Leslie H. Martinson served as a contract director for Warner Brothers during the first half of his career and he helmed virtually every Warner Brothers television shows, like "Cheyenne," "Sugarfoot," "Maverick," "Surfside 6," "Bronco," and "Colt .45." Martinson replaced "All Quiet on the Western Front" director Lewis Milestone. According to one report, Milestone objected to the screenplay, but no details about his criticisms have ever aired. "PT-109" qualifies as much as a thrilling World War II adventure as it does a publicity stunt for JFK. Basically, the facts are correct, but Warner Brothers tampered with the timeline. When JFK rescued the Marines off the beach, PT-109 had been sunk and he was skipper of PT=59. Clearly, the filmmakers put the beach episode before the historic sinking of PT-109 to avoid anti-climax. It's true that Kennedy sought to get into the fight and his father pulled strings to get him into the U.S. Navy, even though Kennedy had a bad back. The scene aboard the ship at the beginning is correct. No, "PT-109" isn't the best Hollywood movie about the torpedo boats in the South Pacific. That honor goes to John Ford's movie "They Were Expendable." Nevertheless, this is a very good World War II, with Cliff Robertson delivering a robust performance as the future U.S. President. "Ben-Hur" lenser Robert L. Surtees makes the scenery and the action look is spectacular. Musicians William Lava & David Buttolph delivered a memorable orchestral soundtrack that has never been released. The music is quite catchy. This largely straightforward seafaring saga is entertaining. The film has an authentic look and scenarist Richard Breen doesn't miss a chance to poke friendly fun at Kennedy. Robertson's speech about his "character flaw" is cool. Although the war took place in the South Pacific, Warner Brothers lensed the picture in Key West. If you pay close attention, there are no more than three PT-boats on camera. Some of the scenes are classic. James Gregory is sympathetic curmudgeon. I saw this movie when it was shown at the theater on the Columbus Air Force Installation when I was in the fourth grade. Future television actors Robert Blake, Norman Fell, George Takei, and Roger Davis have roles.

This Warner Brothers production was personally supervised by Jack Warner. Legend has it that Warren Beatty was Jackie Kennedy's choice to play he husband in the film but Jack decided on Cliff Robertson? Warren Beatty in 1963 was best known for his role in Dobie Gillis on TV & would have been coming from a starring role in All Fall Down in 1962. He would have gone from playing a drifter to laying a young US President. Instead he would be in 1964's Lilith next. Beatty was really just getting going. Robertson, in contrast was already an established star. As JFK was actually more of a conservative Democrat, the established star would make more sense. This film runs a bit long at 2 hours & 20 minutes, but I think that has to do with the fact that JFK told them he wanted accuracy in this movie. Think that scared Warners into making it long in order to make a statement about it being accurate. It is not as far off as many times when Hollywood would take liberties with. Robert J Donovan who wrote the book, really only has 1 other writing credit. I guess he made enough money on PT109 that he didn't write Cold War until 1998.This a a fairly good film as a young Robert Culp, James Gregory, Norman Fell, & some other folks who would go on to more fame are in this one. I like the way it opens with a junior officer trying to get JFK to go stateside & open brothels with him. Ironically, maybe JFK should have taken him up on that, but why should he need to run brothels when legend has it he could have almost any woman he wanted for free.This tale states that JFK's back problems were caused when a Japanese Destroyer cut the 109 into 2 halves. The legend of that here is put too film along with some other major materials.

Despite the bland performance of CLIFF ROBERTSON as JFK, PT 109 manages to be a well-staged WWII adventure photographed in handsome Technicolor with some very fine special effects that make all the battle scenes look very realistic.The best performance in the film is delivered by JAMES GREGORY as the hard-nosed commander of the PT squadron, with a cynical view of the young Kennedy who has had no wartime training until he arrives in the Pacific to put together a crew to work aboard a hastily repaired patrol boat.It's a story of courage and heroism that could have been told in ninety minutes to make the drama more taut. Instead, the film is padded out to a two-hours and twenty-minutes length that makes it feel like another "Mr. Roberts," especially during the long first hour.All of the squadron members are well played by a cast that includes TY HARDIN, GRANT WILLIAMS and ROBERT BLAKE as able seamen who form Kennedy's crew. Touches of wartime humor are present with amusing lines throughout. ("The skipper would mount a tank on a PT boat if he could find one," says a loyal crewman at one point). And when Kennedy is reminded of how idealistic he is when confronting the most unfavorable situations, he replies with a grin: "It must be a character flaw." The only real flaw with the film is its length, which robs it of some much needed tension toward the middle. However, as a film examining the earlier life of JFK's participation as a lieutenant in WWII, it's satisfying enough as a realistic depiction of the events aboard PT 109.Summing up: The basic story of Kennedy's efforts to bring his men back safely from a dangerous mission is effectively portrayed and manages to hold the interest despite being overlong. Worth seeing at least once.

I well remember PT 109 coming out in movie theaters during the summer of 1963. It was still playing in the hinterlands when the events of November 22, of that year occurred.Probably Cliff Robertson wisely decided not to try for a Boston accent in his portrayal of the 35th president of the United States during his World War II years. If he had he might have come off as imitating Vaughn Meader imitating John F. Kennedy. As it is the only concession he made to the role was a bit of reddish tint in his hair to suggest the man he was playing. It worked rather well and still works today.Ironically though had their been other U.S. Navy craft near the PT 109 when the Japanese battleship Amagiri sliced it like a loaf of bread in the middle of the night who could have picked up survivors, Lieutenant j.g. John F. Kennedy probably would have been facing a court martial for losing his boat that way. It was the only PT boat in World War II lost to the Japanese in that manner.But the story is not about that as it was the survival of all, but two of his crew who were killed in the collision. It's about Lieutenant Kennedy towing an injured man while swimming for a deserted Pacific island and keeping his men alive until they could be rescued. The Navy was not about to court martial a hero.Warner Brothers filled out the rest of the cast with some tried and true players, some like Ty Hardin and Grant Williams from their television series which was rapidly taking over the Warner Brothers lot. Particularly I liked James Gregory as the career naval officer in charge of the PT squadron and Michael Pate as Australian coast watcher Reg Evans. This is one of the few American made films where Michael Pate plays someone from his own country.I remember on Jack Paar's Friday night variety show he devoted an entire hour to one long commercial for this film. He reunited all of the surviving PT 109 survivors with Australian coast watcher Reg Evans who had a big hand in rescuing them. Evans had met Kennedy of course, but had never met the rest of the crew. The whole living crew was there except the skipper who was in the White House and who could know he'd be the next one to die.If JFK had lived and been running for re-election in 1964 what a great piece of election propaganda PT 109 would have been. The story also had a lot to do with his successful campaign in 1960. Kennedy was running under the cloud of his father Joseph P. Kennedy being a supporter of appeasement back in the day. This story and the death of his older brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. in combat in the European theater blunted a lot of the criticism of the actions of his father.PT 109 is a nicely done war film and a great piece of nostalgia for the Kennedy years.