Larry Karaszewski on What Did You Do In The War Daddy

James Coburn, in one of his first starring roles, adopts many of producer-director Blake Edwards' personal mannerisms as a Bilko-like lieutenant trying to trick a Sicilian town into surrendering during WW II. Intended as the first of a planned six coproductions between The Mirisch Company and Edwards, this one (based on a question his son once asked him) and The Party were the only ones completed. Largely forgotten today, it's one of Edwards' most underrated pictures.