JOHN PAUL JONES (1959) MOVIE REVIEW

With the 4th of July fast approaching, here’s another item for America’s 250th birthday – a biopic of our nation’s early naval hero.

JOHN PAUL JONES (1959) – Robert Stack stars as the title character, Charles Coburn plays Benjamin Franklin, Bette Davis is Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, Macdonald Carey is Patrick Henry and Thomas Gomez portrays Commodore Esek Hopkins. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate John Paul Jones a 6. I wish it could be higher.

This movie looks good enough, but Stack’s performance is a bit too dry and the story rambles on for too long after the logical end point when the Revolutionary War is over. Some brief closing text could have covered the mess that was John Paul Jones’ career in the Russian Navy from 1787 onward. Just a quick note acknowledging the damage he wrought to the Turkish Navy on Russia’s behalf and bring on the closing credits. 

The film also subjects us to far too much of Jones’s younger years and Robert Stack’s Forever 31 face at the time is comically distracting. (I Was a Teenage Thirtysomething) I wish more biopics used the terrific approach of Patton (1970) – focus on the most eventful years of the main character’s life with dialogue filling viewers in on their early life. 

On to the positives. It goes without saying that in a look at a giant figure like John Paul Jones there will be a bit of embellishment, but I can put up with that. If you want all facts watch a documentary.

Eventually the movie covers the fatal clash in the early 1770s that would have ended our hero’s life with an execution if not for the governor of Tobago tipping off John that he should flee the island and change his name to prevent his past from catching up with him. He makes his way to his brother’s land in Virginia and changes his name from John Paul to John Paul JONES. (Why not just put on glasses? It worked for Clark Kent.)

In Virginia, J.P.J. meets his late brother’s lawyer Patrick Henry and is inspired by his passionate desire for independence from England as war approaches. Jones ends up in a love triangle with Patrick Henry and Patrick’s eventual wife Dorothea Danders (Erin O’Brien). 

Having grown to loathe slavery in his younger years, John frees the two slaves he inherits in his brother’s will. The two freed men – Scipio and Cato – choose to stay with him on land and at sea as paid employees.

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 ignite the Revolutionary War, John Paul Jones enlists in the American Navy as an officer. As Jones thrives against the British at sea, he impresses rebel Commodore Esek Hopkins, brother of Stephen “Old Grape and Guts” Hopkins, who signed the Declaration of Independence. 

Viewers are shown J.P.’s participation in the American raid of the Bahamas for war materiel as well as his defeat of 18 British ships over the years. However, John’s fiery nature has put him at odds with other officers, including Commodore Hopkins. When political maneuvering blocks him from further promotions Jones visits General George Washington at Valley Forge to personally tender his resignation and express his anger.

Washington convinces him not to resign and to instead sail to France and work with Benjamin Franklin, who is schmoozing with French and Dutch dignitaries while putting together a privateer fleet. John captains vessels as a naval officer rather than a privateer and preys on shipping in the British Isles while also raiding coastal towns. 

Amid this action, J.P.J. romances French Lady in Waiting Aimee de Telleson (Marisa Pavan) but ultimately loses her to a Frenchman of higher social rank.

The war moves along, with our hero making a great contribution to America’s naval effort. At last, in September 1779 we get the waited-for battle between John’s ship the Bonhomme Richard and the British vessel Serapis, captained by Richard Pearson (Peter Cushing!).

During the epic battle Pearson demands that Jones surrender, and he replies with the most famous words he is credited with “I have not yet begun to fight.” In the end, the Bonhomme Richard is so damaged that John Paul Jones leads his men in boarding and seizing the Serapis thus winning the battle.

Jones continues his service to the American cause all the way to the Paris peace treaty of 1783. The ill-advised contraction of the U.S. fleet after the war leaves John without a command, but in 1787 Empress Catherine the Great of Russia names him an Admiral in the Russian Navy during its war with the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Again, J.P.J. wins great victories at sea but proves ill-suited for political maneuvering and has a falling out (to say the least) with Catherine. By 1792, John is back in France amid the Reign of Terror. The film depicts him and Aimee reunited now that so many French aristocrats have been killed in the French Revolution and its aftermath.

We go into Schmaltz Overload as Jones, on his deathbed now due to his kidney disease, dictates to Aimee his notions of the qualities that naval officers should possess. Meanwhile, a chorus of orphans sings Take Me Out to the Ballgame on the streets outside. Oh, sorry, that’s the equally schmaltzy ending to the William Bendix Babe Ruth Story. 

As John Paul Jones passes on, the movie returns to the present day to wrap up its framing device – a U.S. Admiral speaking to young officers about Jones’s greatness.

*** This movie is enjoyable around patriotic holidays. In 1959 we were not likely to get a film addressing the potential grittiness of Jones’ past, but this work is reasonably grounded most of the time. And you can insert your own John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin joke here. P.S. Mia Farrow has a very brief appearance in her film debut here. Her father John Farrow directed.