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The title The Horizontal Lieutenant clues one in immediately that this was a flick that could only have been made in the 1960s, and indeed it was. Clearly, with a title like that, it's going to be a comedy, have an armed service setting and lean either toward romance or sex, all of which is the case. When the title alone tells one so much about a film, there's a good chance that said film is going to be a predictable, and that's the case with Horizontal. Things are set up early on: Jim Hutton's character will get in trouble and fall down a lot, and Paula Prentiss's will be much more sensible, rescue Hutton and fall down only when necessary. There's really nothing more to it than that, which would be fine if the filmmakers had then come up with original, drop-dead funny variations on this theme. They didn't. As a result, the film, which starts out moderately funny, tends to drag about halfway through. There are some decent laughs throughout, but precious few guffaws and everything gets a bit weary too long before the film ends. Don't blame the stars. Hutton and Prentiss give it their all, but even their all needs at least a little help from the screenwriter.