Biopic about a notorious sea commandant , a 18th-century naval hero who became the prestigious leader of the American navy against the British Empire . This is tribute to the Revolutionary War naval hero filmed in big budget , spectacular scenes and great production design , though was pretty wooden and failed at box office . The career of Revolutionary War naval hero , John Paul Jones (Robert Stack) from his youth in Scotland through his service to Catherine the Great of Russia (Bette Davis) . It deals with his beginnings of his naval career as a cabin boy to the captaincy of his own ship . This came to an end, however, when John killed a member of his crew, a mutineer with a sword in a dispute , but because he would not be tried in an Admiral's Court, he felt compelled to flee to Fredericksburg, Province of Virginia, leaving his fortune behind . He went to Fredericksburg to arrange the affairs of his brother, who had died there without leaving any other family ; and about this time, in addition to his original surname, he assumed the surname of Jones . Later on , he greatly aids George Washington (John Crawford) and the American cause . With Benjamin Franklin's (Charles Coburn) help, he secures a ship from Louis XVI (Jean Pierre Aumont) and Marie Antoinette (Susana Canales) which he calls the Bonhomme Richard and ultimately meets the vaunted British battleship of the line, the Searapis, in one of the great naval battles of all time. It's a passable historical drama story where the protagonist , Robert Stack , is acceptable . Stack striving mightily to be shipshape as Jones . It is an epic and moving tale , as the starring fights enemies , taking on the risks of sea battles to survive in a world surrounded by powerful forces . The picture contains interesting drama , a love history , colorful spectacle , historical events and sea battles have some flare , being filmed in Denia , Alicante , Spain . This historic movie was realized with import help from Spanish government delivering logistics , props , soldiers and many other things . Being a Spanish/American co-production by Suevia Films-Cesareo Gonzalez along with Samuel Bronston Production in his first movie in Spain where he produced monumental flicks such as ¨El Cid¨ , ¨55 days in Pekin¨ , ¨King of Kings¨ , ¨Circus World¨ and ¨The fall of the Roman Empire¨ . Very good support cast such as Macdonald Carey as Patrick Henry , Jean-Pierre Aumont as King Louis XVI , David Farrar as John Wilkes , Bruce Cabot as Gunner , Thomas Gomez as Hopkins , Peter Cushing as Capt. Richard Pearson and final film of Charles Coburn ; including cameo appearances from Bette Davis as Catherina The Great, the Russian empress , Eric Pohlmann as George III replaced George Sanders , and film debut of Mia Farrow , director's daughter and Maureen O'Sullivan . Rousing musical score by master Max Steiner , this would be the last time Max Steiner would compose a film score for a film featuring Bette Davis , he had written several scores for movies starring Davis, and had been her favorite composer . The picture was professionally directed by veteran filmmaker John Farrow , though with no originality , being his final film . However , this sometimes tedious , empty and overlong epic sank without a trace . The motion picture was correctly based on historic events , these are the following : John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish sailor and the United States's first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolution. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day. As such he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the United States Navy" . He later served in the Imperial Russian Navy. During his engagement with HMS Serapis, Jones uttered, according to the later recollection of his first lieutenant, the legendary reply to a taunt about surrender from the British captain: "I have not yet begun to fight!"

