Onionhead (1958)

This rumbunctious naval comedy from Warner Bros. hoped to capitalise on Andy Griffith’s huge success in No Time For Sergeants (1958). Sadly, the film was such a disaster at the box office that Griffith subsequently switched from movies to television.

Set in 1941, young Oklahoma boy Al Woods (Griffith) decides to quit college and enlist in the US Coast Guard when his girlfriend Jo (Erin O’Brien) refuses to commit.

A run-in with one of his instructors at boot camp lands him a job as a junior cook on a ship based in Boston.

One night in a bar, he meets pretty Stella Papparonis (Felicia Farr) and the two see each other regularly, though she refuses to stay with him when he rents a hotel room for the night.

Stella winds up marrying Al’s short-tempered superior in the galley, “Red” Wildoe (Walter Matthau in an irresistibly funny performance) – but throwing herself at every man in sight.

Life becomes far more serious for everyone when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.

The supporting cast includes some of the screen’s best-known bad guys, including Claude Akins and Ray Danton.

The two US Coast Guard ships used in this film were the USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333) and the USCGC Heather (WAGL-331).

Alvin ‘Al’ Woods (Onionhead)
Andy Griffith
Stella Papparonis
Felicia Farr
‘Red’ Wildoe
Walter Matthau
Josephine (Jo) Hill
Erin O’Brien
Harry ‘Doc’ O’Neal
Joe Mantell
Ensign Dennis Higgins
Ray Danton
Lt. Cmdr. Fox (The Skipper)
James Gregory
Sidney Gutsell
Joey Bishop
‘Windy’ Woods
Roscoe Karns
Poznicki
Claude Akins
Chief Miller
Ainslie Pryor
Yeoman Kaffhamp
Sean Garrison
Ensign Fineberg
Dan Barton
Lt. J.G. Bennett
Mark Roberts
Charlie Berger
Tiger Andrews
Agnelli
Karl Lukas
Dave Hubert
Morris Erby

Director
Norman Taurog