Wake Me When It's Over (1960) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

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A WW II veteran is sent back into the service due to some bureaucratic mistake. It is peace-time, and he's shipped off to a remote South Pacific island Naval radar station, where all the servicemen there are so bored and eccentric that he concocts an idea that they should turn the island into a resort.

Cast & Crew

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Mervyn Leroy

Ernie Kovacs

Capt. Charles Stark

Margo Moore

Jack Warden

Doc Dave Farrington

Nobu Mccarthy

Dick Shawn

Film Details

Genre

Comedy

War

Release Date

Apr 1960

Premiere Information

New York opening: 8 Apr 1960

Production Company

Mervyn LeRoy Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

Country

United States

Location

Santa Catalina Island, California, United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel Wake Me When It's Over by Howard Singer (New York, 1959).

Technical Specs

Duration

2h 6m

Sound

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color

Color (DeLuxe)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

2.35 : 1

Synopsis

As a Congressional panel in Washington, D.C. launches an investigation into the infamous "Brubaker Case," a newscaster recounts how this "dark chapter in human history" came about: Gus Brubaker, a good-natured "schnook" living in New Jersey, is browbeaten by his wife Marge to file for the GI insurance to which he is entitled for serving in World War II. When Gus goes to apply, the Army clerk is peeved to discover that he has been assigned two different serial numbers: one for 1941-1945, the period in which he served as a tail-gunner and was shot down and declared dead, and one in 1945, after he was rescued and declared to be alive. To insure consistency, the clerk records only Gus's first number. As a result of his application, Gus receives a letter notifying him to report to duty and is shipped to Shima, an obscure rocky island off the coast of Japan. There, he meets a motley band of soldiers under the command of the eccentric Capt. Charles Stark. When Gus asks for a discharge, Stark cackles hysterically and points to a filing cabinet stuffed with discharge requests. The base has been long forgotten by the Air Force, and hence the men, bored to distraction, wile away their days organizing nature walks and badminton classes. While dunking some beer cans into the river one day, Gus meets Ume Tanaka, a beautiful young villager, who tells him that the water is hot, fed by springs flowing from the mountain above. Recognizing the potential of the springs, Gus suggests to Stark that they erect a hotel on the spot. When Stark questions his sanity, Gus points out that they can use government surplus and scrap lying about the island for building materials, and that the hotel would be a magnet for military and government personnel on leave. After Gus agrees to supervise the construction and sign the corporation papers, he and Doc Dave Farrington, the sage, base physician, go to make friends with the hostile villagers on the island. Ume, the mayor's daughter, helps them forge a cordial business relationship with the islanders. Soon after, the officious Lt. Nora McKay arrives at the base, summoned by Doc to lend a woman's touch to the hotel. Nora's presence prompts the men to doff their Hawaiian shirts and don their uniforms. As construction proceeds, Nora suggests using old parachutes for drapes and tents for cabanas. One day, a group of village girls arrives and informs the astonished Gus that they have been purchased to work at the hotel and he is now their "Papa-San." To publicize the hotel, Doc decides to trick his friend Joab Martinson, a medical journalist, into thinking that the springs have miraculous curative powers, offering the promise of eternal youth. Traveling with Gus to a medical conference in Tokyo, where Joab is billed as one of the featured speakers, Doc hands Joab a vial containing the "miracle" water, and when Joab asks for more, Doc suggests giving the hotel a plug in his column in exchange for an unlimited supply of the water. After Joab anoints the hotel as a "Fountain of Youth," military personnel flock to the island. Among them is Col. Archie Hollingsworth who, unaware that his underlings are running the place, asks for a set of hotel drapes for his living room. Meanwhile, Stark has fallen in love with Nora, but when he proposes, she accuses him of being a "sky jockey" and insists that he settle down and take a desk job. Soon after, Joab arrives, and when he drunkenly accosts the hotel maids, Stark pushes him into the swimming pool. In revenge, Joab writes an expose about the "sin city" of the Orient. Joab's story provokes a Congressional investigation, and a group of Senators, led by Gen. Weigang and Col. Hollingsworth, fly to the hotel to find the company clerk delivering room service. After the committee learns that Gus is the legal owner of the hotel, which was built from Army scrap, and that the female staff calls him Papa-San, an official hearing is convened and Gus is court-martialed and dubbed the "Vice King of the Orient." When Stark attempts to defend Gus, Hollingsworth orders him to ship out and Nora urges him follow orders. After Gus picks Doc to be his lawyer, they discover that Gus has been assigned the wrong serial number, the one belonging to the deceased Gus Brubaker. Although Doc argues that Gus's efforts have improved the morale of the base and the villagers, his testimony is contested by Hollingsworth. As the trial continues, Stark, returning from exile, buzzes the courtroom with his jet and then parachutes down to testify on Gus's behalf. Doc then blackmails Hollingsworth into letting Stark speak by reminding him of the drapes he illegally procured from the hotel. Afterward, Stark confronts Nora and angrily declares that she must accept him as is, and she meekly agrees. At the hearing's conclusion, Doc argues for a mistrial on the grounds that the serial number of the soldier they are trying belongs to a dead man. After Doc proposes giving the hotel to the villagers, Gus is found not guilty. In gratitude, the islanders carve a stone monument of Gus's profile, and soon after, Gus boards a boat bound for home.

