Sgt. Bilko

Lynn takes a familiar premise and makes it a small gem for 94 minutes, if not beyond. [30 Mar 1996, p.2B]

Steve Martin is good at that aspect of the Bilko persona, and good, too, at suggesting that there's not a mean bone in the sergeant's body. Read full review

Sgt. Bilko's attempts at loose-cannon nuttiness sometimes go astray, but under Jonathan Lynn's direction, the film manages to keep a lively balance between the dumbed-down antics of Bilko's platoon of young motor- pool hustlers, to whom he is mentor, and the more nuanced satire of dimwit military brass. Read full review

A definite improvement. However, whatever gains this adaptation makes are due entirely to the inspired goofiness of its star, Steve Martin, and not to anything that director Jonathan Lynn or screenwriter Andy Breckman may have contributed. Read full review

Martin makes Bilko's roguishness endearing, and entertaining enough to carry the film even if it is essentially an overextended half-hour sitcom episode. [29 Mar 1996, p.105]

Unfortunately, Martin is the only perfection in the movie, which is plagued by a screenplay by Andy Breckman (Arthur 2) that slows down the pace by telegraphing every formulaic development. [29 Mar 1996, p.F6]

Director Jonathan Lynn has had his hits (My Cousin Vinny) and stinkeroos (Greedy). This falls in between. [29 Mar 1996, p.4D]

A reasonably updated facsimile of a 50s service romp called Operation Mad Ball, a similar celebration of high jinks. Read full review

The film is full of gratifying gags, but it also has to strain for newly enlarged scope. Read full review

Martin's Bilko is a career grifter who comes out on top every time. He's a Bilko for the nasty '90s, oily and smug. Read full review

Even Steve Martin back in his wild-and-crazy mode can't breathe much life into Sgt. Bilko - a somewhat unlikely candidate for translation from the TV sitcom vaults to the bigscreen. Bilko can't really be much more than the series - the exploits of an unscrupulous army scam artist constantly looking for new ways to make a buck. Read full review

Bilko and his gang are far less concerned with valve jobs and retreads than with greyhound racing, off-track betting, numbers, poker and pool, and most of the movie's gags reflect this limited premise. Read full review

For anyone who knew and loved the 1950s TV series The Phil Silvers Show -- in which Silvers played the peerless motormouth Army con artist, Master Sgt. Ernie Bilko -- Sgt. Bilko, starring Steve Martin, will probably be a disappointment. [29 Mar 1996, p.C]

Sgt. Bilko is a bigger con job than Bilko himself ever pulled. [29 Mar 1996, p.A2]

Writer Andy Breckman and director Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinnie ) don't even try to recapture or eclipse the past. Instead, they offer the movie a comfortable plug-in-and-play system for their well-known comic stars to be all that they can be. [29 Mar 1996]

All things considered, Sgt. Bilko is little more than a lengthy episode of the original show. Only less creepy. Read full review

Not fractionally as clever or as fast-paced as the television series upon which it's based. Read full review

Sgt. Bilko, from the late, great Phil Silvers sitcom about an incorrigible con artist scamming the daylights out of the U.S. Army, has been turned into a not-very-funny film vehicle, just as The Flintstones was transformed into a not-very-funny film vehicle, and The Beverly Hillbillies, and Dragnet before them. [29 Mar 1996, p.05]

Regardless of whether you're a fan of the 1950s series or not, it's doubtful you'll get more than a few halfhearted chuckles out of this lifeless retread. Read full review

This is shoddy hackwork, replaying classic scenarios (the honest new recruit, audits by Pentagon bigwigs and manoeuvres in Nevada) with such disregard for narrative structure the reels might be in the wrong order. Read full review

Sgt. Bilko is one of those joyless comedies that have lately become so prevalent, a halfheartedly amusing film that avoids originality while relying on old and tired material. [29 Mar 1996, p.F1]

Film remakes of old TV shows are all the rage in Hollywood. And several, including the inventive Brady Bunch Movie, have managed to seamlessly close the generation gap. Not so Sgt. Bilko, which succumbs to friendly fire. [02 Apr 1996, p.3C]

Bilko is a weightless comic creation, and Steve Martin, perhaps sensing this, drifts through the movie with a misplaced balletic goofiness. Read full review