In the waning days of World War II, the cargo officer of a Navy supply ship chafes at its role far from the action in the Pacific's backwater areas, his frustration rising when its captain denies the crew liberty over petty irritations.
Mister Roberts is aboard a US cargo ship, working in the Pacific during the Second World War. He'd do anything to leave the quiet of the ship to join in the "action". Trouble is, the captain of the ship, is a bit of a tyrant, and isn't willing to sign Roberts' transfer requests. Also on board is Ensign Pulver, who avoids work as best he can, whilst living off the riches of his buying and selling. Roberts and the crew are in constant battle, even over the smallest of disagreements.—Rob Hartill
In the Pacific Ocean, during the Second World War, Lt. j.g. Douglas A. Roberts is the deck officer of the old Navy Cargo Ship "Reluctant", a.k.a. "The Bucket". Her Captain is a tyrannic man and Mr. Roberts defends the crew from his outbursts. Mr. Roberts also wish to leave the "Reluctant" to join a battle ship and participate of the action of the war. When the ship is moored to a harbor, Mr. Roberts promises a military liberty for the crew; however, the Captain call off the liberty to force Mr. Roberts to change his behavior, give up leaving "Reluctant" and support his decisions. When the crew returns from the liberty, they note that Mr. Roberts changed his behavior and they are apart Mr. Roberts. What will happen next?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Lt. (j.g.) Doug Roberts is the cargo officer aboard the USS Reluctant, a re-supply ship serving in the South Pacific. World War II is coming to an end. The Germans have surrendered and the war in Europe is over and while there is no end in sight for the war in the Pacific, Roberts is beginning to feel that it will all pass him by and he'll never see any action. He has repeatedly requested a transfer to a combat ship but his Captain, Lt. Cmdr. Morton, knows a good thing when he has it and in Roberts, he has one of the best cargo officers available. Roberts cares about his zany crew and is often the buffer between them and the Captain who is a strict disciplinarian and who has not allowed the crew ashore now for almost a year. In return for the Captain granting the crew shore leave, Roberts agrees to follow his orders without comment or objection. The men think he's let them down but when they learn that it was Roberts who got them their shore leave, they return the favor in their own fashion.—garykmcd
In the waning days of World War II, in the South Pacific, the men of the Navy cargo ship USS Reluctant are hard at work moving supplies and resupplying other ships of the U.S. Navy. The men are led by Lt. (j.g.) Doug Roberts, who is well-liked by the entire crew and acts as a liaison between them and their captain, Lt. Cmdr. Morton, who is a mean-spirited, exacting and tyrannical officer. Recently the Reluctant was recognized for moving the most cargo of any resupply ship in the fleet. The reward for their efforts is a single palm tree, which was really given to Morton. The tree is displayed proudly on the foredeck by Morton.
The result of the recognition is that the Captain has become more tyrannical than ever. He stolidly refuses to let the crew have a standard liberty and micromanages Roberts' duty to keep them engaged while they complete their missions.
Roberts feels that, knowing the Pacific war is winding down, he'll never have the chance to serve in naval combat. He's also become quite fed up with the Captain's oppressive attitude and has written a number of letters to the Captain requesting transfer to a combat vessel -- requests that have been flatly refused by the Captain.
Doug's closest friends on the ship are Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver and the ship's doctor, known as "Doc". Though he likes Pulver immensely, Roberts is quick to point out that Pulver isn't a very effective leader and is a disorganized person in general. Pulver despises the Captain as much as the rest of the crew and talks often about schemes to annoy the Captain but never follows through on them. When he meets the Captain face-to-face one day he cowers before him.
The ship is due to make port at a small Pacific Island, one where there is a full hospital. Pulver sees his chance to find a pretty nurse and possibly woo her. The nurses commanding officer is enticed when Pulver mentions he has a fresh bottle of black label Scotch aboard the ship. When Pulver returns to his and Roberts' cabin, Pulver can't find the bottle. Roberts tells Pulver he'd given it to the admiral ashore as a bribe to grant the crew liberty. Feeling he let his friend down, Roberts and The Doc use a bottle of ethyl alcohol to make fake Scotch for Pulver.
The head nurse arrives to tour the ship, however she brings her assistant nurses with her, and they notice that several of the crew have been spying on their hospital quarters through binoculars. Their commanding officer mentions they'll have to put curtains on the windows and they all leave, ruining any chance Pulver has at romance.
The Captain allows the ship to make port at Elysium, an island tropical paradise but announces that the liberty has been cancelled. Infuriated, Roberts storms into the Captain's quarters and demands to know why liberty was cancelled. Morton has received a copy of the letter that Roberts sent to the admiral over Morton's head and is himself angered at Roberts' description of his command and reporting "disharmony" aboard the ship. Morton tells Roberts a bit of his own history. He was a busboy for several years and received poor treatment from his customers. He then became a ship's steward and the poor treatment continued. He sees Roberts, a college graduate, as representative of those who treated him badly as a youth and now seeks to pay them back. Morton is intent on becoming a full captain and sees Roberts' letter as a stumbling block.
