Auntie_Inflammatory This film isn't as dire as the one-star reviews claim. That said, it isn't very good either. It's just...odd and doesn't really go anywhere.David Niven is his urbane, David Niveny self as a sort of British version of The Flying Dutchman who has to redeem himself through an act of war-time valor instead of an act of love. Alan Alda is Alan Alda. Faye Dunaway is the girl with moxie (sporting 1960's hair-dos during WW2). Mickey Rooney has very little to do. The conceit of inserting old newsreel footage into the film didn't bother me, I thought the clips were interesting.I did learn two things while watching this;1) I had forgotten the difference between flotsam and jetsam and Faye Dunaway was nice enough to explain it.2) Before Milton Bradley released Battleship as a plastic board game, you could apparently play it on graph paper.Something more interesting could have been done with Niven's character and the whole concept. With a better script this could've been a pretty good film.

Jimmy L. John Frankenheimer directed some truly great films in the 1960s, including BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ (1962), THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (1964), and THE TRAIN (1964). THE EXTRAORDINARY SEAMAN (1969) is a rare foray into comedy for the director, who'd found such success with dramas and thrillers.THE EXTRAORDINARY SEAMAN is one of those sloppy experimental comedies from the 1960s. An anti-"war movie" (rather than an "anti-war" movie). Irreverent, satirical, but a bit messy and undercooked. It's certainly not a great film, but it has its merits. The stylistic conceit of incorporating vintage newsreel footage (with faux newsreel narration) into the story is an interesting touch. The patriotic newsreel montages create an ironical juxtaposition with the decidedly unheroic circumstances of the main characters. Maurice Jarre's bouncing score adds a quirky edge to the wartime setting and keeps things lively.The plot: A motley group of shipwrecked American sailors (led by a young Alan Alda) comes across a dilapidated British naval vessel and its eccentric and mysterious captain, played by David Niven. The lovely Faye Dunaway joins the crew as they pull out of the Philippines and head out to sea during the final days of WWII. Hijinks ensue.Mickey Rooney plays one of the sailors and suspects that everyone is a Jap spy. Despite a rather weak script, David Niven gives an enjoyable performance. I liked the casual way he'd report that Alda fell overboard.During the '60s filmmakers liked to experiment with unconventional storytelling. THE EXTRAORDINARY SEAMAN is an atypical film from John Frankenheimer. The novelty of the newsreel footage gives the film a unique personality, but the madcap editing comes off as messy sometimes. There are some good creative ideas, but the finished movie lacks focus. The result is a little-known curiosity with some recognizable names attached. A mediocre movie, perhaps, and certainly not up to the director's standard, but I think the IMDb community is being too harsh on it (a 2.5 rating?!).

bkoganbing The Extraordinary Seaman finds David Niven once again carrying the burden of a really botched film concept with his extraordinary charm. No actor was ever asked to work with less material than Niven did in his whole career.The film is best described as a combination of The Ghost And Mrs. Muir, The Canterville Ghost and The African Queen all taking place in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Four American seaman Mickey Rooney, Jack Carter, Mana Tupou and their Lieutanant Alan Alda are on a life raft after their ship was sunk. They drift to a small island in the Phillipines and find a beached craft from the previous war with its captain David Niven who looks positively immaculate in his dress whites from the British Navy considering the heat and humidity of the tropics.With a battery borrowed from plantation owner Faye Dunaway who would like some transport to Australia for her efforts, the American sailors set sail with Niven who will take them, providing he gets the opportunity to sink a Japanese warship. Trust me, Niven's got some really good reasons for wanting this so badly.This dud of a film is a surprise coming from someone like John Frankenheimer who did such things as Birdman Of Alcatraz, The Train, Grand Prix, and Seven Days In May to name a few. Frankenheimer comes up so short in The Extraordinary Seaman as compared to those masterpieces and others. The situations are forced and labored and the comedy falls flat. Not enough use was made of Mickey Rooney and Jack Carter, both of them extraordinarily funny people.But there's nothing extraordinary about The Extraordinary Seaman.

jgcorrea This absolutely absurd movie was supposedly intended as a message against the War in Vietnam, which was then on the wake. It tried hard to convey the good, old message that any war, including WWII, was as wasteful as stupid. Alan Alda plays a kind of pre-Hawkeye of "MASH" fame, while David Niven is a loony ghost who believes in duty and honor. Decades after the Allies saved the world for the rest of us ungrateful, it became OK for MGM to poke fun at those clumsy Colonel Blimps. Somehow, the POlish Corridor, Auschwitz, Pearl Harbor and the germ warfare experiments conducted in Manchuria by the Japanese became forgotten by the director who had magnificently brought us "The Manchurian candidate", "The train" and so forth. I especially loath the chess game, at the ending. After WWII had taken perhaps 50 million lives, opposing admirals sat down for a game of chess! How would all those buddies who never came home before 1945 have seen this movie? We don't deserve it, Mr. Frankenheimer.