Not Bad Hollywood has certainly done much worse than this movie. John Paul Jones was a major naval figure in the American Revolution, though seagoing operations in that war were overshadowed by land operations. His life is covered with an acceptable degree of historical accuracy in this movie. (It appears to me that the script was probably based on Augustus C. Buell's 1900 two volume "biography". For the facts, trust Samuel Eliot Morison's unsurpassed 1959 biography of Jones.) The normal artistic liberties are taken without changing the overall story. The filming and color are quite good. However, it suffers from very stiff acting, particularly from Robert Stack. The VHS tape has also suffered the cutting room floor treatment by trimming a widescreen movie to fit the 4:3 TV screen. Worth seeing once, it might be wisest to either rent or check it out from the library.
John Paul Jones The only movie portrayal done to my knowledge of John Paul Jones. That alone makes it worth while for any American history fan. Robert Stack does a pretty good job as the man and soldier. The movie is fairly historically accurate with some "Hollywood artistic" liberty taken and a bit of swashbuckling too. An entertaining movie all in all.
Good Robert Stack is good as John Paul Jones. It is a better movie than Maltin's review suggests
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