Barnacle Bill (1941 film)

Barnacle Bill is a 1941 feature film starring Wallace Beery. The screen comedy was directed by Richard Thorpe. Barnacle Bill was the second of seven MGM films pairing Beery and character actress Marjorie Main.

Virginia and Marge decide to try to reform Bill. Bill attends church with them, but later shows up drunk for supper. Virginia tells Bill about the death of Gramps, her maternal grandfather, who was a wellknown Gloucester fishing schooner captain. Bill tells her his dream is to captain the Were Here, a Gloucester schooner docked in San Pedro, and Virginia gives him Gramps captains telescope as a symbol of the dream. To make it come true, Bill and Pico get a job on a tuna boat and return to find that Virginia and Marge have rehabilitated his rundown boat in the month he has been gone. When Bill collects his pay, he gets much less than expected and suspects that Kelly is cheating the fisherman by underweighing the catch. Bill confronts one of Kellys henchmen and cajoles a bribe to keep his big mouth shut. Bill is about to accept the money when he sees Virginia bringing the other cheated fishermen to watch him stand up to Kelly. To save face, Bill refuses the bribe and throws the henchman into the harbor. Virginia takes his wages for safekeeping, but Bill gets drunk anyway to celebrate his new status as a hero, and Kelly scuttles his boat after he passes out.As Bill and Pico work to raise their boat, Virginia is horrified to see that the Were here is being sold at auction. Bill imprudently offers the highest bid. He uses his fishing money for a deposit and has ten days to pay off the balance. Bill wants to sail the Were Here to the South Sea Islands and charms Marge into giving him the money to pay the balance, hinting that they might get married. The other fishermen want Bill to convert the Were Here into a reefer ship and offer to finance it. Bill pretends to accept the offer, but uses it to leverage another bribe from Kelly, needing cash to buy goods for trade in the South Seas. Virginia discovers what is happening, and disillusioned, calls Aunt Letty to take her home. When Marge comes to get Virginias clothes, Bill returns the telescope. A consciencestricken Bill d

Source: Wikipedia