While the drama of the 1954 film hinged on the high stakes of the Pacific theater during World War II, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial involves an all-volunteer navy and no sea battles.
While the drama of the 1954 film hinged on the high stakes of the Pacific theater during World War II,Back in the 1970s, Hollywood was roused from its torpor by a collection of brilliant, difficult, occasionally berserk filmmakers, including, died on Aug. 7 at the age of 87. Friedkin became a superstar director thanks to two hugely influential hits —, whose 50th anniversary is this year.
The original story resonated in a '50s America where countless ordinary men, like Wouk himself, had served during World War II and knew the life-and-death stakes of commanders' decisions in the Pacific theater. But this version is set in the Persian Gulf with an all-volunteer navy and no sea battles. It has no present-day urgency. The only thing that feels truly modern is the diversity of the cast.
While Friedkin made his name with movies that worked you over, he was actually an erudite man interested in the world around him. What attracted him to this story is not, I think, a fascination with military justice in World War II or the Gulf.
Which may be another way of saying that the movie is personal. Although peak Friedkin was closer to Capt. Ahab than Capt. Queeg, he knew what it was like to be called a tyrant and monomaniac and be attacked for the politics of some of his movies. Given his own checkered career, it feels fitting that his valedictory film should be about the slippery morality of those who cast the first stone.
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