PHIL MEETS THE MOVIES - QUICK LIST: CLASSIC TV CAST FLICKS MOVIES FROM THE CAST OF GILLIGAN'S ISLAND
In this edition of Phil Meets The Movies on Digging Star Wars, our theme is about famous, classic, TV cast members and one theatrical motion picture, by each member of the cast. I call this theme: Classic TV Cast Flicks. These lists will also be part of the PMTM Quick Lists. Quick Lists are strategically made film lists, that movie-buffs can complete, in short time periods. Quick Lists can be completed in a day, a couple of days, a weekend, one or two weeks, but no more than a month. They are recommended lists for movie-buffs, film-fans or pop-culture enthusiasts, looking for something they haven't seen or experienced yet, but something they can finish quickly. In the case of this month's Quick List, you can complete it in a week. There are seven films on this list, and we will be working our way through each film, in order of release date. One problem I do face sometimes with these articles/lists, are the availability of the films to see. Sometimes, I have to modify my list, because I can't locate a film, that I originally picked for the post.
Our classic TV show for this installment, debuted on the CBS television network and ran for three extraordinary seasons (one season in black and white), from 1964 to 1967. This sitcom was a popular hit with the 1960s television audience. It was in the top-22 of the Nielson's for its first two seasons. It always won its timeslot, even in the early days of season one, as well as, during the third season when it fell to #49. Even though, the biggest winner of canceled, three-season, 1960s, TV show franchises/intellectual properties (that eventually became successful, cultural phenomenon), probably should go to Star Trek (1966-1969), our TV sitcom we are featuring in this installment of Phil Meets The Movies, is definitely a close second. Gilligan’s Island (1964-1967) is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and it is one of the most popular TV shows in pop-culture history. It was so popular, that all seven of the show's main cast-members are recognized, as cultural icons. Gilligan's Island actually has roots embedded with Star Wars (1977), which is perfect for Digging Star Wars.
Classic TV Cast Flicks:
The Cast from the TV Series, Gilligan's Island (1964 - 1967)
Gilligan is a mid-20s simpleton, who assists his best friend, his mentor, the 50-ish year old Skipper, Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale JR.), on their excursion tour-boat, the S.S. Minnow. However, on this particular day, after they pick up five passengers for a three hour tour (or six hour tour according to the original pilot), the Minnow gets stranded on a deserted island after a freak storm. Here the castaways have to survive the elements, avoid headhunters and mad-scientists, search for food, sleep in huts and somehow figure out a way to get rescued. Along with all of these issues, they also have to make sure, that Gilligan doesn’t ruin the day doing something stupid. It is one part of the job; the Skipper wishes he never had. However, the bond between them is much stronger than the comedic chaos, that Gilligan provides. In fact, it's not just Gilligan, who sometimes causes headaches for the Skipper. An eccentric, mid-60s, married couple, who also happen to be millionaires (or maybe billionaires), operate in the same way they would in civilization, as they do on the island. Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus), and his wife, Lovey Howell (Natalie Schafer), continuously deal with the Skipper, as if the situation they are in now, is still part of the cruise. Their eccentricity is so extreme, that they aren't quite right in the head and not totally connected to reality. It is just another great avenue, which helps raise the comedy-factor of the show. What was great about the characters on Gilligan's Island, was the fact, that they were all completely different from each other. This brings us to the other three passengers, who unfortunately were stranded on Gilligan's Island. The beautiful movie-star, Ginger Grant (Tina Louise), who also becomes distracted sometimes, when she has to become her eccentric, movie-centric persona. This too creates hilarious moments for the series. Professor Roy Hinkley (Russell Johnson) is the calming influence and the character, which acts as the intelligent, counterbalance to the nonsense on the island. Finally, there is cute, sweet, lovable, Maryann Summers (Dawn Wells), who to many male viewers, was even sexier than Ginger, but was more of a quiet, innocent farm girl from Kansas. It was her young naivete, along with Ginger's eccentricities, that usually got the two of them into difficult situations. All seven of the characters were creative, colorful and perfect for the 1960s.
