The Last Time I Saw Archie
| The Last Time I Saw Archie | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jack Webb |
| Produced by | Jack Webb |
| Written by | William Bowers |
| Starring |
Robert Mitchum Jack Webb Martha Hyer France Nuyen |
| Narrated by | Jack Webb |
| Music by | Frank Comstock |
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Edited by | Robert Leeds |
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Production
company |
Manzanita-Talbot Productions, Mark VII, Ltd.
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Last Time I Saw Archie is a 1961 comedy film set in the waning days of World War II.Robert Mitchum stars as Arch Hall Sr., a lazy, scheming American in an aviation school for pilots too old to fly aircraft but not too old to fly military gliders and liaison aircraft.Jack Webb produced, directed and costarred.
The film is currently unavailable on DVD. There is an Internet petition to support a home video release. The campaign was initiated by the Jack Webb Fan Club Los Angeles Chapter.
In flying school, lazy Private Archie Hall (Robert Mitchum) somehow dominates everyone around him, fellow trainees, sergeants and officers alike, and manages to avoid doing any work. Bill Bowers (Jack Webb), a Hollywood screenwriter in civilian life, becomes his sidekick. An initially hostile, suspicious trio of privates, Sam Beacham (Louis Nye), Russell Drexler (Joe Flynn) and Frank Ostrow (Del Moore), are penalized for opposing him and eventually smarten up and become his pals as well. Archie exudes so much self-confidence that Master Sergeant Stanley Erlenheim (Robert Strauss) becomes convinced that he is an undercover G-2 (counterintelligence) general. Erlenheim and his underling, Sergeant Malcolm Greenbriar (Harvey Lembeck), arrange it so that Archie and his buddies are given permanent passes and a personal jeep, so they can leave the training base whenever they please. Archie sees Cindy Hamilton (France Nuyen) every night, while Bill pairs off with Peggy Kramer (Martha Hyer). Archie also arranges for the three other privates to acquire gorgeous girlfriends as well.
As time goes by, Bill comes to suspect that Cindy is a Japanese spy, but he cannot get Archie to take it seriously (even though Cindy keeps giving him money in outsized old bills). It turns out that Cindy actually is a spy, but for American counterintelligence, despite the opposition of her guardian, Colonel Edwin Martin, the base commander. Sergeants Erlenheim and Greenbriar get into trouble when they break down the door of her apartment, thinking they will catch her in the act of reporting to the enemy, only to find her presenting her findings to Martin.
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Wikipedia