Affairs of Cappy Ricks (1937) User Reviews

"You Mealy-Mouthed Button-Pushing Parasite!"

[joebridge · 7/10 · 20 March 2006]

This is a mildly amusing movie focusing on the affairs of a sea captain (played by Walter Brennan) who obviously doesn't like anything modern (including all Bottomley products and gadgets), who returns home after a fairly long absence and is extremely frustrated by all the changes in his home, family, and business. He deliberately takes his family and associates on a sea cruise and makes sure they all get stranded with him on a deserted island in the Pacific, to "fix them", which includes changing the minds of his daughters and holding off the merging of his business by Mrs. Peasely (who owns 51% of it) with Bottomley's company. He also makes a $5,000.00 bet with Bill Peck that he can "fix" everyone and clean up what he thinks is a real mess.

The acting is okay, nothing outstanding, but certainly good enough for a simple comedy such as this (which actually plays out more like a stage drama in parts).

The music sounds much like that from a Popeye cartoon in parts, both in style, instrumentation, and certain parts of the melody, yet it is mostly suitable and well-paced throughout.

Light-hearted, tame, and enjoyable, and easily worth a watch or two. Directed by Ralph Staub, based on the story by Peter B. Kyne.

Nice miniature boats, but an especially unconvincing reef scene and the same cloud painting used on each ocean scene.

The automatic door with the "photoelectric cell" was a very interesting surprise in this movie. I didn't know this idea was around in 1937, let alone so much button-pressing paranoia!

Selected Lines:

Cappy Ricks (to self): "Waldo P. Bottomley. For twenty years I been keeping that old barnacle scraped off my hull. Now he's got a grip on my stern."

Cappy Ricks (to his daughter): "You're not going to sea on any floating switchboard!"

Cappy Ricks (to Bill Peck): "Bottomley's at the bottom of this!"

Cappy Ricks (to Bill Peck): "...and that pussy-willow son of a button-pusher!..."

Mrs. Peasely (happily, to all): "Isn't this air enervating!" Matt Peasely (suffering with sea sickness): "You mean...*gulp*...invigorating, mother.."

Cappy Ricks: "Do you William Peck take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife and to love, honor, and provide for her so long as you shall live?" Bill Peck: "Uh..." Cappy Ricks: "Well do ya, come on!" Bill Peck: "...any minute now..."

Cappy Ricks: "Someday, somebody's going to press a button once too often around here."

Cappy and Bill (singing during a storm): "Oh, press a button and smooth out the waves...please smooth out the waves..."

*** SPOILER ***

PLOT TWIST: Some might see this coming, but they find that they really are stranded about 40 minutes into the movie, but not for very long.

Rating: 6/10

As primitive as can be

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 November 2012]

Walter Brennan in one of his few starring roles while he was winning all those Best Supporting Actor awards, stars in this amusing comedy for Republic. Brennan is in the title role of Cappy Ricks an old sea dog who's built up a nice business of ship building, but who feels that progress is too much of a good thing.

In a way the Affairs Of Cappy Ricks is a humorous version of The Flight Of The Phoenix where Brennan is a nautical version of what James Stewart was in the air. Automation and instruments are fine, but unless you can sail by stars and compass and I do mean sail because steam and diesel power boats can run out of fuel you are no kind of sailor.

And that's a lesson his family seems to have forgotten as one daughter is getting married to a confirmed landlubber and another daughter has dumped longtime boyfriend Lyle Talbot for the son of a man whose business is about to merge and takeover Brennan's.

So Brennan arranges a little south sea voyage for the whole lot of them and has a preplanned shipwreck on a deserted island that would seem like home to the Gilligan's Island castaways. And it's as primitive as can be.

Brennan has no leading players to steal scenes from, so he's given a full head of steam by the director. His only competition is that of Georgia Caine who is the wife of William Davidson whom Brennan's business was merging with. Mary Brian is good as Brennan's feisty daughter whom he'd like to get back together with Talbot.

