User Reviews

This is the second time we see Ernie Borgnine in a duel role, playing McHale and his Italian cousin Giuseppe. Now I panned the other episode because there was too much reliance on stupid things happening and the deception of having Giuseppe impersonate McHale was done in a way that didn't have to be done, and had no chance of succeeding.

This one was done much better, I think. We begin with Binghamton and his sidekick Carpenter in a town near Voltafiore, happening to spot McHale, who has been restricted to his base, going into a building. They just squat by their Jeep and wait. A few minutes later, McHale's cousin, Giuseppe, emerges. McHale has come to visit his cousins, including Giuseppe, and the cousin leaves a couple of minutes later for some reason. Binghamton thinks it is McHale, now out of uniform and he makes plans let him hang himself later.

Back in Voltafiore the next day, McHale is again about to visit the cousins, taking a little birthday gift for one of Giuseppe's little children. Binghamton comes along and open the box, claiming it's probably some black market material. Of course it doesn't really make sense that McHale would be in the black market transporting a small box that is gift wrapped. He tells Binghamton that he'd like to go to his cousin's birthday party and of course Binghamton denies him permission, instead ordering him on a patrol.

The captain's plan is to be ready to go to the place he saw McHale yesterday, so he can arrest him for disobeying an order to go on patrol. McHale and crew go on patrol, but detour to the town so the skip can go to the birthday party.

McHale shows up to find Giuseppe's wife Theresa alone. The kids are in the backyard, she explains, and Giuseppe is away right now. A knock at the door causes McHale to hide. It's an MP and a local policeman looking for Giuseppe, thinking he is in the black market. McHale dons some of Giuseppe's clothing and gets him off the hook. Just after they leave, here comes Binghamton and General Grayson, with the captain insisting that this man is McHale. He gets the general to agree to take "Giuseppe" prisoner back to Voltafiore so that he can see when the 73 returns from its mission that McHale won't be on board.

Well, Giuseppe returns, and Parker and Gruber also come to the house looking for the skipper. On hearing from Theresa what happened to McHale, out of desperation, they take the uniform McHale left behind and plan to have Giuseppe impersonate McHale as the ship returns. On the boat ride back, they teach him 3 of McHale's best phrases, and hope he can mostly stand on the boat and not say much when they dock.

At the dock when the 73 returns are the general, Binghamton, McHale (in Giuseppe's clothes) and, having ridden a bike to the site, Theresa and her two kids, all happily calling McHale "Papa."

At first, Giuseppe (as McHale) stays below, but when he is called up to the deck, he salutes and smiles. Then he says loudly, "Knock it off, you guys!" Getting a good response, he continues with the other two lines, including "How did you eight balls ever get in the navy?" which nearly blows it as it seemed directed at the admiral. But they pass it off and the general directs Binghamton to apologize so Giuseppe doesn't sue them for false arrest.

There were more scenes with both McHale and Giuseppe on camera together than almost any other show that ever used one actor to play two people, short of The Patty Duke Show. Usually, they appear separately except for one brief scene near the end, as though they are trying to make us think it really is a different actor.

I loved the bit where Parker and Gruber tell Theresa they want Giuseppe to pretend to be his cousin, she asks, "What's he gonna say other than "Allo." Hearing that, Giuseppe booms out the only "English" word he knows, his version of "Hello." Another of my favorite lines came when Binghamton came up to McHale and Parker when he had the birthday present he put into the Jeep. Binghamton says, "And you were just coming to see me to get permission to go there because you wouldn't want to violate my orders by going without permission?" Parker says, "Oh no sir. And he didn't do it yesterday either."

Both impersonations were done totally out of necessity, and thus made sense to try them. This is a key to why I liked this one so much more than Giuseppe's earlier appearance. Lots of laughs in this one-a 9.