Not really a "realistic" story, even though this film puts on a "I'm gritty" hat and tries to pretend it's all about "real" people, but it's not. It's about a fantasy--and a surreal one at that. There is a remarkable amount of good information here about being a in the Navy--it's fun if you really, really like being on a boat. Otherwise it's a drag and it's particularly a drag if you aren't on the boat that you signed up to be on. So we meet a guy who is stuck in administrative limbo (actually happens in the military from time to time) and finds himself feeling lost and unable to fit in anywhere in the civilian world except for a very funky dive of a bar.There he meets another person with nowhere to be--a woman. They have some fun and then have sex in a way that is not entirely wholesome but isn't entirely sordid. It's as close as they get to being alive, so they follow up on it.By now, you can label everybody, and attach those big dismissive labels to the characters to allow yourself to enjoy not being them. Slut. Black. Stooge. Sailor. Drunk. Whore. Just pile up the labels until you feel adequately insulated.But if you take this movie straight, with no chaser, it will make you wonder about the difference between a sailor and a guy dressed up like a sailor (it's the same thing).Great movie. Some of my favorite actors doing a fine job. See it.

The movie was great, my interpretation was boiled down to when opposites "attempt" to attract, the moral and the immoral people. There are some very "unexpected" turnouts in the movie, which makes it a classic hit compared to the obvious turnouts of todays movies. Todays "drama" movies contain obvious turnouts, in example a married man leaves his innocent always faithful wife for a younger single woman, only to realize the younger woman turns out to be everything his wife is not, which makes him do the right thing and go back to his wife. This is why the movie is a must see for persons seeking unique drama stories.

I have never forgotten this film for a second after seeing it on VHS years ago. 2 of my favorite actors of the 70s, Mason and Caan....Marsha needs to be better represented on DVD; why isn't this film and "Only When I Laugh" on DVD yet? Who do we complain to? There were so many surprising elements to this film...i was shocked to see the nudity in this film, and also the mixed race of her son, if my memory serves me correctly, and played by an interesting child actor. The movie was just more than i was expecting it to be, a very pleasant surprise. I just read that she beat out Babs for this part, and i really can't see her playing this part the way Marsah did, tho i do love her as well.

Granted there are some literary devices which are a tad far-fetched that simply have to be accepted to allow this story to work - for one, the cavalier way in which Baggs is treated while his papers are 'lost', and for so long. None the less, this is, in the end an affecting and inspiring tale. Perhaps one of the reasons for its dubious reception here is that in this extremely cynical and selfish age people have difficulty accepting a tale about someone who assumes so much grief in order to help people ("It makes me feel good," says Baggs, simply and disarmingly.) Perhaps the world would be a better place if we could all be more like the guileless Boatswain, played by James Caan in a good-guy departure from his usual tough guy parts. Of particular note is the fine job Eli Wallach does with the minor part of Baggs' nemesis Forshay. It's a memorable moment when Baggs, asking Forshay, as he is drummed out of the service without benefits or pension, "Where are you going? Home?", hears Forshay reply "THIS was home." The combination of sadness, bitterness, and fear of the future that Wallach puts into these three words is testimony to his power as an actor. A bit of judicious editing might have been called for, as the movie was a tad long (cutting Paul Williams' execrable songs would have been a good place to start), but none the less it's a feel-good movie that rises above its gritty setting.