Challenge Of Leadership (1961)

[Music] the land of many trees much water and few people so every year it's open season for rescue parties on hunters and fishermen who have overdone this matter of getting getting away from it all and that's just what we were doing last summer getting away from The Daily Grind the trip was Gil Newman's idea he runs a service station and he got the invitation from one of his wealthier customers to use this cabin anytime he wanted to that stuff's too hot I'm going to Stow some gear in the boat that thing in shape to take us back to civilization tomorrow sure is I had it out this afternoon runs like a top H young Tom Sullivan works on his gelap in Gil station that's where he heard about the trip and he persuaded Gil to bring him along Steve Herbert is another of Gil's customers he's a shop foreman in one of the big plants in our town let got this stuff cleared away huh right with you Nick Dusty owns the boat we pulled it on his trailer to the nearest Landing then ran it out here to the island the fifth member of our group was me Arthur Baskin I happen to live next door to Gil my work is market research we had come up here pretty much strangers to one another still for two weeks we got along without any serious trouble until the boat's Gone Gone what do you mean gone gone I mean G then we're stranded out here can't be gone I used it this afternoon oh why didn't you tie it up I did if you were't such a kid L off Gil that's no good oh you're going to stick up for him are you no I guess I'm going to help look for the boat you think we have a chance finding it in the dark not much but there's no harm [Music] trying there was no sign of the boat and nobody got much sleep that night at breakfast everyone was edgy I can't eat I'm going out and find that boat sit down kid I'll go with you me too look you're not going out again are you without a plan you got a plan no but I'd like to hear what Steve has to say oh why here him somebody appoint him commissar you don't live with men for 2 weeks without finding out something about them now we've had our little differences yes you call this a little difference I call this a critical situation one that demands intelligent leadership well I sure don't want the job what do I do boss don't you want to finish your breakfast [Laughter] what's funny oh I was just thinking you any damn fool could get off this island with a boat but to get off without a boat that's going to take some doings that's the old pep talk now tell us there's nothing to worry about well there's plenty to worry about but like we say at the plant there's nothing no such thing as a problem that can't be solved well I don't know all the answers but among the five of us I'm sure we do now here's what we can do there's a chance that a wind or a current may have grounded the boat so Gil let's you and me Circle the island and look for it but I ought to look for the boat there's a better chance that we won't find it so you're going fishing not for fun but so we can eat oh why should he get the soft job because he's the better fisherman and Nick's the only Hunter we've got in the crowd so I want you to go out and see what you can find to feed us you two got it okay Steve you say so then get with it what do you want me to do Steve somehow I never got my merit badge on Survival techniques on the job when I come up against something I don't know I call on the experts the planning department people like that you know sometimes they can be pretty theoretical what makes you think I'm an expert well isn't your job something about research or analysis yes well Professor I just want you to stay here and research and analyze our problem see what you come up with well I'll try and if you can think just as well while you're working something tells me we're going to need a lot of firewood Steve got a organized but I had a hunch he would have liked to feel as confident of our future as he sounded [Music] well no sign of her how'd you do make out one rabbit I hope everybody likes fish well we won't starve anyway Professor how do you size up our situation this I've been waiting to hear well the way I figure is this none of our families knows just where we are the owner of the cabin doesn't even know we're in here we didn't check out with anybody where we left our cars and there's nothing nobody we're lost and nobody knows it easy kid sit down Tom but it's my fault I let the boat get away all right so it's your fault so what are you going to do about it cry hey now lay off now who's picking on the kid you shut up no sir I'm okay good now let's let the professor finish well while I was out there cutting firewood I had an idea so I cut a lot more wood for a fire outside a big Smoky fire hey a fire sure a lot of private planes fly hunters and fishermen all around here when they see our smoke they'll come to investigate if they see the smoke look shall we light that fire you're doing fine Professor just pick out a safe spot where you won't send the whole island Up in Flames we got the fire started and Steve assigned Us in turn to watch it I had the second watch and Steve was slated to relieve me when he arrived there was something on his mind Professor we got to do something it's no good just sitting around waiting for somebody to spot our fire there we'll all be breaking up huh just like the kid y we got to keep the troops busy on the way to get out of here doing what we're going to build a raft we'll cut paddles to get us over to the mainland then we'll pull our way along the shore until we get back to where we left the car or find a camp along the way how's it sound it makes sense to me but all I've got to do is sell the others because if it doesn't have their active cooperation they can sabotage it intentionally or otherwise unless they really get behind it won't do anything for our morale and it won't get the raft built so Steve went to work using a different approach on each man depending on what he knew about that man he sold me on the basis of facts and logic Nick was dead set against building the raft certain that somebody would spot our fire until Steve said Nick I don't know how to build a raft and you do that's why we need you Nick whether you think it makes sense or not we've got to have you help us and show us what to do the kid was lying awake when Steve got back to the cabin he wasn't hard to sell I know you're feeling guilty about letting the boat get away now here's your chance to do something about [Music] it that left Gil and Steve got to him in the morning before the rest of us were up so now we're going to play Swiss Family Robinson huh I don't know any other way to get off the island meanwhile if we don't keep these fellas busy they'll go steer crazy well won't they yeah yeah I guess they will there going to be a rough job Gil you're the strongest guy we got if you weren't willing to work I don't know whether we'd be able to make it are you calling me a slacker I just said if I have to hand it to Steve he took five men of different skills different backgrounds different personalities and molded us into a real working team and I have to hand it to him too that as soon as Nick proved he knew what he was doing Steve let him boss the project and took his orders along with the rest of us but Steve knew what was going on on and why and he was the one who assigned men to jobs according to the way he'd sized us all up my job was to make a sail out of a tarp things had been going well all morning until I heard a commotion outside [Music] [Applause] [Music] we couldn't tell whether the pilot spotted either my signal or our fire but I figured at least there was hope well Professor you can knock off [Music] now our rescue body is practically on the way how can you be sure how could they miss just the same we better keep on with our work huh who says so I say so now look I went along with this wrath gag I worked as hard as anybody didn't I that's right and you're going to keep right on working now listen Steve I've taken about as much as I'm going to take from you that PL spotted us see and any man who thinks that I'm going to keep on building that damn raft is looking for a fight I'm ready how long do you think you can stand up to me well there one way to find out of all the stupid toss me that knife I said toss it here [Music] the knife I'm working with is too dull he could have knocked your block off you know that I know it he knows that I know it that's why I won I don't follow well suppose he had knocked my block off he wouldn't have won anything he knows it as it turned out that plane did spot us and in a couple of hours another one came in to fly us out we didn't need the raft but since then I've often wondered whether we could have gotten out with it I'm pretty sure we could after all as Steve says there's no problem that can't be solved when people work together but it takes leadership [Music]