The Howells were an eccentric couple, plus their millions gave them a life of luxury, prepared cuisine and complete pampering. Aside from Thurston's uncanny business skills, the Howells weren't doers. They more or less, paid everyone, to take care of them, either at home, work or on vacation, even three hour (or six hour), vacations. Their need for total freedom and comfort, made them very eccentric people. So eccentric, that they seemed completely ignorant of reality. It was the Howell's eccentricities, which may have helped the castaways on their isolated, island home. Many audience members, over the decades, have asked the question; how did the castaways have so many clothes and items on the island with them, after just a three hour tour? It's fair to say, that the Howell's may have had extra clothes to share with Ginger, Maryann and the Professor. It's also not a stretch to think, that the Skipper and Gilligan, probably had a stash of clothes (all the same design), on the Minnow, that they were able to salvage. Plus, there were plenty of episodes, which involved someone finding a lost crate of supplies, which washed up onto the beach or was fished out of the lagoon. So, that should dispel any doubt, as to how the castaways had plenty of clothes and toiletries with them. Just rewatch the original pilot or just watch the opening credits to that pilot and you'll see, how many luggage bags, belonging to the Howell's, that Gilligan had to carry onto the boat. Also, every time the castaways thought they might get rescued, the Howells would pack up everything, which also included a huge ship-steamer crate and at least, eight bags of luggage. It is a commentary on the crazy rich, satirized for 1960s television comedy.
Natalie Schafer was the oldest cast-member on the show. She was born in the year 1900. She was actually 13 years older than Jim Backus, who played her adorable, rich husband, Thurston Howell III. Natalie's career in film began when she was in her 40s. Six years after she started her Hollywood career, she was cast in a supporting role, in our first film on the list, Repeat Performance (1947). Natalie is a rich sophisticate, named Eloise Shaw. Schafer shows to the audience why she eventually became Lovey Howell on Gilligan's Island. She has that wifty, rich-sophisticate persona nailed down already, even in this film. However, in Repeat Performance, she also is a vindictive, weaselly, type-of person, with lots of money and always looking for payback, from her male associates. It's a slight departure from the character of Lovey Howell. Lovey would never talk about things, like sex or the vices, that people deal with in their lives. She was all about worshipping her husband, Thurston.
PMTM Grade: B- (7.8) = 4 Stars Letterboxd / 8 IMDB
Professor Roy Hinkley was the brains of the outfit. The castaways were very lucky to be on the island with him. He got them out of many jams, like making a coconut into a bomb, in order to stop a volcano from erupting, or when they ate radioactive vegetables. The lead actor in It Came From Outer Space (1953), Richard Carlson, was known mostly, because of his appearance in the Universal Pictures classic, Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954). Chris and I got the opportunity to go see an original 35mm, 3D print of the film, at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, a few weeks ago. It was a celebratory night because the film is 70 years old this year. For me, it was a wonderful event, because I have seen the 3D version before, but only 18 minutes of the film on Super-8.
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| Phil (of PHIL MEETS THE MOVIES) goggled up in his 3-D glasses for the Colonial Theatre screening of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Photo by Chris Mich. |
This was the first opportunity to see the entire film in 3D and the film still holds up great. Richard Carlson is also in one of the best Abbott and Costello movies ever made, Hold That Ghost (1941) and many other enjoyable films. Jack Arnold directed Creature From the Black Lagoon, as well as It Came From Outer Space. Jack Arnold also directed 26 episodes of Gilligan's Island. The most by any director on the show.