In The Revolution only one man attacked British merchant shipping so fierce that the Llyod's Company begged King George to let America go. That same man attacked a British installation in the West Indies and conducted the only foreign incursion on British soil in a millennium. Such a character must have captured taken Hollywood by storm.Billed as the "true" story of John Paul Jones, John Paul Jones offers for Hollywood an accurate summary of the dynamic naval hero's life.Though larger than life, Jones born John Paul stood 5'6" tall, hardly NBA material today but in his time perhaps average. Size was hardly the only obstacle Jones had to overcome. Not favored by birth into a poor Scottish Clan during occupation by Red Coats. John Paul at age 14 goes to sea as ship's boy.Rising to wealth in the West Indies, John Paul (Robert Stack) kills a mutinous crewman. The British magistrate offers friendly advise: flee to America rather than face an Admiralty Court. In Virginia, Jones finds America seething with resentment toward the Redcoats and veering into revolution.When Revolution explodes, Jones accepts a commission. His mission to raid a British fortification in the West Indies brings needed gunpowder to the American cause. In his next command, Jones takes 18 British vessels. Despite all the prizes, the Continental Congress lands Jones at the bottom of their list of naval commanders.Robert Stack's stately appearance and mellifluous voice carry the air of command, even if they do not capture a Scottish burr. Stack plays Jones as the committed hero, unshakable in battle, despite a justifiably anger at the ingratitude Congress would show almost all its talented land and sea commanders.Yet despite the rage General George Washington (Jack Crawford) persuades Jones to return to sea to break the British blockade. Jones promises to steal the derelict Ranger docked at Portsmouth, refit it, raise a crew, and set to sea.On the briny, the French greet The Ranger (according to the movie) with the first salute given to the flag of the United States. History usually gives the honour of the first salute to US colors to the Dutch at St. Eustis.Rushing to Doctor Franklin (Charles Coburn), Jones has a plan to invade the British Isles with a tiny ship. While distracting the entire British Navy with incursions and raids, Jones will force insurance rates to skyrocket. Although the mission was successful, a disgruntled crewman's charges lead to the relief of Jones. Ranger is withdrawn to America. High and Dry in France with only the comfort of his beloved aimee, Aimee Jones regrets his inability to build an American Navy above politics and privateering.Although the King of France cannot provide a ship for Jones, the Queen privately invests in the Bon Homme Richard named after Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac." Asea under the American flag, meets the HMS Serapis in an attack so fierce that the two ships are grappled together and firing point blank. Refusing to surrender, Jones declares the famous words, "I have not yet begun to fight." The British surrender just in time for the Americans to transfer to the captured vessel before the good ship Bonhomme flounders.First in war and first asea, Jones finishes last in love. Despite honors and acclaim Jone's girl Aimee is of the blood Royal who cannot marry a commoner. Peace brings a let down. The young republic cannot afford a naval fleet with competent seamen. The Real life Jones warned accurately of future trouble with the Barbary coast.The new Republic would pay dearly ($2000 per seaman captured by barbary pirates) for ignoring Jone's prophesy.Jones departed for Russia to accept a commission as rear admiral in the Czarist Imperial Navy from Catherine the Great (Bette Davis). In the movie, Jones is on assignment from the US government to study the building of a real navy; in reality Jones was out of work and needed a job. While the Empress is less interested in war than playthings, Jones prefers the sea and his command.The real life Jones found the Czarina's navy in worse shape than the American Navy with conscripted serfs unable at seamanship. Jone's reports resulted in trumped up charges. Luckily Jones was permitted to leave for France.The movie version is kinder to the Russians. Despite constant interference and poor ships, Jones has won great battles in the Black Sea for the czarina. However, Jones has fallen critically ill.On return from Russia, Jones is attended by Franklin and Aimee. In real life Jones died alone. Franklin had departed for America long before.Jones probably would have enjoyed the uniqueness of his burial: the first unnoticed almost without ceremony in the foreign cemetery in Paris seething with its own revolution. The remains would probably have crumbled into dust except that an American consular official thought that America might wake up sometime in the future and recall its hero home. The body was placed in a leadened coffin.In 1906 the US emerging as a superpower located the grave now under a Paris street and dis-interned Jones for reburial in the chapel at Annapolis, Md. All the pomp lacking in 1792 was found over 100 years later.

