''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 "se ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. During the 1930s, he was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Bros., Warner Brothers studios, ...

and starring

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

and Dick Shawn in

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...

. 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 premie ...

(words) and James Van Heusen (music) and sung by

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

Plot

Gus Brubaker ( Dick Shawn) is a self-described schnook. 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 army aviati ...

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

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person 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 war for a ...

, but the military listed him as killed. A red-tape foulup results in Gus being back in uniform, assigned to a ramshackle radar station on a backwater island near Shima,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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), 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) about the water's "healing powers" to gain free publicity. Doc summons no-nonsense Lt. Nora McKay ( Margo Moore) 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-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

ed as a

scapegoat In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...

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 Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

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 * Dick Shawn as Gus Brubaker * Margo Moore as First Lieutenant Nora McKay *

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

as Captain Dave "Doc" Farrington * Nobu McCarthy as Ume Tanaka (as Nobu Atsumi McCarthy) *

Don Knotts Jesse Donald Knotts (July 21, 1924February 24, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on the 1960s sitcom ''The Andy Griffith Show'', for which he earned five Emmy Awards. He als ...

as Staff Sergeant Percy Warren * Robert Strauss as Technical Sergeant Sam Weiscoff * Noreen Nash 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 "Chester" ...

as Colonel Archie Hollingsworth * Robert Emhardt as Joab Martinson *

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

as Hap Cosgrove * Tommy Nishimura as Private Jim Harigawa * Raymond Bailey as General Weigang *

Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster, best known for his broadcast work in Major League Baseball. Scully was the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for sixty-se ...

as a CBS reporter * Judy Dan 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 comedy films 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