Ed-Shullivan Oh JFK! If it was not for JFK's fathers' very deep pockets do you really think this film semi biography would ever have been made, yet alone released widely? Add in top notch stars such as Cliff Robertson who plays Lt. JG John F. Kennedy, responsible for PT109, Robert Culp who plays Ensign George 'Barney' Ross, James Gregory as Commander C.R. Ritchie, and for good measure add in Robert Blake as Gunner's Mate Charles 'Bucky' Harris, and Norman Fell as Machinist Edmund Drewitch and you have an all star cast ready to set sail and fight those nasty Japanese in deep waters.The problem I had with this film was that the period war film was released 20 years after the incident but only mere months before the next primary U.S. elections were to take place in 1964 and the then U.S. President John F. Kennedy intended to run for re-election. No coincidence here? But my disdain runs further. After watching the film PT 109 we the audience would be left to believe that the entire PT 109 crew were willing to surrender time and time again to the Japanese rather than swim 3 miles to a remote island and wait for their eventual rescue. Oh yes, everyone appeared to want to give up except the great JFK who led the way swimming the entire 3 miles in the ocean AND also towing another injured seaman on his own bad back, even carrying him out of the water and to dry land before getting immediately back into the water to assist the rest of his crew before a Japanese boat would otherwise have captured them all. Such a war hero that JFK!That same night JFK swam out back into the middle of the ocean by himself in anticipation of spotting a U.S Naval rescue ship that did not materialize, at least not that first night. This movie would have been more appropriately titled "JFK a one man war hero". I will admit that JFK had some good qualities as the U.S. President as well as some bad qualities, one of which he was a known womanizer who demanded sex from many vulnerable woman, including Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe.The 1963 film PT 109 may have put JFK in a light that shone bright as a U.S. naval hero, but the 4 million dollars spent on this film was all for naught, as on November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, for reasons to this day still unknown. I am not a big fan of glory pictures that are released to shine a positive light by very wealthy people who have a specific agenda. In this case PT 109 was released to promote JFK as a tough naval war hero just in time for the next U.S. election for which he was running for re-election as the U.S. President backed by the very wealthy Boston based Kennedy family. I gave the film a 5 out of 10 rating.

Lee Eisenberg As someone born long after the Kennedy years, I admit that I don't really know what he was like, and I've certainly never read his book about his WWII experiences. But I have seen the movie version of "PT 109". I will say that it's worth seeing just because it is about one of our most beloved presidents, but otherwise, it's kinda jingoistic and not 100% interesting. We see how JFK (Cliff Robertson) was sort of unsure what to think of the war initially, but knew what to do once he started fighting.So, it's clearly a product of America's "age of innocence". But still, I recommend it just because it shows how Kennedy was actually someone whom we could trust in wartime. Also starring Robert Culp ("Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"), Grant Williams ("The Incredible Shrinking Man"), Robert Blake and Norman Fell.And yes, I think that the title sounds like a Beach Boys movie. That's just me, I guess.

johno-21 I first saw this film during it's initial theatrical release and have seen it several times since. This a good movie but at 2 hours and 20 minutes it runs a little long. This could have been made more concise and more adventurous and should have come in at 90 minutes and it would have been a better movie. Director Leslie Martinson only made nine mostly forgettable films in his long directorial career that was mostly in television. This was his best film. He was a much sought after television director and directed some of the most popular television series from the early 50's through the mid 80's. This was the last film in the long career of producer Bryan Foy. Foy was a producer and director from the 1920's and began producing full-time in the 1930's specializing in mainly B-movies. A great cinematographer here in Robert Surtees who had photographed Ben Hur, Oklahoma, quo Vidas and would go on to photograph The Graduate, The Summer of 42, The Last Picture Show and The Sting among his many films. A good editor on this film too in Folmar Blangsted who edited Rio Bravo and The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell and would go on to edit The Summer of 42 and ironically Camelot among his many films. This is the story of the naval career of future US President John F. Kennedy as a lieutenant in WWII. This is adapted from the best selling book PT 109 John F. Kennedy in WWII which was inspired by a 1944 article in the New Yorker magazine called Survival by John Hersey. The PT 109 story of the patrol boat in the South Pacific captained by Lt. John F. Kennedy that was cut in half in a collision with a Japanese destroyer was a big part of the Kennedy story. During his 1961 Inagural parade a full size replica float of the boat was featured in the parade route with all of the original crew members on the float as a surprise to the new president. He kept the coconut shell that he had written a message on encased in class in his Oval Office along with a model replica of a PT boat. Warren Beatty apparently was Kennedy's first choice to portray him in this film which would have made sense as when this was filmed in the summer of 1962 in the Florida Keys, Beatty was 25 years old, exactly the same age as Kennedy was in 1943 when the film's setting takes place. Beatty reportedly turned down the role and Kennedy's second choice was Cliff Robertson who at 36 years old when production was done on this film was a full 10 years older and quite a few pounds heavier than Kennedy was in 1943. Also in the cast are Robert Culp, Norman Fell, James Gregory, Ty Hardin and Robert Blake. Look for future Star Trekker George Takei on the Japaneses destroyer. Character actor Andrew Duggan narrates. This film has more of a look and feel of a made-for television movie but it's definitely worth a watch. I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.

TxMike Cliff Robertson was a good choice to play Lt. John F. Kennedy, new PT boat commander in 1944. He looked a bit like Kennedy and was able to recreate many of his mannerisms. This movie hit the theaters in the USA in June 1963, just after I graduated from high school, and only five months before President Kennedy died from a bullet in Dallas, Texas. I remember it well, it was perfect for the times, as it dramatized the events where the boat, PT 109, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and sank, but Kennedy was able to lead the survivors to safety in the hostile South Pacific waters.The movie opens in August 1942, the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, the US Navy was using PT boats because they were fast, had a shallow draft, and carried a good complement of torpedoes. We first see Lt. Kennedy receiving his assignment aboard a destroyer, in 1943 or 1944, then landing on the island base. With no active boats available, he was offered the PT 109, which had been neglected and was not ship-shape. He was given a makeshift crew, and one week to get it seaworthy. Which he and his men do, and pass the inspection with flying colors. Kennedy is shown as a leader by example, working side by side with his men, and taking the time to thank them for a job well done.The movie goes on to show the deployment of the 109 into regular service, and the incident which resulted in the sinking of the boat and subsequent fight for survival. Even though he was eligible for an assignment stateside, Kennedy took another boat and continued the battle. It is well made for a 1963 movie.Kennedy was born in 1917 and was 26 when he enlisted in the Navy after Harvard. When he was 38 he completed his book, "Profiles In Courage" which won a Pulitzer Prize. When he was only 43, in 1960, he defeated Richard Nixon and became President of the USA. In November 1963, he was dead. In spite of his flaws as a man, as a leader and as a President he was remarkable, and this is a good movie to remind us of that.