Mister Roberts at Five in the Morning

I woke up at 5 a.m., thinking about the movie "Mister Roberts." This was because I had to create yet another user name/password combination for some Web site and I had to also set up security questions/answers (all of this in order to get some cookie dough coupons, I think! Is such heavy security needed?). At any rate, one of the questions I chose was "what is your favorite movie?" and I put as the answer "Mister Roberts." So I woke up at 5 a.m., thinking about why I liked "Mister Roberts" so much. The movie, based on a play, is about the crew of a "rust-bucket" supply ship that is far removed from the action during the waning days of World War II. Henry Fonda plays Mister Roberts and Jack Lemmon is his junior officer, Ensign Pulver. They are both opposed to Jimmy Cagney, who plays the ship's tyrannical captain. Fonda is the man of action, while Lemmon offers comic relief and is more a talker than a doer. It is Mister Roberts who routinely serves as the crew's advocate in dealing with the nonsensical orders of the captain, a man who has obviously followed the Peter Principle and been promoted beyond his level of competency. The main themes are anti-authoritarianism and loyalty, with a dash of altruism. A key moment in the film concerns the captain's decision to cancel shore leave for the crew because of some rules violation he has observed. Mister Roberts secretly cuts a deal with the captain to allow the men to have their shore leave: he agrees to knuckle under to the captain and not be confrontational with him. Later the crew resents his change of character and shuns Mister Roberts, not understanding why he no longer sticks up for them with the captain. They think he no longer cares for them and has simply knuckled under in order to be transferred to the war zone, something he has been wanting all along. When they learn the truth, they realize that he has paid a high toll for gaining them their shore leave and they respect him even more. He eventually gets his transfer and the crew later learns he was killed in action. At this point, the Jack Lemmon character changes from being a talker to a doer and the film ends with him walking up to the captain's quarters, throwing the captain's ornamental palm tree overboard and storming in, shouting "It's me, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your stinking palm tree overboard. Now what's this about.....(whatever the issue was; I haven't seen the film in a few years so am a bit rusty on the details)." Cagney's face falls and there's a sour descending horn note that ends the movie.