FRANCIS IN THE NAVY (1955)

“Boy idiot” Peter is now an Army officer (Satan only knows how that happened!) and when he gets word that his ol’ buddy Francis is about to be sold in a military auction, he rushes to go save him. Unfortunately, some Navy people see Peter and mistake him for a Navy sailor by the name of Slicker who’s always running off to slide his slick penis into somebody. So, thinking that they are saving their friend, they capture Slicker / Peter and take him back to the Navy base where he’s tossed into the mental ward. Yet again.

One thing that confuses me about the Francis series is why didn't the filmmakers ever try to liven things up? It's literally the same weakass story told over and over with very little change. By this 6th installment the jokes are running thin, but yet, the idea of a talking mule still makes me smile. I legit laughed out loud when Francis started bidding on himself during the auction. The dude (Chill Wills) who does Francis' voice does an excellent job. I honestly wish all of the movies were more about Francis and less about Peter, but whatever. It is what it is.

Quick pace, dumb as hell story, Francis talking shit, Peter being so stupid that I don’t even know how he stays alive, a strong supporting cast (including a lil’ baby Clint Eastwood), a few scenes of Peter hugging Francis (I really enjoy the scenes of them being loving towards each other), vintage cars, zero nudity, vintage clothing and best of all: in the final scene it shows Francis and Peter together. That was sweet.

Overall, FRANCIS IN THE NAVY (or "Francis Join's the Navy" as that one confused newspaper ad below says) is an alright film. Probably one of the better ones of the series, but that isn't saying much since none of them really stand out. That said, I got a few giggles out of this installment.

Part 1 - Francis (1950)
Part 2 - Francis Goes to the Races (1951)
Part 3 - Francis Goes to West Point (1952)
Part 4 - Francis Covers the Big Town (1953)
Part 5 - Francis Joins the WACS (1954)
Part 7 - Francis in the Haunted House (1956)

THE GAUNTLET (1977)

The story is about as simple as it can get: a honest Phoenix cop (Clint Eastwood) is sent to transport a prisoner (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas back to Phoenix.  Along the way every cop and mafia hood in the state tries to kill them by shooting tens of thousands of bullets at them. The End.

I would love to know more about the development of this story, not physical making of the movie, just the writing of the story itself cause there's nothing to it.  The entire film is Eastwood/Locke traveling from place to place getting shot at by people who can't hit shit!  There were times (the helicopter scene) when the bad guy had a clear (and I mean fucking clear) shot and totally missed it.  There was a reasonable amount of action, but since the bad guys were so inept I never once thought that Eastwood was in any real danger.

Topless Sondra Locke, ridiculous amount of bullets fired, average pace, really nice poster artwork, mildly boring action scenes, good supporting cast: Bill McKinney, Roy Jensen, Pat Hingle, William Prince.  The films starts out interesting, but the story is beyond belief.  Worth the occasional viewing for Eastwood fans, but the whole thing is kinda silly.