Search - McHale's Navy: Season Four on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 11/5/2022...

Not my cup of tea but maybe yours!

McHale's Navy - The Final Season!

Servo | Atlanta, GA USA | 09/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The phrase "shape up or ship out" holds a lot of water this season for Lt. Commander Quinton McHale and his fun-lovin' PT 73 crew of goof-offs and gamblers who were transferred to Italy for the show's final 30 episodes in McHale's Navy - Season Four!

After 3 seasons set on the South Pacific island of Taratupa, "McHale and his pirates" are reassigned to duty near the town of Voltafiore where they run afoul the shady Mayor Lugatto (Jay Novello) while continuing to oppose blustery Captain Binghamton and his jittery aide Lt. Carpenter, who are joined this season by Colonel Harrigan (Henry Beckham) and General Bronson (Simon Scott).

Also joining in on Season Four's capers, schemes and hijinks is local Dino Barone (Dick Wilson). As with co-star Tim Conway in Season Three, star Ernest Borgnine also gets to pull double duty this season in a [recurring] dual role as Guiseppe, McHale's Italian lookalike cousin in "Guiseppe McHale" and "The Return of Guiseppe".

Guest stars include Jackie Joseph (The Little Shop of Horrors, Josie and the Pussycats), Pat Harrington Jr. (One Day At a Time, The Inspector) and legendary Don Knotts (The Andy Griffith Show, Three's Company).

McHale's Navy, with 138 episodes aired over four seasons (1962-1966), is one of television's longer-lasting military comedies and a classic B&W sitcom favorite of generations of viewers. Today you can preserve this classic B&W series in pristine DVD format.

The Shout! Factory release of McHale's Navy - Season Four is a 5-disc (750 min.) set featuring all 30 episodes in Full Frame (1.33:1) video and English mono audio. Here are the episodes and how the discs will be configured, plus original airdates:

Disc 1:
"War, Italian Style" (9/14/1965)
"The Bathtub Thief" (9/21/1965)
"Marriage, McHale Style" (9/28/1965)
"Guiseppe McHale" (10/5/1965)
"A Nip in Time" (10/12/1965)
"Piazza Bighamtoni" (10/19/1965)

Disc 2:
"The Bald-Headed Contessa" (10/26/1965)
"Voltafiore Fish-Fry" (11/2/1965)
"A Wine Cellar Is Not a Home" (11/9/1965)
"Vino, Vino, Who's Got the Vino?" (11/16/1965)
"The McHale Opera Company" (11/23/1965)
"The Good Luck Fountain" (11/30/1965)

Disc 3:
"Blitzkrieg at McHale's Beach" (12/7/1965)
"Reunion for PT 73" (12/14/1965)
"The Return of Guiseppe" (12/21/1965)
"The Boy Scouts of 73" (12/28/1965)
"Fire in the Liquor Locker" (1/4/1966)
"The Fugitive Ensign" (1/11/1966)

Disc 4:
"The Wacky WAC" (1/18/1966)
"La Dolce 73" (1/25/1966)
"McHale's Country Club Caper" (2/8/1966)
"Secret Chimp 007" (2/15/1966)
"36-24-73" (2/22/1966)
"My Son, the Skipper" (3/1/1966)

Disc 5:
"Little Red Riding Doctor" (3/8/1966)
"Who Was That German I Saw You With?" (3/15/1966)
"The McHale Grand Prix" (3/22/1966)
"An Ensign's Best Friend" (3/29/1966)
"Binghamton, at 20 Paces" (4/5/1966)
"Wally for Congress" (4/12/1966)

"

Sorry to see it come to an end

Garth Lough | Springfield, Ohio USA | 12/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While I'm saddened that this will be the last set released of this classic show I'm also glad that we got the entire series, and that it was handled well by Shout! Factory. No editing, no missing episodes, no replaced musical scores, no altering of the original format to ruin the buyer's experience. Just a classic TV show presented here as it originally aired over 40 years ago - the way DVD sets should be done!
This was always my favorite show as a kid growing up and seeing it again after all these years has been alot of fun. It holds up well too. Good nostalgic memories, good laughs, and good clean fun for the whole family. Young and old alike can sit down together and enjoy this show.
As others on here have stated the only disappointment for me was the two McHale's Navy feature films were not a part of this final set as a bonus feature. I too had hoped they would be. When the entire series is released in one boxed set it would be nice if they could include them as well. Just to make it all complete.
On a more personal note it's nice that Ernest Borgnine, now in his 90's and the oldest living recipient of The Oscar award, has lived to see his show successfully released and preserved for future generations to enjoy. God bless him and Tim Conway and the rest of the crew who've entertained us and made us laugh all these years."

McHale's Navy: Season Four

Harry Brewer | S'port, La. | 12/27/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

""McHale's Navy must be saved!" was the battle cry that emanated from ABC executives in 1965. ABC was perennially the doormat of network television in the sixties. They had few successful shows & McHale's Navy was one of them. Plummeting ratings for the show (a natural occurrence) had executives in a pensive mood; they had Ernest Borgnine, an Academy Award winner, % they wanted to keep him. So the producers of McHale's Navy decided that changes were necessary in order to bolster ratings.

They decided they would move the entire PT squadron from Taratupa in the Pacific to Voltafiore, Italy. This would allow Borgnine to use his Italian speaking skills also. Even Fuji moved with them as a stowaway which was very lamely explained. Since everyone loved to see Binghamton get it in the end more connivers were added to the cast so that Wally would get it from all ends. Added to the cast were Mayor Mario Lugatto (Jay Novello) & Col. Harrigan (Henry Beckman) who would cause more grief for Binghamton, one from the local population & the other from the U.S.Army. The problem with these additions was that the crew of the PT 73 became less featured & that had to hurt. By mid-season Jay Novello was gone. The producers did retain most, if not all, the writers that penned the scripts. Hollingsworth Morse was brought back to direct all 30 episodes of season 4.

Alas, McHale's Navy could not be saved. How many different ways can you run a con on the same bumbling C.O.? Even Borgnine was given an alter ego for two episodes in which he portrayed his "twin" Italian cousin, Giuseppe. It was all to no avail as McHale's Navy sailed away into the sunset of canceled television series. But the good news is, we fans, now have all four seasons of a classic, funny series. Shout Factory has done an excellent job in restoring these episodes so that they can be enjoyed once again by we old fans & show them off to a younger generation who will never experience a more innocent time than we did nor television cluttered with the graphic violence & innuendos (the "s" word)."