Wake Me When It's Over (film)
| Wake Me When It's Over | |
|---|---|
Twentieth Century-Fox | |
Release date | April 8, 1960 |
Running time | 126 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,000,000 (US/ Canada)[1] |
Wake Me When It's Over is a 1960
Plot
Gus Brubaker (
. Boredom has made the airmen assigned there apathetic, slovenly, and unmotivated. Its equipment and supplies are a collection of junk, abandoned or surplus.Capt. Charlie Stark (Ernie Kovacs), a free-wheeling nonconformist Air Force pilot, is in charge. His superiors have all but forgotten the base is still on the island. Gus gets to know Ume Tanaka (Nobu McCarthy), daughter of the village's unfriendly mayor, who shows him a pool of natural hot springs. Gus and Charlie conspire to open a resort hotel, using the men as labor and the broken-down equipment as materials, with Doc Farringtom (Warden) scamming journalist Joab Martinson (Robert Emhardt) about the water's "healing powers" to gain free publicity.
Doc summons no-nonsense Lt. Nora McKay (Margo Moore) to lend a woman's touch to the project, and Charlie develops a romantic interest in her. The airmen, including Charlie, are motivated by the project and their pretty young lieutenant, become a military outfit again, and construct a first-class facility, the Hotel Shima. Nora staffs the hotel with 40 young women from the village, and following local custom, the girls are "sold" for two years to Gus as their "papa-san" at the insistence of their fathers. Nora and Charlie fall in love, but when he asks her to marry him, she is doubtful that he is marriage material.
When Martinson gets drunk and embarrasses himself in front of all the guests, he vindictively writes a story painting the hotel as a den of sin. Gus is
Ultimately, Brubaker is found not guilty on one count, but guilty of taking government property. During sentencing, the court discovers it has tried the wrong man due to the earlier government error. Stymied, the panel finally decides to find Gus not guilty and leave the hotel to the people of the island. Charlie and Nora reconcile from an earlier disagreement over the trial and decide to marry. As Gus says goodbye to Ume and sets off to leave, he sees that Colonel Hollingsworth (now demoted to sergeant) has been assigned to the base in his place. Ume waves goodbye as Gus starts for home.
Cast
- Ernie Kovacs as Captain Charlie Stark
- Dick Shawn as Gus Brubaker
- Margo Moore as First Lieutenant Nora McKay
- Jack Warden as Captain Dave "Doc" Farrington
- Nobu McCarthy as Ume Tanaka (as Nobu Atsumi McCarthy)
- Don Knotts as Staff Sergeant Percy Warren
- Robert Strauss as Technical Sergeant Sam Weiscoff
- Noreen Nash as Marge Brubaker
- Parley Baer as Colonel Archie Hollingsworth
- Robert Emhardt as Joab Martinson
- Marvin Kaplan as Hap Cosgrove
- Tommy Nishimura as Private Jim Harigawa
- Raymond Bailey as General Weigang
- Vin Scully as a CBS reporter
- Judy Dan as Geisha Girl (uncredited)
See also
References
- ^ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
