Sail a Crooked Ship

Sail a Crooked Ship is a 1961 American black-and-white comedy heist film starring Robert Wagner, Dolores Hart, Carolyn Jones, Frankie Avalon, Ernie Kovacs and Frank Gorshin. It was directed by Irving Brecher and was based on the novel of the same name by Nathaniel Benchley, published in 1960.^[1]

Sail a Crooked Ship was Kovacs' last movie, released shortly before he was killed in a car crash.

Hart's other 1961 film, Francis of Assisi, inspired her to retire from acting two years later and become a Roman Catholic nun.

Plot

When Gilbert Barrows (Robert Wagner) disobeys his boss and tries to refit an old Liberty Ship for cargo use instead of scrapping it, he inadvertently puts it into the hands of a colorful group of crooks led by good-hearted screw-up Bugsy G. Fogelmeyer (Ernie Kovacs) and brainy sociopath George M. Wilson (Frank Gorshin). The crooks plan to use the ship to make their getaway after they pull a bank robbery in Boston, and they kidnap Barrows and his girlfriend Elinor Harrison (Dolores Hart) – his boss's daughter – to prevent leaving any witnesses behind. With the help of Bugsy's nephew Rodney J. Fogelmeyer (Frankie Avalon), Gilbert and Elinor manage to foil the crooks' plans by using Elinor's bra as a slingshot and attracting the Coast Guard.

Cast

• Robert Wagner as Gilbert Barrows
• Dolores Hart as Elinor Harrison
• Carolyn Jones as Virginia
• Ernie Kovacs as Bugsy G. Foglemeyer alias "The Captain"
• Frankie Avalon as Ensign Rodney J. Foglemeyer
• Frank Gorshin as George M. Wilson
• Jesse White as McDonald
• Harvey Lembeck as Nickels
• Sid Tomack as Sammy
• Guy Raymond as Helmut
• Buck Kartalian as Finster
• Wilton Graff as Simon J. Harrison
• Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Chowder

See also

• List of American films of 1961

References

Notes

External links

• Sail a Crooked Ship at the Internet Movie Database
• Sail a Crooked Ship at the TCM Movie Database