At War with the Army (1950)

(On TV, September 2019) If anyone is looking for proofs of the United States’ history as a martial society, I’d like to provide a very long list of film comedies that only exist because a good chunk of the paying public was intimately familiar with how military service worked. Such comedies are meant to appeal to veterans, conscripts and their families in affectionately ribbing the habits of the army. By 1950, a good chunk of the American male population had still-vivid memories of their wartime service, and that’s clearly what At War with the Army was relying on, with its portrayal of barracks life with overbearing superiors, nonsensical bureaucracy, obstacle courses, family trouble and relationship between fellow soldiers. By the time the film launches into a mess-hall musical number titled “Beans,” well, you already know everything about the film. For generations of viewers, much of the draw of the film is in seeing Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the lead roles, playing off their stage persona to sing, goof-off or parody other movies along the way. Lewis is silly, Martin is suave and that’s quite enough to power the entire thing. Of course, some of the material is only funny in the abstract today — most of the twenty-first century audience has no direct knowledge of military service other than through films. But At War with the Army still works because Lewis and Martin are good at what they do: entertainers simply using military service as a scaffolding on which to hang their comic set-pieces.