This is all very interesting, because Russell Johnson (the Professor), is in It Came From Outer Space, which came out two months before The War of the Worlds (1953). The release of these two films was obviously a common moment in film history, which saw two movie studios (Universal and Paramount), competing with each other, utilizing almost the same plot, for their respective films. It's something that happens in Hollywood all the time. A more modern-day example of this kind of theatrical competition would be, like when, Deep Impact (1998), came out in theaters, a mere two months before Armageddon (1998). It Came From Outer Space was released, at the peak of the 1950s, atomic-age, post-Roswell, science-fiction era of film. It may not have the glitter of its higher-priced competitor, The War of the Worlds, but it does have enough of a kick, as well as a story, that really plays up the paranoias of the time-period. Russell Johnson’s George isn't really the brainiac the Professor was, plus this was over ten years before Gilligan's Island came out, so it's a younger Russell Johnson, becoming a victim to It Came From Outer Space.
PMTM Grade: C (7.2) = 3 1/2 Stars Letterboxd / 7 IMDB
It Came From Outer Space and Creature from the Black Lagoon feature soundtrack work from Henry Mancini. To see where these two films landed on our blog’s Top 100 Henry Mancini Films, click here.
The eccentricity of the Howells comes full-blown, especially when it turns out, that Thurston brought along, anywhere from $250,000 - $500,000 dollars in cash, his golf-clubs, a safe, all of Lovey's jewelry, a full length mirror, plenty of alcohol, etc., when they went on this half-day excursion. In Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Jim Backus plays the father of James Dean's rebellious teenager, Jim. What Backus gives to us, is a brilliant performance as Frank Stark, but also shows many hints, related to the coming of Thurston Howell III. Frank isn't as rich as Thurston, but the eccentricity is still there. He lives in a bubble, which doesn't allow him to relate to his son enough. He is inept at being a parent. Four weeks before the release of this film, James Dean was dead and Hollywood lost a remarkable talent, who died way before his time. It's still a tough pill to swallow, almost 70 years later, because it really would have been great to see, what other amazing performances Dean would have been involved with, over the following 50 years. Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause, Jim Stark, is a high school student, who faces the possibility, of being sent into juvenile hall corrections, if he doesn't straighten up his act. Dean was 24 at the time and looked way too old, to be a high school student, but that is what acting is all about. Acting is being someone you are not, even if the job requires you to pretend to be 17 years old. If you ask me, Dean looked about 30 in certain parts of this film. Regardless, it's a huge moment in film history. Rebel Without a Cause, is on our Film366 film list and can also be found on the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" list.
PMTM Grade: B+ (8.6) = 4 Stars Letterboxd / 8 IMDB
What can you say about Bob Denver, which hasn't been said before. His method of comedy was part of a dying art form, known as physical comedy or slapstick, which was being replaced by the more mature, sophisticated, type-of comedy, which was being shown to theater audiences, in the years before the installation of the MPAA rating system, in late-1968. It was a comedy era as old as film, now in its twilight years, which was also experienced by actors like, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis and Tim Conway. Denver's physical approach to Gilligan was imperative. That approach had to be there, in order to show the chaos, that the other castaways felt, when Gilligan made things worse for them. The Skipper always called Gilligan, "a walking disaster area". Almost every episode has Gilligan ruining the castaways' chances of getting off the island or ruining the castaways' goal, that they were faced with, at the start of each episode. Denver's unintentional, sacrificial destruction of his own career, being type-casted as a specific character, would eventually pay-off, as Gilligan would become one of the most recognized characters in television history. Bob would eventually accept that great reward, along with his other well-liked, classic characters, like Maynard G. Krebs (The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, 1959-1963), and Junior (Far Out Space Nuts, 1975-1976). In The Sweet Ride (1968), Denver turns towards that more dramatic-type of comedy script, found in this new-era of film, which was slowly killing his current career. He knew of the dangers of typecasting, even back then, so he turned towards something much different than Gilligan. It was still comedy, but a different kind of comedy. A comedy direction, which involved a bong. Also, one side note; near the end of the final season of Gilligan's Island, actor Michael Forest, appeared in one episode, as the native warrior, Ugundi, who challenges Gilligan to the death for the ownership of the beautiful Kalani (Slave Girl, 1967, season 3, ep. 26). Forest also has a tiny role in our next film, The Sweet Ride.
