''What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?'' is a 1966 comedy

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 "sele ...

film written by

William Peter Blatty William Peter Blatty (January 7, 1928 – January 12, 2017) was an American writer, director and producer. He is best known for his 1971 novel, ''The Exorcist'', and for his 1974 screenplay for the film adaptation of the same name. Blatty won ...

and directed by

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

for the

Mirisch Company The Mirisch Company was an American film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictures Inc., Miris ...

Panavision Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during ...

. It stars

James Coburn James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...

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 ...

. Filming was at Lake Sherwood Ranch in Thousand Oaks, northwest of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. In what had been a cow pasture, designer

Fernando Carrere Fernando Carrere (31 December 1910 – 2 September 1998) was a Mexican art director. He was nominated for an Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American a ...

fabricated a storybook Sicilian village which added $800,000 to the production's already elevated $5.5 million budget.

Plot

During the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

, an outfit of U.S. soldiers is assigned to capture the small town of "Valerno", but upon arrival, they discover that the Italian Army garrison led by Captain Fausto Oppo (Sergio Fantoni) have been expecting them. They will willingly surrender and turn themselves over to the Americans' rule, provided they are permitted to complete a soccer match and a wine festival. Romance and frivolity ensue, as a reluctant, by-the-book Capt. Cash (

) is persuaded by easy-going Lt. Christian (

) to go along with the locals' wishes. Christian convinces Cash to send a message to headquarters that they have encountered resistance. After an aerial reconnaissance of the town, the Germans mistaking the festival for an attack. A nearby German Panzer unit is ordered come to the Italians' aid, but the Americans accidentally end up conquering all.

Cast

as Lieutenant Jody Christian *

as Captain Lionel Cash *

Sergio Fantoni Sergio Fantoni (7 August 1930 – 17 April 2020) was an Italian actor, voice actor and director. Biography Fantoni was born in Rome to the actor Cesare Fantoni. He began his career appearing in films, radio dramas, television and theatrical pro ...

as Captain Fausto Oppo *

Giovanna Ralli Giovanna Ralli, (born 2 January 1935), is an Italian stage, film and television actress. Life and career Born in Rome, Ralli debuted as a child actress at 7; at 13 she made her theatrical debut, entering the stage company of Peppino De Filip ...

as Gina Romano *

Aldo Ray Aldo Ray (born Aldo Da Re; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Studios before achieving stardom through his roles in '' The Marrying Kind ...

as Sergeant Rizzo *

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both ''December Bride'' (1954–1959 ...

as Major Pott *

Carroll O'Connor John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned over four decades. He became a lifelong member of the Actors Studio in 1971. O'Connor found widespread fame a ...

as General Max Bolt *

Leon Askin Leon Askin (; born Leon Aschkenasy, 18 September 1907 – 3 June 2005) was an Austrian Jewish actor best known in North America for portraying the character General Burkhalter on the TV situation comedy ''Hogan's Heroes''. Life and career A ...

as Colonel Kastorp * Rico Cattani as Benedetto (as Henry Rico Cattani) *

Jay Novello Jay Novello (born Michael Romano, August 22, 1904 – September 2, 1982) was an American radio, film, and television character actor. Early life Novello was born in Chicago to Joseph Romano and Maria (Salemme) Romano. He had three sibling ...

as Mayor Giuseppe Romano *

Ralph Manza Ralph Manza (December 1, 1921 – January 31, 2000) was an American character actor who made over 160 appearances in American film and television shows. Career A pre-med student at UC-Berkeley in the early 1940s, Manza was drafted into the Unit ...

as Waiter *

Vito Scotti Vito Giusto Scozzari (January 26, 1918 – June 5, 1996), also known as Vito Scotti, was an American character actor who played both dramatic and comedy roles on Broadway, in films, and later on television, primarily from the late 1930s to the ...

as Frederico * Johnny Seven as Vittorio * Art Lewis as Needleman * William Bryant as Minow *

Kurt Kreuger Kurt Kreuger (July 23, 1916 – July 12, 2006) was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third-most-requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. Life and career Kreuger w ...

as German Captain

Production

The title of the film came to Edwards when he was asked the question by his son Geoffrey. As Edwards was having marital problems at the time, he did not want to leave the United States, so Mirisch Productions agreed to film the movie in

Lake Sherwood, California Lake Sherwood is an unincorporated community in the Santa Monica Mountains, in Ventura County, California overlooking Lake Sherwood reservoir. It is a body contact lake, swimming, fishing, SUP and boating allowed, located south of the Conejo Vall ...

, for $5 million that included the construction of a large Italian village set. In his study of Edwards, Myron Meisel stated that Coburn imitated Blake Edwards' mannerisms throughout the film. The film was the first of what was originally intended to be six Mirisch-Geoffrey Productions between Edwards and the Mirisch Company. Only one other film, '' The Party'', was completed. William Peter Blatty recalled that Edwards and he originally agreed to make the film grim and without comedy for the first 20 minutes. This idea was shelved when, during the scene where Captain Cash visits Charlie Company at their chow line, he holds out his hand and one of the GI mess orderlies ladles beans into the captain's hand.

Reception

The film grossed $2,650,000 at the box office. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 12 reviews, with an average score of 5.80/10.

Music

The score is by

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

. It includes "The Swing March" and " In the Arms of Love".

References

External links

* * * {{Portalbar, Film 1966 films 1966 comedy films Films directed by Blake Edwards Italian Campaign of World War II films Military humor in film American comedy films Films set in Italy Films with screenplays by William Peter Blatty Films scored by Henry Mancini 1960s American films