• Wide Release
• Director: Raymond Cannon
• Written by: David Diamond
• Running Time: 57 minutes
• Language: English
• MPAA Rating: G - General Audiences
• Cast: Ray Meyer, Wallace Ford, Isabel Jewell, Kenneth Harlan, George Humbert, Max Hoffman Jr, Tom Kennedy, Kernan Cripps, Rex Lease

 "Swing It, Sailor” (aka “He Wanted to Marry”) is an American film that details the mental and emotional growth of two sailors who’ve come to rely on each other for very different and not altogether altruistic reasons. Framed in the years before World War 2, we meet two sailors aboard a Navy ship awaiting shore leave in San Francisco; one is Husky Stone (Ray Mayer), a not too bright fellow with a physicality that matches his name. The other fellow is Pete Kelly (Wallace Ford), a smarmy, calculating sort who sees Husky as an easy mark. For the last four years, Pete has manipulated Husky into doing his work and fighting his various battles – all under the guise that he has Stone’s best interests at heart. When a girl enters the picture – someone who purports to actually love Husky, Pete senses that Stone might get out of the Navy and in turn, he’ll lose his meal ticket. 

This is when Pete hatches a plan to derail Husky’s relationship. He does this, first, by framing him and having Husky sent to the brig. Next, after borrowing a couple of bucks from his jail bound pal, Pete goes on shore leave in San Francisco to meet with his Husky’s supposed paramour, Myrtle Montrose (Isabal Jewell), a gorgeous, peroxide blonde with a street smart attitude who entertains many men over the phone and seems to care more for what Husky can offer her, than for Husky himself. Upon their first meeting, Pete and Myrtle size each other up and sense the negative qualities in each other. Deep down it’s obvious that neither has Husky’s best intentions at heart. After exchanging barbs, Myrtle sends Pete reeling with a nicely placed knuckle sandwich. Outside her apartment, a surprised Pete runs into Husky and he insists that he come in and meet his girl. Setting the stage for some awkward dialogue and interesting looks, Myrtle and Pete, in keeping with their personalities, go through the motions, pretending that their tempestuous first meeting never happened. As they remain in each other’s company, their similar manipulative personas seem to draw them towards each other and, before long, they are falling in love.

After an initial phase where the two get to know each other, it becomes glaringly obvious that this “love”, like everything else, is just a game. See, Pete wants Husky to stay away from Myrtle so he’ll sign up for four more years in the Navy while Myrtle herself could care less if she marries Husky or Pete, as long as she marries a sailor. It’s an ugly scenario that seems even uglier when you factor in Husky, who remains oblivious to the fact that his best friend and his girlfriend are seeing other behind his back. Eventually another sailor fills in the blanks for the wide-eyed Husky, who becomes enraged with his best friend. After punching him out, Husky vows to remove Pete from his life mainly by giving him the cold shoulder. This is where the film seems to get its legs, as both men become wise to something that neither wanted to confront – the unwholesome nature of their tangible relationship. Without Pete, Husky is forced to take on a more dominant role, while Pete assumes a submissive role. Of course, Husky is able to grow, while Pete must come to terms with his feelings for his friend, a person that he has used and manipulated for far too long. Desperate to get back, not his lackey, but his friend, Pete takes to begging for a moment to talk – a moment to reason with his friend, to explain himself. Sadly, Husky wants none of it. Later on, Pete and Husky are sent out with a crew of sailors to repair a derelict Navy ship destined for aerial bombing target practice later in the day. After making the necessary repairs, they quickly board the various lifeboats in an attempt to get as much space between them and the soon to be bombed out vessel. Pete soon realizes that Husky never made it off the ship. Looking back, Pete can only watch as the massive Navy ship is strafed with bullets and bombs. This sets up a dynamic ending where Pete’s character arc comes into full transition.

Wallace Ford (1965's "A Patch of Blue"), playing the devious and self-serving huckster, Pete Kelly, really does a magnificent job here. Even though he is portraying a character that is not altogether likeable, he still manages to evoke the sympathy of the audience because he’s just so charming. It’s easy to understand why a fellow like Husky could be swayed into doing his bidding. Watching the growth of Pete’s character – albeit in a somewhat rushed finisher, you honestly sense his character’s loss. Without his friend, Pete loses part of himself, a part of his personality worth losing. Broadway star and superb character actor, Ray Mayer (1939's "The Oklahoma Kid"), is simply okay playing what amounts to a second fiddle role to Ford and Jewell's more interesting characters.. His character arc is less substantial because the audience already sides with him and his eventual jump into manhood was only a matter of time.

Isabel Jewell (1953's "Man in the Attic") is as sultry and beautiful as ever and she plays her manipulative character with a certain flair and charm and arises as the cinematic equal to Wallace Ford's character. Mary Treen (1962's "Girls! Girls! Girls!"), playing Myrtle’s plain looking, not too bright, sexually ambiguous (note the googly eyes she makes at her friend as she gets made up) flat mate, Gertie Burns, seems like a feminized version of Husky. And in the end, neither woman comes out smelling like roses. Where Pete’s character is allowed to undergo a transformation, Jewell’s character, the feminized version of Pete, is never given the same courtesy. Lying and manipulative to the end, she eventually hooks up with and marries a rich paramour, even returning Husky’s parrot. The tetra pod seems symbolic of the relationship Evan flow between Husky and Pete, and the return of it seems to solidify the continued and newly realized relationship between these two men in the film’s final moments. In the tradition of "service films", there is no new ground broken here but it is still a fun and interesting film.