Straker

I read Paul Mavis's DVD review of No Time for Sergeants (1958) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=41649 and...No Time For Sargeants might have failed on its first go-round as a TV series, but it sure took off when they tried again & changed the title to Gomer Pyle USMC. Judging by the pictures that accompany the review, Frank Sutton could have been Myron McCormick's slightly pudgier brother.

Paul Mavis

Yeah, there's lots of borrowing there. Especially Andy Griffith's/Will's "Goooollyyy" that was directly lifted by Nabors. I think that's part of the reason Griffith was rather cool to Nabors, after Nabors' head swelled when Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. bested The Andy Griffith Show in the ratings...after all, most of it came from this movie (as did other, later service comedies, such as Stripes, which is very similar, just substituting a smartass slacker for a country bumpkin).

But McCormick's character is not at all like Frank Sutton's --Sgt. Carter is all screaming and yelling, until he eventually goes soft and almost becomes Pyle's buddy in later seasons. Sgt. King wants nothing to do with Will, and is the opposite of the stereotype of the career service man we always see in films: he just wants everything quiet. The image of him lying in his bunk, listening to serene music as his nervous stomach settles, and screw the platoon he doesn't care about, is him in a nutshell. It's an inspired character, and McCormick is just...just brilliantly funny here.