Director

Mervyn Leroy

Cast

Ernie Kovacs

Capt. Charles Stark

Margo Moore

Jack Warden

Doc Dave Farrington

Nobu Mccarthy

Dick Shawn

Don Knotts

Robert Strauss

Noreen Nash

Parley Baer

Col. Archie Hollingsworth

Robert Emhardt

Marvin Kaplan

Tommy Nishimura

Pvt. Jim Harigawa

Raymond Bailey

Robert Burton

Frank Behrens

Linda Wong

Caroline Richter

Mrs. Hollingsworth

Robert Peoples

Ron Hargrave

Hawaiian singer

David Bedell

Capt. Arthur Finch

Jay Jostyn

Byron Morrow

Maj. Horace Tillman

Michael Quinn

Capt. John Guavara

Owen Cunningham

Col. Geoffrey Schmitt

Richard [dickie] Tyler

Lt. William Pincus

Ralph Dumke

Senator Gillespie

Leon Tyler

Rollin Moriyama

Rachel Stephens

Sid Tomack

Gretchen Voeth

Mike Moll

John Erwin

Michael Granger

John Melfi

Robert Ellis

Ralph Reed

Gene Mccarthy

Tom [tommy] Farrell

Page Slattery

Jeffrey Sayre

Thomas B. Henry

Roy Engel

Carleton Young

Radar instructor

Eric Morris

David Whorf

Alex Gerry

Bill Mullikin

Scott Peters

Jane Chang

Don Doolittle

Gregg Martell

Bill Stevens

Shichize Takeda

Japanese storekeeper

Kay Kona

Chiyoko Tota

Jimmy Murphy

Jim Bridges

Badminton player

George Dunn

Staff photographer

Ashley Cown

Faith Higurashi

Kazuko Nagao

Joanne Miyamato

Emi Ikemoto

June Kawai

Fumi Nakano

Anabella Kai

Nancy Akihoshi

Helen Takahashi

Tomi Furukawa

Kathy Muto

Amy Hiroshige

Larry Thor

Mike Mahoney

Naval commander

Alan Reynolds

Naval commander

Tom Malone

ABC commentator

Ollie O'toole

NBC commentator

Sondi Sodsai

Miki Kato

Judy Dan

Nancy Millard

Joy Durden

Mary Foran

Yashi Muneko

Paul Von Schreiber

Darlene Tompkins

Quong Gong

Elderly Chinese father

Paul Comi

Jock Gaynor

Vin Scully

Linda Hutchings

Nina Shipman

Crew

L. B. Abbott

Special Photography Effects

Captain Dewitt T. Allred Jr., Usaf

Technical Advisor

John Beckman

Richard Breen

Sammy Cahn

Leonard Doss

Color Consultant

Bernard Freericks

Stanley Hough

Assistant Director

Ralph S. Hurst

Harry M. Leonard

Mervyn Leroy

Cyril J. Mockridge

Lionel Newman

Ben Nye

Edward B. Powell

Major Charles G. Reid Usaf

Technical Advisor

Walter M. Scott

Leon Shamroy

Director of Photography

Aaron Stell

Bill Thomas

Helen Turpin

James Van Heusen

Lyle R. Wheeler

Film Details

Genre

Comedy

War

Release Date

Apr 1960

Premiere Information

New York opening: 8 Apr 1960

Production Company

Mervyn LeRoy Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

Country

United States

Location

Santa Catalina Island, California, United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel Wake Me When It's Over by Howard Singer (New York, 1959).

Technical Specs

Duration

2h 6m

Sound

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color

Color (DeLuxe)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

2.35 : 1

Articles

Wake Me When It's Over

January 8, 2019

A WWII veteran is sent back into the service due to some bureaucratic mistake. It is peace-time, and he's shipped off to a remote South Pacific island Naval radar station, where all the servicemen there are so bored and eccentric that he concocts an idea that they should turn the island into a resort.

Wake Me When It's Over

Wake Me When It's Over

A WWII veteran is sent back into the service due to some bureaucratic mistake. It is peace-time, and he's shipped off to a remote South Pacific island Naval radar station, where all the servicemen there are so bored and eccentric that he concocts an idea that they should turn the island into a resort.

Quotes

I know that if a man has a compound fracture and a headache, you put on a tourniquet before you give him an aspirin.
- Doc Farrington

I repeat, the objection is sustained, however, I'd like to agree Doctor. If the medical profession were operated by trained legal minds, the human race would have died out shortly after Adam appeared.
- Presiding Officer at the Court-Martial

Trivia

Notes

Although onscreen credits read "introducing Dick Shawn," Wake Me When It's Over did not mark Shawn's screen debut. Shawn debuted in the 1956 film Opposite Sex. According to studio publicity material contained in the film's file at the AMPAS Library, the sets were constructed from Air Force surplus materials, and the airstrip location was filmed atop Catalina Island, CA. Publicity also states that Ernie Kovacs performed his own parachute stunts. Wake Me When It's Over marked producer-director Mervyn LeRoy's first Twentieth Century-Fox release.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Spring April 1960

Mervyn LeRoy appeared in the trailer for the film.

CinemaScope

Released in United States Spring April 1960

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