Background: The stars of this movie need no introduction. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were two of the biggest stars in the world and remain household names to this day. Add in other names like Anita Ekberg, most famous for starring in the Fellini masterpiece La Dolce Vita, Ursula Andress, the original Bond girl, and super badass Charles Bronson, you barely need anything else to sell the movie to most people. This movie even has a big name director in Robert Aldrich. He had already scored big with Kiss Me Deadly and would go on to make The Dirty Dozen and The Longest Yard.
It was not without problems in production though. Frank Sinatra has always been known for being a hard man to work with, especially when he's acting. Aldrich became very frustrated with Sinatra's attitude and tried to have him kicked out of the movie, though this of course failed in the long run. Interestingly, this movie was going to be the first big hollywood production to feature nudity since the introduction of the infamous "Production code" and both Ursula Andress and Anita Ekberg did nude screen test. The censors weren't having it though and it was taken out of the final cut of the movie. Instead, the low budget movie Promises! Promises! featured the first female nudity since that code was put in place, featuring all of Jayne Mansfield.
Plot: The movie opens with a stagecoach robbery. Frank Sinatra is on the roof of the coach protecting it from the robbers. Dean is inside the coach, unknown to Ol' Blue Eyes. Turns out the coach is back to the gills with cash. They get away from the robbers (the leader of which is played by Charles Bronson) and Frank starts checking on the cash. Dean pulls a gun on Frank and takes the money, then Frank pulls a different gun and stops him as he's getting away. Then Dean pulls a third gun and gets away for real. Along the way, Frank details what he wants to do with the money, start a project that will net $500,000 per year. A riverboat perhaps. But all that is for naught as Dean makes off with the cash.
Frank, as it turns out, has been working for the bank. Though it's not totally clear in what capacity, because the bank owner (A fat man who burps constantly) totally hates Sinatra. Says he's gone mad with power, though again, the nature of his power is nebulous at best. The bank owner hates him so much that he hired those stage coach robbers.
The movie, seemingly unable to edit out even a single scene, takes a of time to do very little. After some time, Dean winds up tracking down this famed riverboat, and finds it's still owned by Ursula Andress. She's willing to make a deal for the boat if someone were willing to put up the money. Dean is more than willing to help out a pretty lady, especially one whose outfit doesn't make any practical sense except to show off her legs.
The two eventually decide they have to join up to hold off the banker and his goons. The scenes with Sinatra and Martin are among the rare times the charm this movie keeps striving for actually comes though for a while. The new team and their riverboat have to hold off Bronson. He was shot twice earlier in the movie, but keeps at them. Persistent guy. Can they put their differences aside and keep their new business afloat? (Afloat, get it?)
Why Was It Forgotten? Like most of the rat pack movies, like Ocean's Eleven and Robin And The 7 Hoods, they exist mostly as ways to show off how much fun those guys can have. Frank and Dean smirk their way through the entire movie, though they're certainly not the first nor last to do so. This movie actually has a lot in common with Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. In that movie, both Paul Newman and Robert Redford play hardened criminals who come off as completely charming. This movie goes for a similar tone, though admittedly several years earlier, and never fails to alienate the audience at every turn. In the opening scene, Dean takes the scarf and watch of a dead man, later we see Frank with an army of French maids at his every beck and call. So even though the smirking never stops, the charm never comes through.
What Went Right? The plot is perfectly serviceable, if a little crowded. The entire character of the bank owner is almost completely unnecessary. And he's almost completely annoying. Also, Charles Bronson is great as always. He's the only one in the movie that comes off even remotely believably as a criminal. The pacing is wildly uneven, but when it moves, it's always fun and interesting. It's unfortunate then that the movie rarely gets going.
Verdict: It's a rat pack movie alright. If that's a good thing to you, go for this one.
Score: 55%
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