Sergeant Deadhead

Sgt. Deadhead is caught blowing up a model rocket on the air base parade ground and is hauled off to the guardhouse. The incident triggers disciplinary action that strains his relationship with fiancée Airman Lucy Turner. The base community sees his antics as both comical and costly.

Lucy Turner despairs of ever marrying him because his constant discipline keeps him in trouble. She fears she may have to marry him while he’s still in the guardhouse, turning their plans into a distant dream. The romance becomes entangled with his disciplinary record.

Deadhead and Private McEvoy manage a breakout from confinement. McEvoy decides to break back in, but Deadhead ends up hiding in a nearby space rocket. The escape sets off a chain of chaotic misdirections.

Deadhead hides in the rocket’s control room and falls asleep, unaware that a chimpanzee is aboard. The countdown reaches zero and the rocket blasts off, carrying him into space. He realizes too late that he’s not on a routine mission.

Once aboard the rocket, Deadhead is discovered by the base, and General Fogg decides to spin the facts, claiming he volunteered for the mission. Navy Captain Weiskopf helps set up a public wedding on the base for when he returns. The plan is pitched to the press as morale-boosting spectacle.

Upon returning to Earth, Deadhead is treated as a national hero, but the space voyage has altered his personality to mix with the chimpanzee ambience. The media frenzy and public adulation inflate his ego. His true self becomes obscured behind the fame.

A look-alike sergeant, Donovan, is identified as a possible replacement. Deadhead makes another escape from the guardhouse and secretly swaps places with Donovan to avoid capture. The confusion deepens as the leadership continues to believe the hero is Deadhead.

Posing as Donovan, Deadhead heads to the hotel where the wedding reception and honeymoon are planned. He uses the identity switch to enjoy the festivities and the honeymoon without being jailed. Turner remains unaware of the identity swap.

Fogg and Weiskopf locate Donovan at the hotel and escort him back toward the honeymoon suite, still assuming he is Deadhead. Airman Turner watches the confusion and tries to protect the bride-to-be. The wedding plans press on amid the mistaken identities.

While Turner is preparing a bath for Donovan, Deadhead slips in and knocks Donovan out with a vase. Fogg and Weiskopf return with a broadcast-style warning, claiming a message from the President. The deception remains intact only for a moment.

Thinking Deadhead is Donovan, Fogg and Weiskopf arrange for Deadhead and Turner to be escorted to the airport to meet the President. The plan hinges on the mistaken identity to keep the ruse alive. Donovan’s whereabouts are still unknown.

Donovan awakens in a closet and makes his way back to base. Fogg and Weiskopf realize that Deadhead is the man traveling with Turner toward the President. The mistaken events begin to unravel as the truth edges into view.

Deadhead and Turner finally meet the President, continuing the bizarre odyssey as they navigate the publicity of his space voyage. The moment is steeped in ceremonial optics and public fascination. The honeymoon vibe persists amid the political spotlight.

Two Marines attempt to arrest Deadhead but mistakenly arrest the President, who is trying on Deadhead’s space helmet. Deadhead and Turner seize a White House helicopter to flee the scene. The farce escalates into a high-speed escape.

Fogg, Weiskopf and the others end up back in the guardhouse as Deadhead and Turner vanish from the scene. The film closes on the chaotic fallout of the mission and the couple’s tenuous freedom. The final note is a playful inversion of duty and romance.