PMTM Grade: D (5.8) = 3 Stars Letterboxd / 6 IMDB
Alan Hale JR. followed in the footsteps of his father, Alan Hale SR. on his way to a long, successful, productive acting career. Alan Hale JR. did a lot of movies before he landed on Gilligan's Island. What's interesting is most of his film resume contained few, if any, comedy work. Alan and Bob Denver, with a little bit of influence from Laurel and Hardy, successfully created a comedy team, that also became a great selling point for the show. The Skipper was a direct, but honorable copy of Oliver Hardy. He even looked at the camera all the time, breaking that fourth wall with the audience, just like Ollie did. It was the physical comedy, utilized by the duo of Gilligan and the Skipper, which gave the show its appealing energy. It was an amazing feat, considering this form of comedy, as mentioned in Bob Denver's section, was a dying form of comedy, by the late 1960s. Speaking of Alan Hale's lack of film comedies, after Gilligan's Island was canceled, he appeared a year later in the Clint Eastwood, western classic, Hang 'Em High (1968).
PMTM Grade: C+ (7.4) = 3 1/2 Stars Letterboxd / 7 IMDB
At the time of this writing, currently Tina Louise, is the only remaining cast-member still alive at age 90. If you consider the opening-credits to the original Gilligan's Island pilot episode (with actress Kit Smythe in the Ginger role, who's referred to as being a secretary and not an actress), and a radio-broadcast heard in the second pilot episode, as part of the Gilligan's Island mythos, than Ginger was running from an over-enthusiastic movie producer, when she boarded the S.S. Minnow, with just the dress she had on that evening and maybe, one tiny suitcase. In later episodes she is seen packing one suitcase. In the early episodes of season one, Ginger made a dress out of the life-raft from the Minnow. These are things you wouldn't even notice back when we had to watch each episode on a week-to-week basis. You probably wouldn't notice it in reruns either, but these days, having the capabilities of binge-watching shows on DVD or on a streaming service, allows you to notice, that the producers of the show, actually did a fairly good job covering their believability backs. You accept the idea, that they really did have enough clothes to get by for 15 years, if you count everything the Howell's brought, things that wash-up on shore or stuff found in floating steam-trunks. In season two, episode seven, entitled "Castaways Pictures Presents", the castaways find two large crates containing silent picture equipment, as well as a full stash of movie costumes and wigs. There was plenty to wear on the island, plus Maryann was supposed to be a wiz at cleaning clothes and sewing.
Both of the previous films for Bob Denver and Alan Hale JR. came out in 1968, which was the year after Gilligan's Island was canceled. Tina Louise was busy in 1968 too, when she appeared in a key role, in Dean Martin's final film as American secret agent, Matt Helm, The Wrecking Crew (1968). Tina shares the screen with other legendary actresses in the film too, including Elke Sommer, Nancy Kwan and somberly, Sharon Tate. In the case of Sharon Tate, see Quentin Tarantino's modern-classic, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). That film covers the importance of The Wrecking Crew, as it applies to film history and most notably, history itself. It covers the release of the film in the theaters, while an excited Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), sees the film in her local theater. Director Quentin Tarantino tells this fictitious scene with pure grace, by inter-splicing the original Wrecking Crew film footage, between shots of Margot watching the film in the theater. Tina Louise in the Wrecking Crew gives to the audience, what Ginger Grant would be like, if she were an European night-club singer, named Lola Medina.