Definitely for fans for Walter Brennan.

No, I'M in charge of this sinking ship!

[Spuzzlightyear · 5/10 · 23 April 2006]

A pretty lightweight comedy here. This stars Walter Brennan stars as Captain Ricks, a family patriarch who returns home after a long trip abroad to find his personal and business affairs all in a shambles! His daughter is getting married to a shlub he doesn't approve of, his business has been taken over by his future mother-in-law AND his ship, his pride and joy has become automated! Ricks takes matters into his own hands and literally tries to be captain of the ship again by taking them on a cruise where he can try to boss everyone around and be in control everyone again. But it doesn't work, so he takes matters into his own hands, he "shipwrecks" everyone so he can get everyone straightened out! Walter Brennan is great here as is the whole cast. And I love the whole 'Captain of the ship" motif that they have going on here. The one problem I have with this is that it goes on far too long, going into one madcap adventure after another. Some lengthening of scenes (as opposed to shorter subplot scenes) would have done the trick here.

George Jetson meets his match

[Phil Reeder · 5/10 · 26 April 2008]

While not having heard of Cappy Ricks before this, I'm guessing after looking on ebay that he was a fairly well-known book character in the early 20th. Brennan goes full steam as the curmudgeonly "old salt shaker" who stubbornly resists the encroachment of technology and is horrified on returning home and finding his daughter's future mother-in-law running his house and business and poised to merge his company with rival Bottomley, a purveyor of all things automated! Cappy launches a counter plot to set things straight, giving the story the bulk of its humorous situations. The highlight is the segment aboard the ELECTRA, Bottomley's almost completely automated yacht, particularly the scene with the push-button spice dispensers. The silly plot is served well by nice performances by Brennan, Georgia Caine, Frank Shields, and perky, attractive Mary Brian as Frankie. And the film itself foreshadows The Jetsons and Gilligan's Island 25 years before those shows made us roar with laughter (?)

5 1/2 Stars, check it out.

Perfect movie to play while you murder someone

[equiles-26077 · 1/10 · 28 April 2021]

I recently watched this movie on a stream before an oscer special and it was ok. Didn't have any of the real actors I really love like Tom Cruz, John Depp, Brad Pitts, but it was still ok.

Ok until the person streaming the movie murdered someone on the livestream. Ran over a true American patriette.

LaRue was one of the members of DKR and will be missed.

1 bag for this movie.

Cappy Ricks Returns

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 15 January 2012]

Cranky seafaring Walter Brennan (as "Cappy" Ricks) returns from a voyage to find his San Francisco household has become "slovenly and shiftless." He doesn't approve of pretty daughter Mary O'Brian (as Frankie) being engaged to "lily-livered" Frank Shields (as Waldo), the son of a rival. Betting pal Lyle Talbot (as Bill Peck) he can whip everyone into shape, Mr. Brennan takes them on a cruise. He wants to fake a marooning, and "shake off civilization for awhile." But the plan threatens to backfire when they become stranded for real. Brennan isn't his usually lovable old salt, in this plot and situation retread. Trying to boss Brennan around, Georgia Caine (as Amanda Peasely) has some good moments.

**** Affairs of Cappy Ricks (5/24/37) Ralph Staub ~ Walter Brennan, Mary Brian, Georgia Caine, Lyle Talbot

He'll make a man out of them even if it kills him, especially the women!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 January 2016]

Three time Oscar winner Walter Brennan gets perhaps his only leading role in this pleasant B comedy where he plays a yacht captain determined to turn the greedy and spoiled family members into responsible people. That includes Georgia Cain, the widow of his late business partner, his spoiled daughter Mary Brian and Caine's equally spoiled son, Lyle Talbot. In order to accomplish this, Brennan takes them out on his yacht and purposely shipwrecks them so they have to learn some responsibility while trying to survive on a deserted island.

