Fantastic!

Better Late Then Never

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

When viewing this movie it is important to remember that the world was a lot different in 1942, and even more different when you consider that we were at war. Many young men under the age of 17 were falsifying their age to enlist in one of the military branches, some to get out and help the fight, others because even the military was better than being poor and/or homeless.The fine young actor Ricky Schroder, about 16 or 17 during filming, plays Calvin Graham who at age 12, living in Houston, falsified a document to say he was 17. He went to war on the USS South Dakota, the lead of her battleship class. He saw action, was wounded, and received the bronze star and the purple heart.Eventually it was discovered that he was only 12 and, no matter how fine a sailor he was, there was no government regulation that would let him remain in the Navy.The movie starts with him reporting to a Naval Station with sealed papers, only to find out that he was considered to be a deserter and was thrown in the brig. Then most of the story is shown as flashbacks. When he had been sent home from New York when the ship was in for repairs, he was told to report to his local recruiter in Houston, where his case would be handled. He thought he would get a new assignment but instead they wrote the desertion papers. He was finally released when his sister found out where he was and she went to the newspapers with the story.That is where the movie ends, but his tale of woes continued for a long time, his medals were taken away, he was discharged dishonorably, and in later years presidents Carter and Reagan restored some of what he earned.

I was an uncredited extra in this film and got about 8 seconds of on-camera time out of it. We were filming in the crew quarters of the USS North Carolina. While the crew slept, an alarm went off. After an officer told Schroeder "We're going to war", the crew filed out behind him. I planned to toss and turn in the background before the lights came up (to give myself more of a chance of being seen) and lo and behold, that made it in the film in addition to me filing out of the quarters. I've seen this movie on Lifetime a few times in the past few years, and I get a kick out of that scene every time it comes on. I remember Schroeder being aloof towards the extras during shooting, but then I don't think I expected him to sit down with us and have lunch. He was the central character of the film, after all. In terms of the overall film, I found the story interesting. It's odd that we go to such lengths to protect children from all kinds of dangers now. Some group would have some naval officer arrested for felony child abuse today for daring to let a 12 year old into a battle zone. All in all, it was a good "made for TV" movie of its time.

When you see Rick in the film it's easy to understand that it is impossible to be a 12 years old boy. I think he is around 20 in the film but the director may used this actor because he though that this was the only that he could find and fit for the role. Of course some things in the movie never happened but they were created so the film could be success. I hoped that films like that would be produced even today. As an overview of the film its shows the World War II at the side of U.S. Navy through the eyes of a young boy.

Okay, Shroder doesn't look twelve, but pretty close. That isn't the problem. The film has a kind of shoddy look to it, mainly due to the photography and wardrobe. Ricky Shroder is a nice guy but not the most convincing of actors. The scenes on the battleship were shot aboard the North Carolina, a relic moored on the Cape Fear River. Some of the performances are quite good, particularly my own as the hobo snoring on the stairs who must be stepped over by Shroder and his friend. I thought my imitation of waking up was superb. As with too many true stories though, this one doesn't follow a tight enough narrative line. It's not linear, not "fictional" enough. There are three main narrative threads -- Calvin's dysfunctional family life, his unlawful enlistment in the Navy, and his abuse in the brig -- and they don't always mesh together as well as they might. In real life, Calvin's service to his country was acknowledged finally, long after the events themselves took place. But, as with all autobiographical material, the story as we see it depends largely on his description of what happened. Was he really raped in the brig? Jailhouse rape was a shocker thirty years ago when situational homosexuality in prison was first acknowledged, but by now we've come to expect scenes like that. A shipmate of mine once spent some time in the Marine Brig. Unless brigs have changed a great deal, inmates didn't get raped in the 1940s. It's not like Sing Sing! They can very easily get beaten up and subject to other verbal and physical abuse, but not raped. Be that as it may, this script could have used a bit of tightening. It rambles around, rather slowly at times, and doesn't exactly enthrall the viewer, except for the performers playing the hobos. One of them is simply sublime.