Although the writing credits on this film mention a story by one of the writers called "Nor'wester", it seems the roots of this film go further back. A brilliant, unscrupulous hack named Augustus Buell wrote a series of so-called biographies at the turn-on-the-century of various American heroes. His biography of Andrew Jackson is like his biography of John Paul Jones - he "embellished" it. In the biography of Jackson Buell (unfortunately) invented the charming quote that Jackson's two greatest regrets were never hanging John C. Calhoun for treason, and never killing Henry Clay in a duel. Unfortunately Buell's lies have been quoted by better historians for decades. Marquis James' Pulitzer Prize Winning biography of Jackson used Buell a-plenty. His work on the life of Jones was so damaging to scholars that the great historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote an in-depth appendix of the lies Buell wrote. An example: Buell said there was a love triangle in Virginia between Patrick Henry, John Paul Jones, and the woman they both loved (whom Henry married). This never happened. It is in the film JOHN PAUL JONES.Not everything is in the film. Buell had a fictitious quote from Napoleon I that he would have used Jones (who lived his last years in Paris)to head his navy against Nelson at Trafalgar. Napoleon never said that - and probably did not even know who Jones was. A lot of Buell was removed - but a lot remains in it.The film also suffers from the star. Robert Stack was an admirable Elliot Ness on television, and had a goofy streak he revealed in AIRPLANE, CADDYSHACK II, 1941, and other late films. But he could seem stiff and overblown - and he does so in this film. He does seem properly heroic, but he rarely shows the darker side of Jones' character. He was a disciplinarian, and harsh tempered. He probably was responsible for killing two crewmen, one who tried to strike the flag of the Bon Homme Richard during the battle with the Serapis, and one just before the war, when Jones was Captain John Paul of the British merchant marine. In the earlier instance Jones knocked down a mutinous (or seemingly mutinous) seaman, and the other crewmen were ready to bring charges against him with the British authorities. This led to Jones fleeing to the 13 colonies, and changing his name.Another thing cleaned up (or at least changed) is the career of Jones as a Russian Rear Admiral under Empress Catherine the Great (Bette Davis). The film suggests that the Empress hired Jones, in part, due to his attractive appearance (after all, the Empress had all those affairs). Actually she hired him needing able sea commanders to fight the Turks in the Black Sea. And the experiment did not work because of jealousy by Russian commanders (possibly assisted by Catherine's chief minister Potemkin - whom the famous battleship in the Eisenstein movie is named after). Also, Jones left under a scandal - he may have picked up an underage girl, and was arrested (but released when he agreed to leave Russia). It was then that he moved to Paris (where he died in 1792). Oh, Benjamin Franklin died in 1790 in Philadelphia - he had stopped being Minister to France in 1784 (when he was replaced by Thomas Jefferson). He could not be present when Jones is dying in 1792 in Paris (as he is in the film). Well - it is a movie.Some of the history is correct. Jones was (with John Barry and Joshua Barney) the only American Revolutionary naval heroes to win battles against the British. Jones (with Franklin's help) did remarkable work with three ships: the Richard (named for Franklin's "Poor Richard"), the Alliance, and the Ranger. He did sizeable damage to British commerce, and (best of all) actually raided the British Isles (his old home area in Scotland). The battle scenes dealing with the climactic duel between the "Richard" and the "Serapis" is well done. It even reminds us to the bizaare behavior of Captain Landais, a French madmen who was in command of the "Richard"'s companion ship, who actually fired on the "Richard" during the battle.Also, on a minor note - in one moment of the film Stack is angry about the delays from Congress in giving him a ship, confronting the head of the Naval Committee. This is Mr. Hewes of North Carolina. It oddly enough fits in as a sequel to a minor figure in the musical 1776: Mr. Joseph Hewes of North Carolina is the leader of that state's congressional body, who frequently waits for the mentally stronger Edmund Rutledge of South Carolina to vote first. He also criticizes the Declaration of Independence for failing to include anything about "deep sea fishing rights" See, even there Mr. Hewes was concentrating on sea matters. So the film does have some moments worth watching. But it is too stiff and too long. If you want to know more about Jones, read the biography of Jones by Morison, or the more recent biography that has been published. At least you will get the full and true story.

Essentially a biography in movie format, tells of the life of John Paul Jones, the man who put the U.S. Navy on the map during the American Revolution. It touches briefly on his early life, concentrating on his life in the colonies and what led him to go there after a career in the King's service. Movie also touches on the impact and standards that Jones imprinted on today's navy, and it is this element, among others, that makes this well worth watching. Stack (although taller than Jones's height of 5'4") is perfectly cast in the title role. Not to be overlooked either are Coburn's portrayal of Benjamin Franklin, Davis's of Catherine the Great, and Max Steiner's excellent musical score. Additional note: movie was produced by Samuel Bronston, who also produced and did a magnificent job on "El Cid." Whether one is looking for a movie about the Age Of Sail period or simply wants to learn about Jones, this is an excellent choice.