Operation Petticoat

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Operation Petticoat

Released Dec 5, 1959

2h 4m

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

81%

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21 Reviews

81%

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5,000+ Ratings

Lieutenant Commander Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) is in charge of the submarine "Sea Tiger," which was badly damaged at a Philippine shipyard by a Japanese air raid. Seeking to make sail before an oncoming invasion, Sherman enlists the help of newly transferred Lieutenant Nick Holden (Tony Curtis) to use his talents as a con artist to procure the needed supplies. Once they're underway, Sherman evacuates a group of beautiful nurses, but can't find anyone who will take them off his hands.

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Don Druker

Chicago Reader

Blake Edwards directs with his customary wit, breeziness, and acute sense of pacing.

May 15, 2012

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Variety Staff

Variety

Operation Petticoat has no more weight than a sackful of feathers, but it has a lot of laughs.

Jul 7, 2010

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Not unpleasant, but the situations (including the inevitable invasion of women aboard the sub) are horribly familiar, and the dialogue none too inspired.

Jan 26, 2006

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Woefully dated.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 27, 2020

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Sean Mulvihill

FanboyNation.com

While I think Operation Petticoat has a number of issues - it's too long, overstuffed, and rather buttoned down - I still respect as it a piece of cinematic history.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 30, 2018

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Nathan Rabin

The Dissolve

There's a distinct lack of forward momentum plaguing Operation Petticoat, which takes forever to get going, and even then only moves in fits and starts, plot-wise.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 4, 2014

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Andy B

Hollywood doesn't have the talent to make them like this anymore!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/04/24

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Michael W

This classic comedy was pretty good. Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O'Brien, Dina Merrill, Gene Evans, and the rest of the cast did a pretty good job in this movie. The plot of the movie was kind of entertaining and humorous. It's a funny movie about fighting in WW2 on a submarine. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you may enjoy it. That's my opinion.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/26/23

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Audience Member

The best old-school comedy that will be remembered for centuries. This movie has everything, highly recommended.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

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william k

Mildly amusing military comedy somehow easily smooths its way around having a coherent story, but prefers on presenting some singularly entertaining moments.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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steve d

The script is not great but the actors make it fun.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

I had doubts about this comedy military movie, but it only took the first 10 minutes of this truly hilarious and delightful movie to convince me that this was a gem.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Blake Edwards

Director

Cary Grant

Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman

Tony Curtis

Lt. JG Nicholas Holden

Dina Merrill

Lt. Barbara Duran RN

Joan O'Brien

Lt. Dolores Crandall RN

Arthur O'Connell

Chief Mechinist's Mate Sam Tostin

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Synopsis

Lieutenant Commander Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) is in charge of the submarine "Sea Tiger," which was badly damaged at a Philippine shipyard by a Japanese air raid. Seeking to make sail before an oncoming invasion, Sherman enlists the help of newly transferred Lieutenant Nick Holden (Tony Curtis) to use his talents as a con artist to procure the needed supplies. Once they're underway, Sherman evacuates a group of beautiful nurses, but can't find anyone who will take them off his hands.

Director: Blake Edwards
Producer: Robert Arthur
Screenwriter: Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal/Universal Int
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 5, 1959, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 6, 2018
Runtime: 2h 4m

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