McHale's Navy (TV Series) Alias PT 73 (1964) User Reviews

One of the better shows we have seen in sometime.

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 3 November 2014]

For the first time in many shows, this episode made me smile. It was well written and did not beat us over the head with obnoxious behavior that seems to be the norm of the last few productions. This show was an unexpected treasure.

The base is being bothered by a Japanese fighter that they call 'Hit-and-Run Harry'. It seems that Harry is causing problem and even sunk PT boat 25 during one of the air-raids. When Binghamton learns that the crew of the PT 25 are going to be reassigned, he only wishes that it could have been the PT 73 with McHale and his crew. So he gets the idea of ordering the PT 73 to be docked and the crew ordered to stay on the base. This way if Hit-and Run Harry hits the stationary 73, Binghamton can finally get rid of McHale.

But McHale takes the ruins of the PT 25 and and paints the number 73 on the side. Now Binghamton thinks that McHale and his crew had not left the island. But actually they have left to help some natives rebuild their huts after an air-raid. While Binghamton and Admiral Parker finally learn that the 73 has left port, McHale is going to do a lot of explaining. That is if a miracle does not happen.

This was an entertaining show that has been lacking for most of season two. Joe Flynn was great with some darn funny lines in this episode. Plus the writers did not make Ensign Parker so inane that his character becomes annoying and the viewer becomes uninterested. This was one of the better shows we have seen in some time. Good watch.

Get this: Parker cleverly diverts Binghamton from catching McHale!

[FlushingCaps · 10/10 · 9 November 2020]

While enjoying a luau with some natives, a Japanese air raid destroys their village, but the natives and McHale & Co. are unharmed. En route back home, they learn that the bandit, called Hit & Run Harry, has destroyed PT 25 on the south side of McHale's Island.

Before they can arrive home, Binghamton is concerned because he hasn't been able to contact McHale, so he visits their island and is waiting when they return-with the crew still decked in their Hawaiian-style party clothes.

Without proof but not believing McHale's story about where they were, Binghamton confines them to their base. McHale comes up with a scheme to allow them to fool the captain, allowing them freedom to filtch supplies so they help rebuild the native village. They will fix up the PT 25, repaint it with the 73's numbers and park it at their dock to fool the patrol boat Binghamton promised to send around every half hour to make sure they don't violate his order to stay home.

They get the substitute boat ready and in position. While McHale and others are out getting their supplies, Parker has to deal with a surprise visit from Binghamton just as McHale and crew are slipping in the "back way" and they'll all be sunk if the captain sees two "PT 73"s. Parker is very clever at keeping the captain from spotting the slowly moving real 73, even getting him to quickly leave the island before he spots the other boat coming in. I do mean what I said-Parker came up with a clever idea to get the captain to want to leave right away-and I won't spoil that part for someone who hasn't seen this episode.

In fact, Parker on some episodes acts SO clumsy and SO stupid that he is most annoying. This series' reliable reviewer kfo9494 has it exactly right when he writes about being annoying by being too inane at times. This episode, he actually saved the day through purposefully doing something clever, and throughout this episode, he wasn't all that clumsy-only enough to be really funny.

So McHale and crew take their newly swiped supplies off to help the natives. Binghamton and Carpenter return to McHale's Island and find the disguised PT 25, and believe it is the 73, and think it must have been hit during a raid because it has tremendous damage to it. Binghamton thinks if he can get Admiral Rogers to come and see the wreck of the 73, he'll order the crew all reassigned.

The admiral comes to McHale's Island with the captain and Carpy, while the real 73 is almost returned from delivering those building supplies to the natives. The trio on the 25 now spot another boat coming back, the 73. But they think they are on the 73. This leads to Binghamton discovering the not-dry paint job where the boat's number was changed. The admiral confounds the captain by admiring McHale's efforts to repair his own ship-he thinks that is why they stole the building supplies.

Before McHale meets up with the group, Hit and Run Harry returns strafing the hull of the 25, as it looks like a good boat and has a new number for "Harry." McHale's machine-gunners, in their hiding area in the back bay away from their regular dock, are able to shoot down the Japanese bandit.

This leads to McHale telling the admiral about how the bait of the repainted 25 helped them set up Harry for their surprise attack from a spot where he couldn't really see the real 73. Without the bait, Harry wouldn't have come in for an attack. Everything McHale said was truthful, he just omitted the fact that this was just a happy result of their actual plans designed to help those natives and fool the captain.

I loved this episode. We didn't have to deal with Parker being TOO clumsy or dumb-as it mentioned. We didn't have to deal with the gang again trying to scramble out of a problem as the result of another crooked scheme of Gruber's. And we weren't confronted with another episode where Binghamton sneakily tries to trick McHale into something that would get him transferred. Oh, he was trying for that transfer, but only from actions he was not controlling.

There was a bonus of laughs in a scene in Binghamton's office where he orders Elroy to get him his hat and open the door for him. When Carpy informs him that he was wearing his hat, Binghamton snidely responds, "Well, I'm not wearing the door, am I?" and bulls past him to exit the room. It seems Carpenter gets chewed out no matter what he says or does.

So I laughed enough to give this episode a 10. Best episode in a long time.