This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I remember these "military comedies" and their single season on NBC, playing back-to-back, early Sunday evenings, just before "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color".While "Ensign O'Toole" starred Dean Jones and was about an Ensign Pulver-type character on a modern day Navy destroyer (the captain was played by the constantly grumpy Jack Albertson), "McKeever" was geared more to my pre-teen age group.I had a "McKeever and the Colonel" comic book, probably a one-shot, and I seem to remember the story was an off-shoot of one of the episodes. Other than that, I don't remember much specifically, but I can still hum the catchy theme-song/march. :-)

I was 10 years old in 1962 and remember watching many episodes. I wanted to be at a military school. When my mother, who must have noted my delight with the show, a few years later asked if I'd like to go to high school at one in Tennessee, I was certainly eager! My years at Sewanee Military Academy were certainly life-changing for me. Coaches and teachers who became "father figures" helped me grow up. I still draw from my experiences during that time. About 20 years ago I used to live in Long Beach, California and I can see in some of the outdoor footage of the show what appear to be hills in the background that remind me of Signal Hill. There used to be a military school located in that area and I wonder if the producers used it. Was it "Southern California Military Academy"?

*McKeever and the Colonel* almost certainly got greenlighted in 1961 as the result of a favorable reception for the television broadcast of Charlton Heston's *The Private War of Major Benson* (1955).The antics of McKeever, his allies and his enemies among the military school student body, made for harmless entertainment even by the standards of the early '60s. I came to think of it as a boys' version of *The Phil Silvers Show* (1955-1959), made memorable by the rapscallion character of MSgt. Earnie Bilco, then pounding away in re-runs on NBC.Those who are only familiar with the absolutely godawful 1995 Damon Wayans knock-off of Heston's movie (*Major Payne*) owe themselves a look at the much, much better original, and would certainly enjoy seeing *McKeever* if someone had the sense to issue the series in re-runs or on DVD. --

For some reason, this short-lived show really imprinted on my psyche. I was only seven when it premiered, but I have always remembered it fondly. I don't remember many specifics, but the whole ambiance remains clear to me. The one plot I do remember is one where the Colonel decides to keep McKeever out of trouble by making him a Military Policeman. The MP gig does not work out the way the Colonel expected, of course.Jackie Coogan was great as the sympathetic sarge. I think the show influenced my whole life; I went to a military school, became an army officer, and am now retired from the service.Thanks, Scott.