Mickey Rooney in OPERATION MAD BALL (1957)

OPERATION MAD BALL is a 1957 military comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Kathryn Grant, Arthur O'Connell, and Mickey Rooney, and directed by Richard Quine. The screenplay by Blake Edwards and Jed Harris is based on an unproduced play by Arthur Carter.

This film marks the first time that Jack Lemmon received top billing in a film, and was also the first major screen role for Ernie Kovacs.

Plot

In a hospital unit in the U.S. Army in Europe after World War II, Private Hogan (Jack Lemmon) does not believe that a blue-stocking can be good-looking, but the first sight of dietetic nurse Lieutenant Betty Bixby (Kathryn Grant) sets him straight. When he picks her cigarette lighter up and puts his weapon aside, he is surprísed by security officer Paul Locke (Ernie Kovacs) who admonishes him for putting down his weapon while on guard duty and confines him to quarters preliminary to a court martial. The Colonel in charge of the unit (Arthur O'Connell), however, would prefer to keep everything "in the family" and avoid a court martial.

Soon, Hogan plans to organise a ball at an off-limits hotel with all the prettiest nurses and his fellow soldiers. Hogan and Cpl. Bohun (Dick York) go through all sorts of mishaps to make sure that the secret Mad Ball goes ahead. Hogan uses a General's X-ray and pretends it belongs to him to win the sympathy of Lt. Bixby, whom he wants to take to the ball. Hogan claims to be suffering from heartburn and an ulcer, and Bixby recommends dietetic changes. When Betty finds out that the X-ray doesn't belong to Hogan, she falls out with him, leaving both Betty and Hogan secretly sad to have lost each other.

On the night of the ball, each soldier has been paired with a pretty nurse, except Hogan. He waits for Bixby, hoping that she has forgiven him, but he ends up going to the ball on his own. When he arrives, he sees Betty with the Colonel. She takes off her long coat to reveal a pretty dress. At the end, she shares the last dance with Hogan.

(Mickey Rooney plays SERGEANT YANCY SKIBO, a 1940s hipster.)