John Ford, 1955 (8*)
Western directing legend Ford breaks the mold in perhaps his most accessible film, with a terrific cast and a perfect comedy play that required little transformation to become a comedy classic film. James Cagney is the skipper of a tiny naval vessal used for training, while the real heroes are off killing our WW2 enemies, so he takes his frustrations out on his crew. Henry Fonda is perfect as Cagney's foil, Mister Roberts, second-in-command, who has the crew's respect and affection as they all hate the skipper. He has the perfect well-mannered demeanor with Cagney, which further drives him batty. William Powell, in his last film role, is the ship's doctor, and a young Jack Lemmon won a supporting actor Oscar as a junior officer, always stymied by, and fearful of Cagney and with whom he's always at silent war.