The Caine Mutiny

Long time reader (s) know the Caine Mutiny is one of my personal top ten movies of all time.

Alert reader Marky-Mark asked for my take on the film's trial in which Merrick and Kieth are acquired for the crime of 'combining to make a mutiny'.

The real question before the court was weather or not Merrick and Keith were justified in taking control of the Caine during the typhoon. That typhoon was real, btw, author Hermoun Wouk was in it. The answer is yes, had Merrick not taken control of the ship, The Caine would have foundered.

Now let's start at the beginning. Keith is a a 90 Day Wonder Lt. JG assigned to the battered Caine. He immediately dislikes the lackadaisical Captain Devries. He runs a lose ship. Frankly after 18 months and several task forces he doesn't feel he needs to ride the crew. The crew more or less takes care of itself. 'Every man is ok,' he tells Captain Queeg when he takes command. When Devries leaves Merrick is visibly moved. Despite the fact that Devries rode him at every turn, Merrick is fanatically loyal. When Keith asked him why Merrick says, 'Willie, I still think one day you'll make a good officer.'

Merrick is Devries' XO. He is a competent sailor who knows how to handle a ship, and a navy reservist who would like to transfer to the regular navy. There is nothing extraordinary about Merrick, we even learn later that his HS and college grades were 'below average'. He is a good man. In the movies' final scene, when Lt, Keefer apologizes for not helping him during the trial Merrick just tells him to forget it. When his drunk lawyer confronts Keefer Merrick just says, 'Let's forget it, Barney.'

Here's the scene:

Here's the scene where Queeg asks for help:

This is the turning point. After turning tail, Queeg asks his officers for help. Led by Keefer they turn him down.

If the officers had given Queeg the loyalty he needed the business in the typhoon would not have come up.

In short the officers created the situation.