''Wake Me When It's Over'' is a 1960

DeLuxe Color DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sel ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring

Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years aft ...

and

Dick Shawn Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comed ...

in CinemaScope. The screenplay concerns a World War II veteran who gets called back into service by mistake and sent to a dreary Pacific island. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Howard Singer. The title song was written by

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premi ...

(words) and James Van Heusen (music) and sung by Andy Williams.

Plot

Gus Brubaker (

) is a self-described

schnook This is a list of words that have entered the English language from the Yiddish language, many of them by way of American English. There are differing approaches to the romanization of Yiddish orthography (which uses the Hebrew alphabet); thus ...

. Soon after the end of the Korean War, his wife talks him into applying for G.I. insurance for which he is eligible from his World War II service with the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

. Gus is reluctant because he was shot down and became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

, but the military listed him as killed. A red-tape foulup results in Gus being back in uniform, assigned to a ramshackle

radar station Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, wea ...

on a backwater island near

Shima Shima may refer to: Places , Japan * Shima Province (志摩), one of the old provinces of Japan * Shima, Fukuoka (志摩), a former town in Fukuoka Prefecture * Shima, Mie (志摩), a city in Mie Prefecture ** Shima, Mie (town), a former town ...

, Japan. Boredom has made the airmen assigned there apathetic, slovenly, and unmotivated. Its equipment and supplies are a collection of junk, abandoned or surplus. Capt. Charlie Stark (

), a free-wheeling nonconformist Air Force pilot, is in charge. His superiors have all but forgotten the base is still on the island. Gus gets to know Ume Tanaka (

Nobu McCarthy Nobu McCarthy ( ja, ノブ・マッカーシー, born Nobu Atsumi (渥美延); November 13, 1934 – April 6, 2002) was a Canadian actress. She received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in ...

), daughter of the village's unfriendly mayor, who shows him a pool of natural hot springs. Gus and Charlie conspire to open a resort hotel, using the men as labor and the broken-down equipment as materials, with Doc Farringtom (Warden) scamming journalist Joab Martinson (

Robert Emhardt Robert Emhardt (July 24, 1914 – December 26, 1994) was an American character actor who worked on stage, in film and on television. Emhardt was frequently cast as a villain, often a crooked businessman or corrupt politician. Early years E ...

) about the water's "healing powers" to gain free publicity. Doc summons no-nonsense Lt. Nora McKay (

Margo Moore Margo Moore (April 29, 1931 – December 16, 2000) was an American actress and fashion model. Life Born Marguerite Guarnerius (also reported as Guarnery) in Chicago to a violin-making family, she grew up in Indianapolis. At the age of 13, s ...

) to lend a woman's touch to the project, and Charlie develops a romantic interest in her. The airmen, including Charlie, are motivated by the project and their pretty young lieutenant, become a military outfit again, and construct a first-class facility, the Hotel Shima. Nora staffs the hotel with 40 young women from the village, and following local custom, the girls are "sold" for two years to Gus as their "papa-san" at the insistence of their fathers. Nora and Charlie fall in love, but when he asks her to marry him, she is doubtful that he is marriage material. When Martinson gets drunk and embarrasses himself in front of all the guests, he vindictively writes a story painting the hotel as a den of sin. Gus is court-martialed as a scapegoat despite the fact that 100 airmen are its owners. When Charlie becomes outraged and demands to testify, he is transferred by his reputation-conscious commander to prevent it. A congressional panel from

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

also launches an investigation, Charlie ends up buzzing the trial in a jet as Doc Farrington blackmails Colonel Hollingsworth with the knowledge that he received Hotel Shima-supplied luxury goods. Stark ends up testifying on Gus's behalf while all sorts of crazy antics occur during the trial. Ultimately, Brubaker is found not guilty on one count, but guilty of taking government property. During sentencing, the court discovers it has tried the wrong man due to the earlier government error. Stymied, the panel finally decides to find Gus not guilty and leave the hotel to the people of the island. Charlie and Nora reconcile from an earlier disagreement over the trial and decide to marry. As Gus says goodbye to Ume and sets off to leave, he sees that Colonel Hollingsworth (now demoted to sergeant) has been assigned to the base in his place. Ume waves goodbye as Gus starts for home.

Cast

as Captain Charlie Stark *

as Gus Brubaker *

as First Lieutenant Nora McKay *

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and '' Heaven Can Wait' ...

as Captain Dave "Doc" Farrington *

as Ume Tanaka (as Nobu Atsumi McCarthy) * Don Knotts as Staff Sergeant Percy Warren * Robert Strauss as Technical Sergeant Sam Weiscoff *

Noreen Nash Noreen Nash (born Norabelle Jean Roth; April 4, 1924) is an American retired film and television actress. In the beginning of her career, she had uncredited parts at MGM. In 1945, she appeared in '' The Southerner'', after which she had mostly l ...

as Marge Brubaker *

Parley Baer Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Cheste ...

as Colonel Archie Hollingsworth *

as Joab Martinson *

Marvin Kaplan Marvin Wilbur Kaplan (January 24, 1927 – August 25, 2016) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Best known as Henry Beesmeyer in ''Alice'' (1978–1985). Early years Kaplan was born on January 24, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, th ...

as Hap Cosgrove * Tommy Nishimura as Private Jim Harigawa *

Raymond Bailey Raymond Thomas Bailey (May 6, 1904 – April 15, 1980) was an American actor, and comedian on the Broadway stage, films, and television. He is best known for his role as greedy banker Milburn Drysdale in the television series ''The Beverly Hill ...

as General Weigang *

Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for his 67 seasons calling games for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the franchise was located ...

as a CBS reporter *

Judy Dan Judy Dan (; born September 9, 1930) is a Chinese-American actress. Biography Judy Dan was born in Shanghai on September 9, 1930, the daughter of film director Dan Duyu and actress Yin Mingzhu, and was raised in Hong Kong. She worked for Cathay P ...

as Geisha Girl (uncredited)

References

External links

* * * * {{Mervyn LeRoy 1960 films 1960 comedy films American comedy films Films based on American novels Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge Military humor in film 20th Century Fox films CinemaScope films Films about the United States Air Force Films set on islands Films set in Japan 1960s English-language films 1960s American films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links