring role for Twentieth Century-Fox, the studio that had hired him as an extra back in the 1925 silent film The Lucky Horseshoe.
- Joanne Dru was the studio's first choice to play Ellie Harkness, but she refused to sign a long-term contract, so Jane Greer was cast in the part.
- Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and Harvey Lembeck all made their screen debuts in the film, and it was Jack Warden's second film appearance.