PMTM Grade: D+ (6.3) = 3 Stars Letterboxd / 6 IMDB
PMTM Grade: B+ (8.8) = 4 Stars Letterboxd / 8 IMDB
Let's not forget Maryann. Ginger or Maryann? That was a question, that many male fans have asked, relentlessly, over the last 60 years. All of the castaways did their part on the island, but Maryann did most of the cooking and cleaning for the other castaways. Her upbringing on a farm, made her the perfect candidate, to utilize the art of "roughing it" type-of cooking. The best way to settle the debate between Ginger and Maryann, is to watch a key episode, seen during season three, in an episode named, The Second Ginger Grant. Maryann falls down, hitting her head and due to amnesia, thinks she is her idol, Ginger. This creates all kinds of headaches for the castaways, especially when a hypnotized Gilligan, ends up believing, that he is Maryann too. As Mr. Howell remarks, "We have three Maryanns and we are fresh out of Gingers and Gilligans". All of this allows the writers to explore the differences between Ginger and Maryann, plus it allows the audience to grasp, that Ginger and Maryann are different from each other, but equally great. That's how I always settled the Ginger/Maryann argument. I always said, I like them both. Ten years after Gilligan's Island ended and the year Star Wars (1977), came out in theaters, Dawn Wells appeared in Return to Boggy Creek (1977), the not-needed sequel, to the pseudo-documentary, B-movie, Legend of Boggy Creek (1972), about the legendary Fouke Monster (a version of bigfoot), that inhabits the swamps of Arkansas.
Return to Boggy Creek, is a mess of a film, but still fun enough for a watch, especially for Dawn Wells fans or fans of bigfoot movies. The film still makes my Failures list, but I still recommend "F" films, because you have to see those movies to believe them. This one is a gem of a mess, but a rare moment to see Maryann in a different kind of movie. The following year, Wells and the rest of the castaways would be Rescue From Gilligan's Island (1978). Return to Boggy Creek is also an early film for actress Dana Plato, who would play Kimberly Drummond, on the TV series, Diff'rent Strokes, which also debuted in 1978.
PMTM Grade: F- (3.3) = 2 Stars Letterboxd / 4 IMDB
Bonus Films:
The three cast-members, who were cut from Gilligan's Island after the first pilot episode and replaced with Russell Johnson, Tina Louise and Dawn Wells was John Gabriel (the original Professor), Kit Smythe (as the original Ginger) and Nancy McCarthy (as Bunny). The ex-female castaways never appeared in a theatrical film, but John Gabriel had a productive film and TV career. He even did some producing and was a songwriter too. He appeared in a 1966, John Wayne/Robert Mitchum, western classic and even co-wrote the lyrics for the film's main theme song.
El Dorado (1966) - Bonus Film for John Gabriel
When Gilligan's Island, was surprisingly canceled during the summer of 1967, so Gunsmoke (1955-1975), a western favorite of the then-President of CBS, could continue on, many of the fans of Gilligan's Island felt cheated and thought, the castaways deserved a better send-off. Sherwood Schwartz heard feedback from fans for 15 years, as well as complaints, that the castaways deserved an actual ending to their story. To finally solve the problem, he would produce three television movies, between 1978 and 1981, reuniting the castaways and In the first film, Rescue From Gilligan's Island (1978), they finally get off the island. Tina Louise was the only cast member, who didn't return for the three TV movies and was replaced by Judith Baldwin and Constance Forslund. There also is a Star Wars connection with one of the bonus films.
The Stepford Wives (1975) - Bonus Film for Judith Baldwin and Tina Louise
Village of the Damned (1995) - Bonus Film for Constance Forslund and Mark Hamill
Also, please enjoy these titles too if you wish.
Caught (1949) - Bonus Film for Natalie Schafer
Silver Lode (1954) - Bonus Film for Alan Hale JR. and a film also found on the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" list.
Day of the Outlaw (1959) - Bonus Film for Tina Louise
For Those Who Think Young (1964) - Bonus Film for Bob Denver
This was a fun Quick List to do. Phil Meets the Movies on Digging Star Wars will be back later in 2024, with a new Quick List, featuring another cast, from classic television, in our Classic TV Cast Flicks. There will be more great cinema chat, in our next installment. As always, go enjoy the movies, new or old, as much as you can.
About the Author
Phil Congleton is a lifelong film buff, who worked in television for 30 years and produced a few, small independent films in the 1990s. He is co-creator of Film366 with Chris Mich and curator of Phil Meets the Movies. Now retired, Phil commits his time to promoting the movies and the art of film. You can read more about Phil's film reviews on Letterboxd.
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