Onionhead
| Onionhead | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster. | |
| Directed by | Norman Taurog |
| Written by | Nelson Gidding |
| Based on | Onionhead (novel) by Weldon Hill |
| Produced by | Jules Schermer |
| Starring | Andy Griffith |
| Cinematography | Hal Rosson |
| Edited by | William H. Ziegler |
| Music by | David Buttolph |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $960,000 |
| Box office | $2 million |
Onionhead is a 1958 American comedy drama film set on a U.S. Coast Guard ship during World War II, starring Andy Griffith and featuring Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, Erin O'Brien, James Gregory, Joey Bishop and Claude Akins. It is directed by Norman Taurog and is written by Nelson Gidding and Weldon Hill from Hill's novel. Weldon Hill is the pseudonym of William R. Scott, a native Oklahoman who based the novel on his own World War II service in the Coast Guard.
Griffith had experienced success earlier in 1958 with his service comedy No Time for Sergeants, and Onionhead was an attempt to cash in on that success. It was mistakenly marketed as an uproarious comedy, but it is actually a comedy-drama with some dark themes, including theft and adultery. Onionhead was such a notorious flop that it drove Griffith into television, according to Griffith in a videotaped interview in the Archive of American Television.