This early variation of Gilligan's Island is an enjoyable romp about morals and the desperate need for survival skills of people who would panic if they broke a finger nail. Caine, playing a very snooty society matron who basically infiltrated her way into his mansion while he was away on his yacht, is quite imperiously funny yet changes the most. Talbot and Brian, arguing like cats and dogs throughout most of the film find themselves tied together by the need to survive on the island and their efforts to come to a common bond result in some very funny situations.

It is very amusing to see Walter Brennan playing against type, clad in a tuxedo in early scenes and often speaking in plain terms like his earthy characters would in the types of roles that made him one of the most popular character actors of the golden age of cinema, and certainly the most popular among the extras which he had risen out of before winning the big prize at the Academy Awards during the first few years of the supporting acting awards.pretty good for a lower budget B movie comedy, this is well worth seeing even if just to see what Brennan can do when he's risen above playing the types of characters that most people remember him for today.

It's Movie Time!

[tcoogan15 · 10/10 · 24 October 2019]

I loved the VFA's professional re-release of this film and especially Gregg's commentary! It was funny and insightful! I had no idea that costume designers could have one name like Madonna!

5 bags of popcorn and 5 sodas.

Some Salty, But Code-Compliant Language

[boblipton · 5/10 · 11 July 2021]

Walter Brennan has a rare title role. He returns from his latest voyage to discover that Georgia Caine has bought 51% of his shipping company, installed buttons instead of sailors everywhere, and is about to marry Brennan's daughter, Mary Brian, to her son, Frank Melton, instead of the manly Lyle Talbot. So Brennan insists they all go for a cruise and strands them on a desert island.

It's all a by-the-numbers effort, little more than a decent time-waster, from a series of stories by Peter Kyne. Kyne was a prolific writer in several genres, and more than a hundred movies were made from his works. He died in 1957 at the age of 77.

Silly B-movie fun...

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 29 December 2010]

This is clearly a B-movie—a small budgeted film with no pretense. This sort of film was popular in the 1930s-50s and was designed as a second film at a double-feature. Because of this, the actors are usually unknowns or supporting actors are given chances to act as the stars. In this case, Walter Brennan (who was MUCH younger than his character) and Lyle Talbot head the cast and the film, like other Bs, is only about an hour long. Also, like many Bs, the models used in this film are really, really cheap—almost making you think that the film might have been better called "Crappy Ricks"!

The film begins with the family patriarch, Cappy Ricks (Brennan), returning from a very long ocean voyage. Despite being a very wealthy man who owns his own company, his relatives have changed—and treat Cappy like an interloper. In his absence, they bought up company stock and are now making all the decisions—including a planned merger with Cappy's hated rival. Why? Well, his obnoxious relatives (who are all worthless idiots) see this merger as a way into rich society—something the simple-living Cappy has long resisted. Seeing he is losing the company he started to a lot of ungrateful wretches is just too much and Cappy hatches a plot. He invites all the idiots on his boat and then deliberately strands them on a deserted island. This is done in the hope that this simple life will force them to become productive citizens instead of a bunch of brainless leeches. It all works out pretty much as you'd expect from such a film though it IS still fun—and for a B, that's enough to make it a success—even if the plot is a bit hard to believe. Enjoyable and slight—and Brennan and Talbot are very good.

*******By the way, despite this film and many others which say it is possible, ships' captains are NOT able to legally marry couples (unless, in a rare instance, they are ordained or otherwise licensed to perform marriages). It's a common myth—but a myth nonetheless.

Five bags of Popcorn and two barnacles

[johnfritz-85229 · 10/10 · 6 March 2024]

This is the movie of it's era, truly. Great acting all around and a no-nonsense plot that keeps you engaged the entire time Cappy and everyone is on screen. He makes many references to shipboard things that I cannot comprehend, but I think I got the meat and potatoes on what he was talking about.

He really lays down the law to his stupid family when he returns, and that is a blessing as they are all slovenly and shiftless as the day is long.

Ralph Staub is a visionary, and truly deserves all the credit here, though Walter Brennan made the most of a stellar script, as expected. I hope we see more of this duo in the years to come!