Mister Roberts/Trivia


 * Dawson Casting: Fonda was 49 when the film was made, which seems pretty old for a junior grade lieutenant. It's argued that the film production was mostly Fonda's effort, who had played the role for years on stage.
 * Executive Meddling: Hollywood execs believed that Henry Fonda had been gone from film so long (he spent 8 years in self-imposed exile on Broadway) that they feared he wasn't a bankable name. However, Fonda's years on Broadway included playing the title role, and he was a major backer in getting the film made.
 * Production was plagued by re-shoots and directorial changes. John Ford was the original director, but he sucker-punched Fonda on the jaw one day, and Fonda retaliated by getting Ford thrown off the movie (a later medical emergency kept Ford off production for good). Mervyn LeRoy was brought in to complete production, who tried to film the same way as Ford's style to ensure a seamless product.
 * Additional re-shoots had to be done by the Broadway director Joshua Logan when Fonda and the producers felt some scenes just weren't working right.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Starting off as a John Ford production, there's a handful of Ford regulars among the cast:
 * Henry Fonda, natch.
 * There's Ward Bond.
 * And Harry Carey Jr.
 * Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son, also stars as one of the crew.
 * What Could Have Been: This was to have originally been shot in 3-D. However, the death of the trend at the time prevented this.