Word: yanks
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...Chinese village of 180 souls flees from Communist tyranny to democratic freedom in "the most daring mass escape of modern times." The odd odyssey is made in a grubby old wood-burning sternwheeler, built in 1885 and capable of six knots in a following wind. Her captain is a Yank (John Wayne) whom the village elders have sprung from a Communist brain lavatory. Resisting psychological detergents in a unique way, ex-Prisoner Wayne has stayed anti-Communist by remaining pro-female; whenever the Reds got too rough, he paid them no mind, just conjured up an image of "Baby...
...give it a short squeal before the afternoon exams. This might have the additional advantage of frightening away the yearly surplus of panicked law students who invade Lamont. The librarians do nothing about the crowd except count it, and, wisely enough,say that it would be downright impolite to yank away chairs used for foot rests. But why they don't open up the extra space in the conference rooms is unknown, although the University may be hiding General MacArthur's honorary degree there...
With mixed parts, mock science-fiction, spoof world government and vibrant nationalism, the film blends its "Yank (et al) Go Home" theme with broad comic touches. Most of the laughs are elementary, not far removed from slapstick. But they are so well timed and startling, often coming in the middle of a propaganda speech, that they are quite good...
Like most successful old fiction pros, Novelist James Street (The Velvet Doublet, The Gauntlet) knows the value of a timely yank at the heartstrings. In his latest, Goodbye, My Lady, the yanking is continuous. His hero is Skeeter, a likable 14-year-old who lives with his illiterate uncle in a shack on the edge of a Mississippi swamp. Life is simple to the point of vacuity-a little huntin', a little fishin', some wood cuttin' when the groceries run low. "Swamp sprout" that he is, Skeeter dreams mostly of a "li'l old" shotgun. Uncle...
...have since become types for them. Barry Fitzgerald signed on board as a comic Irish cook, and Thomas Mitchell as a gruff Irish bully-with-golden-heart. In the company of such genuine specimens Ward Bond changes nationality, if not character, and is a tough, simple-hearted swabbie named yank. The only real surprise is John Wayne who plays Ole. Replete with standard grin and a Swedish accent, Wayne is amazingly good, doing his part with a skill and delicacy that somehow rubbed off by the time he got around to whipping the Japanese army...