YMMV / The Caine Mutiny

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • In the book, Queeg gives Maryk an excellent fitness report and recommends him for his own DMS command. Was Queeg being honest and showing that, deep down, he really did have the best interests of his men at heart or was Queeg just trying get Maryk off the Caine so he wouldn't have to put with him anymore?
  • One discussed In-Universe in the book: Is Queeg an insane, hypocritical, impossible-to-please taskmaster or is he just a by-the-book Navy man who's been saddled with a crew of malcontents? Maryk and Keefer ultimately don't go through with their plan of trying to get Queeq relieved by Admiral Halsey because they worry Halsey will side with Queeg. Same goes for the crew of the Caine, are they a long-suffering put-upon crew who have a CO who couldn't find his ass without their help or are they just a bunch of lazy assholes who make Queeg's job much harder than necessary?
• Award Snub: More than a few viewers of the film are puzzled why Tom Tully received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his fine, but extremely brief performance as De Vriess rather than Fred MacMurray, José Ferrer or Van Johnson in much more substantial roles.
• Heartwarming Moments: The last act of DeVriess as captain of the Caine. He's just about to depart for civilian life, when Budge/Meatball presents him with a silver wristwatch on behalf of the crew for his years of service and command; he gruffly scolds them for it, claiming it's against protocol, and leaves it behind on the railing. After he walks onto the gangplank, now a fully decommissioned civvie, he reaches back and takes it. The act leaves everyone save Keith close to tears.
  DeVriess: Well, what do you know? Somebody left this watch lying around. Might as well have a souvenir of this old bucket. [admiringly] Not a bad-looking watch at that. What time is it, Mr. Keith?
  Keith: Eleven hundred, sir.
  DeVriess: Make it 10:30. I'll always keep it a half hour slow... [to] remind me of the fouled-up crew of the Caine.
• Memetic Mutation: "Queeg-like" in reference to less than capable officers.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Lee Marvin has a minor, but noticeable role as one of the Caine's sailors.
  • Claude Akins has another minor but noticeable role as one of the sailors nicknamed 'Horrible' who is chastised by Queeg for his untucked shirttail during the target-towing scene.
• Signature Scene: Queeg turning into a raving, paranoid wreck on the witness stand. One of Humphrey Bogart's greatest performances, and one of the most tragic character breakdowns in cinematic history.
• Tear Jerker:
  • In the book, Dr. Keith's last letter to Willie, telling him he's dying, that he hopes the Navy will have a positive impact on Willie, and imploring him to "be a man". By the time Willie reads it and telegrams home for news, his father has died.
  • In the film, Queeg's breakdown on the stand. Even Maryk looks sad.
  • Two Meta examples. Robert Francis, who made his movie debut playing Ensign Willie Keith, died in a 1955 plane crash. He was only 25 years old with just four acting credits. And Humphrey Bogart died of throat cancer in 1957.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The mutineers. Greenwald blames them for Queeg's breakdown and asserts that if they'd given him their unconditional loyalty, they wouldn't have needed to relieve him. Some viewers, however, believe that the mutiny was entirely justified in order to save the ship, and Queeg's asking for help was too little, too late.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Queeg himself. His long history of service comes as a bit of an Informed Attribute compared to the incompetence he demonstrates in the story, which makes it harder to accept Greenwald's claim that he was a good officer who was on duty for too long, who'd selflessly defended the nation while the younger officers went about their own lives. There is also a big difference between book and movie. The movie tried to present him as a broken-down man in a losing battle with own demons, shown by his (half-assed) plea for help, and sane enough to see how crazy he looked after a couple seconds of rambling. It’s also implied that hard Atlantic service had something to do with it. There’s none of that in the book, where he was substantially more disturbed, ranting for ten minutes without self-awareness and never seeing himself as anything other than a model officer. There also substantially more incompetence, cowardice, and petty tyranny.
  • As Barney Greenwald's distaste for Maryk and the Mutineers stems from his sympathy for Queeg, he can come across as a clueless jackass to some viewers. This varies between adaptations, correlating with Queeg, but also for a reason separate from Queeg. In the play, also written by Wouk, Greenwald gives his famous speech with one interesting difference. After hitting he main points, he emphasizes that at the end of the day Keefer’s contribution to America amounts to taking a ship out of commission during the hottest part of the Pacific War. Much higher stakes, than the career of a useless Niedermeyer or the self-respect of a bunch of civilians.
• Values Dissonance: For obvious reasons, given it's set during WWII and written/filmed not long after, and apparently there are no therapists in the Navy. It's quite likely that supporting Queeg by serving under him faithfully, as Greenwald claims, would've just enabled his mental illness, and the best thing they could've done for him would've been to try to secretly voice their concerns to brass before the typhoon, when he hadn't yet been implicated in endangering the crew. Even though it could've still led to him being humiliated by getting declared unequipped for active duty, there's a chance his then-exemplary record could've played a factor in his handling; he'd have been bumped down to a quieter, less demanding position that was still more dignified than the supply depot, and would've saved him some face.
• Values Resonance: The play and film take a very serious and nuanced approach to the subject of PTSD years before the topic was openly discussed as part of what soldiers go through and makes a point of treating Queeg not as a coward but a man who desperately needed help that he never got and whose issues were ignored by those above him until they became detrimental, making clear the attitude to mental health played a major factor in the events that followed.
• The Woobie:
  • In both versions, Queeg and Maryk. Queeg was, as Maryk pointed out, a tired man who had been on active duty for far too long. The Sparknotes analysis of the book even goes on to point out that his steady by-the-book nature and apparent immunity to being bothered by boredom or routine would have made him an excellent Captain in a peacetime situation. Maryk himself is a good person who just wanted to get into the regular Navy, but the shipmates he wound up with and his own naive nature doomed his aspirations, and caused him to ruin Queeg's own naval career as well.
  • In the book, Stilwell, whom Queeg treats as his own personal whipping boy.

---