Bill Mauldin’s battle-weary dog faces, Willie and Joe, from his famous World War II cartoons, come to hilarious and touching life in this picture.
Willie (Tom Ewell) and Joe (David Wayne) fight their way through Italy, put up with fresh-faced replacement officers who’ve never been near a foxhole, and escape from Naples with one pass between them and a whole army of MPs in pursuit.
But the plot’s not important.
What is important is the understanding, affectionate way the Italian people are treated and the almost painfully authentic comedy of muddy combat men who don’t smell good being persecuted by spotless rear-echelon soldiers.
When Willie and Joe see a Naples street filled with MPs, one says to the other, “Gee, somebody musta forgot to salute a warrant officer.”
Later, when an officious little desk job major traps them, Joe says to Willie, “He’s happier than if he’d caught Hitler.”
Joe
David Wayne Willie
Tom Ewell Emi Rosso
Marina Berti Capt. Ralph Johnson
Jeffrey Lynn Capa
Richard Egan Vuaglio
Maurice Cavell MP Maj. Lester
Vaughn Taylor Poppa Rosso
Silvio Minciotti Smitty
Hal Baylor Col. Akeley
Paul Harvey Sabatelli
Roger De Koven Signora Carvadossi
Grazia Narciso Tarantino
Tito Vuolo Capt. Echart
Bob Donnelly Walsh
John Doucette Albro Allen
Darren Dublin Scola
Antonio Filauri Carter
Don Garner Pinanski
Peter Leeds
Director
Alexander Hall
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Willie (Tom Ewell) and Joe (David Wayne) fight their way through Italy, put up with fresh-faced replacement officers who’ve never been near a foxhole, and escape from Naples with one pass between them and a whole army of MPs in pursuit.