Before he grants the crew liberty, the Captain demands that Roberts quit his efforts to obtain a transfer and that he become a model officer, essentially becoming a more by-the-book leader and working the crew to their limits. Roberts reluctantly agrees and the Captain allows the crew to go on liberty.
That night the crew become highly drunk, raucous and destructive while ashore. Many of them are arrested and brought back to the ship by Army MPs (in some cases, Roberts lets them go right back out again). The men break into the home of the French Colonial governor and wreak havoc there. A small detachment of Army MPs show up and form a cordon around the ship, preventing any other men from leaving. The commanding officer has requested that Morton see the Rear Admiral stationed on the island in the morning. Just as Roberts' starts taking in his rounded-up crew, one of them recklessly rides a stolen motorcycle off the pier and into the ocean.
Morton returns from his meeting furious -- he and the crew have been ordered to leave port immediately. He commands Roberts to make good on his promise of becoming a stricter officer, which Roberts does. When one of the crew, Dolan, approaches Roberts with what may be good news -- that officers that have a requisite number of months experience may apply for transfer uncontested -- he viciously puts Dolan on report. Upset that he'd had to enforce discipline when a crew member didn't deserve it, Roberts talks to Doc. Doc tries to reason with Roberts, who stops short of revealing the deal he'd made with the Captain. Just then, Pulver bursts in with the news that Germany has surrendered in Europe. Roberts is overjoyed about the news and Pulver tells him he'll celebrate by putting a powerful firecracker under the Captain's bunk. However, while he gathers his explosives, they go off in the bowels of the ship, causing the laundry to become flooded with soap suds. Pulver returns to their cabin covered in soap suds and they all laugh together and Roberts is still overjoyed, thinking that Pulver can make another firecracker, however, all of Pulver's supplies were destroyed in the accident. Though mildly disappointed, Roberts is very forgiving of Pulver and goes out to be alone on the deck. Pulver thinks he let his friend down but Doc reassures him that Doug enjoyed the mishap.
On the deck, Roberts listens to the radio broadcast of the Victory in Europe celebration coming in from New York City. The broadcast then changes to a man giving an inspirational speech about how the war isn't over until the free world stands up to stupidity and arrogance. Roberts is moved by the speech, jumps to his feet, marches up to the Captain's palm tree, salutes it and throws it overboard. When the Captain finds out, he sounds the ship's general alarm which musters the crew to their battle stations. When they've all assembled, he demands to know who discarded his palm tree. After having his adjutant read the muster list, he determines that Roberts is the culprit. Roberts is called to the Captain's room, but before the Captain can even charge him with the crime, the Captain is overcome with nausea. Roberts calls in Doc to help the Captain, who vomits into his own wastebasket. In a patronizing tone, Doc puts the Captain in his bunk to relax. As Roberts walks down to the deck, the crew, knowing that he discarded the palm tree, all smiling widely, salute him and politely bid him goodnight.
A few days later Roberts is packing his things. The Captain has approved a transfer for him and he'll be going to the front line at Okinawa near mainland Japan. Before he leaves, Dolan informs him that the Captain has replaced the palm tree and has put a 24-hour guard on it. As he gets ready to meet the transfer vessel, a few of the crew burst into his cabin with a fire extinguisher loaded with contraband alcohol and give Roberts a medal they'd made, a gaudy brass palm tree hanging from a wide ribbon. It's engraved with a thoughtful inscription that Roberts is too overcome to read himself. Doc reads the inscription; it declares that the wearer showed courage above and beyond duty in fighting the enemy (the captain and the boredom of their service aboard the ship). Roberts drinks a toast with them. He is overcome with gratitude, pins the medal to his shirt, salutes the group and walks with dignity out to the boat that will take him off the ship.
Several weeks later, Pulver has taken up Roberts' duties as deck officer, managing the moving of cargo. A few of the crew approach him and tell him that the Captain has cancelled the movie that was to be shown that night. Pulver reluctantly tells them he'll do what he can. The ship's mail arrives and Pulver receives two letters. The first he reads is from Roberts, who seems happy that he's finally in the war and that his unit has been involved in a number of air raids. He talks about the brave crew that served him on the Reluctant and the silly ribbon they gave him. The second letter is from a friend of Pulver's who is serving on the same ship as Roberts and has become friendly with him. Pulver becomes visibly distraught: his friend writes that their ship suffered a surprise attack and that Roberts was killed while drinking coffee. Pulver is overcome with grief. The Chief Petty Officer wants to post the letter to inform the crew of Roberts' death. Doc stops the CPO and tells him to post the letter that Roberts wrote, saying "it belongs to them".
Pulver suddenly becomes enraged and marches up to the palm tree, grabbing it and throwing it overboard. He continues to the Captain's quarters, banging on the door until he's told to enter. Angrily confronting the Captain, he tells him that he threw the palm tree overboard and demands to know why the movie has been canceled for the evening. The Captain groans knowing that he'll have the same trouble with Pulver that he did with Roberts.
