What a waste of my time!!!

The greatest movie ever made..!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The Korean War had been over for five years, and Vietnam was still that many years distant for U.S. combat forces. In 1958, the U.S. and most of the world were in the midst of the Cold War that itself would escalate to near nuclear catastrophe in just a few years. Only a few movies were made in the last half of the decade about WWII after it ended in 1945. Hollywood, Great Britain and other western countries began making more films about WWII in the 1950s. By the late 50s, Hollywood began to make comedy war films. In 1957, "Don't Go Near the Water" was a Navy wartime movie that starred Glenn Ford. In "Imitation General," Ford plays in an Army film as Master Sergeant Murphy Savage. The small cast are all very good in this pleasant film that has good comedy mixed with some good action. The play and time are France in 1944. Murphy and Corporal Chan Derby, played very well by Red Buttons, are the driver and security for Gen. Charles Lane, played well by Kent Smith. When Lane is killed by German gunfire, Murphy is inadvertently assumed to be a general when a soldier sees him holding the general's steel pot (helmet). One thing leads to another and Murphy assumes the general's ID long enough to pull together some scattered troops in an area who were surrounded by Germans and cut off from their units. Action and a little mayhem switch back and forth. Murphy's actions and leadership are sure to earn the General high honors and recognition later. The men admired and respected Lane, and Murphy does a credible job as substitute. Oh, yes. The would-be romance piece of plot is included with Taina Elg playing Simone, a young French woman who speaks no English. There is no romance, really, but she helps add some humor to the film. This isn't a big war production. It has skirmishes with small number of troops. The GIs succeed in a trap and knock out two Panzer tanks. Murphy and Chan take on two more tanks by themselves with helmets filled with mud. You'll have to watch the movie to see how that unfolds. This is an enjoyable and light movie all around. It was a time – spaced between wars – when people could watch a film like this and not think about the German soldiers who were being killed.

Released at the tail end of the Korean war and based on a novel by William Chamberlain, "The Imitation General" is an early war comedy starring Glenn Ford as Sgt Murphy Savage, a US grunt torn straight out of the pages of early, pulpy war comics. Savage, a maverick with a machine gun, is forced to take drastic action when Brigadier General Charles Lane (Kent Smith) is killed in action. To assure the success of the General's mission, and to sustain morale within the ranks, Sgt. Savage poses as the deceased Lane. Much hilarity ensues.The film is brisk, funny and well directed, but is mostly interesting for the way it (unintentionally) captures how apt personality cults are at whipping up euphoria and funnelling violence.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

Glenn Ford and Red Buttons take a mighty big chance trying to impersonate a general. It's a court martial offense if they're caught.Although the film goes overboard in silliness at times, Imitation General is a pretty good comedy from the talented director/actor team of George Marshall and Glenn Ford who also did the riotously funny The Sheepman that same year. Sergeant Ford and Corpoal Buttons are assigned and driving General Kent Smith in a forward area that gets a bit too forward and cut off from the main allied lines. They're surrounded and Smith is killed.Deciding that leadership is needed in the area Ford takes off his master sergeant stripes and puts on the late general's stars and pretends to be him. He and Buttons manage to pull it off all the time trying to avoid Private Tige Andrews who has a grudge against Ford. The action in Imitation General is fast and furious and Ford deadpans his way through another comedy triumph. Though I have to say that it should only have been so easy to take out German tanks as is shown here.Look for good performances by Dean Jones as a combat fatigue suffering soldier that Ford due to his ersatz rank gets back into shape. Also Kent Smith is very good even though he's killed off in the first twenty minutes. His performance is quite moving and it does explain why he was a beloved figure and why Ford and Buttons are doing the crazy things they are.Imitation General, a good comedy not to be missed when shown on TCM because it's not out on VHS or DVD.

Though I'm not a big fan of war movies I have seen this movie over and over again when I was younger, and was one I searched high and low on Blockbuster and such to see again. Ford and Buttons are marvelous and the movie walks the line between humor and the reality of the horror of war with real class... Would SO love to see it again!!Ford's character was a n'er do well scammer who had made rank and been busted back more times than he could keep track of when he met an honorable man, a General, who went to the front lines though it was dangerous in hopes of rallying the troops... but was killed before reaching his goal. Inspired Ford decides to take over the mission and poses as the General.One of the best scenes I remember was the German tank heading towards the village and Ford putting up a sign on the bridge saying that the bridge was mined so that the Germans would take the tanks thru the creek bed and expose their underbelly. But NOT going to tell you what happened.