The Big Gamble

Except for the beginning which takes place in a chic wealthy sullen family -which does not fit well in the main plot-,"linear" best describes this movie.A minor movie for highly talented Richard Fleischer who had already directed Juliette Greco in "crack in the mirror" the year before.Greco has some lines in French with her compatriots Fernand Ledoux as a customs officer and Jacques Marin.Which is very useful to her Irish husband Stephen Boyd.

It's the story of the odyssey of a lorry through the jungle and its fevers ,its thieves ,its precipices and its rivers in spate .A critic called it " a cross between "African Queen" and "Le Salaire De La Peur" (wages of fear).Some of the scenes were more or less "inspired" by HG Clouzot's work (1953)but "Gamble" never reaches its level of intensity.Boyd ,Greco and David Wayne team up for better of for worse,and armed up with three hundred boxes of canned beer,they struggle against a hostile nature.

I love this movie though I was very young when it was made and did not see it at the time. I thought it was fantastically well made. Very well acted by entire cast. But star of the film was the young boy Davey. I wonder what happened to the actor who played him, Fergal Stanley . Did he become a professional actor ? I imagine he is highly successful in his chosen field. Does anyone know did he make other films If so I would love to know. Top marks, highly recommended. Would love to hear others views on this and other films made around the same time with a similar theme that would be of interest and appeal to someone who loved The Big Gamble

Recently Juliette Greco died and France lost one of its greatest icons. It is easy to hear her wonderful singing voice, but less easy to see and hear her voice on film. Just for the fluidity of her facial expressions from anger to passion make anything she was in worthwhile. I liked her pairing with Stephen Boyd in this film, and they exuded enthusiasm, fun and obvious pleasure at being together. It is one of the most enjoyable of films, right from the beginning to the final scenes, and if during this period anyone wants cheering up try and track it down. It is what it says on the poster an adventure film set in an ' Africa ' that may not please the more politically correct, but enjoy it for the acting as none of the actors, including Sybil Thorndyke, Gregory Ratoff and David Wayne never put a foot wrong. And yet it is Greco's film and it is a great pity that this wonderful actress and singer is less known in the US and the UK as she should be. Forget the existentialist tag and just watch this very human woman who had warmth, a face that in its beauty could express anything without a word said, and yet when she did speak either in English and French the magic flows. ' The Big Gamble ' is one to see over and over again. Finally try to find this film in Cinemascope, as I have not succeeded in doing so.

Not one of Richard Fleischer's happiest projects, (he complained Producer Darryl F. Zanuck insisted on coming to Africa with the crew and kept interfering). It's a romp that doesn't really romp; an African adventure that's played too broadly and in desperate need of a script, (Irwin Shaw did the screenplay and it wasn't his finest hour). Stephen Boyd is the brash, arrogant Irishman who heads to the Ivory Coast with French wife Juliette Greco and Irish cousin David Wayne in the hope of starting up a trucking business. Needless to say, things don't go too well. There are a few good set-pieces as well as too much local colour and the opening scenes in Dublin are now of some historical interest in showing how a city can change in fifty years. Ideal for a wet Saturday afternoon is about the best you can say for it.

The story of three people (Stephen Boyd, Juliette Greco and David Wayne) that go all the way from Ireland to the Ivory Coast in Africa to put on a truck business there.

Real action is supposed to start when they take a cargo of beer by truck through half the dark continent, but it never quite does; in fact the film recalls one of those current PC games for kids where they mustremove lots of obstacles in order to reach a final goal; here they have to free the truck from the Custom house, put aside a huge down tree across the road, go backwards in a thin pass with a mountain and an abyss on each side, avoid a crook who wants to steal their cargo, cross a wide growing river with the vehicle and go down full speed on a narrow road without brakes, but in fact powerful action and thrills never appear.

Stephen Boyd does well as the leader of the group but doesn't add much to his acting career with this one. Juliette Greco looks sensual and interesting as his wife and David Brian just goes along.

Definitely not one of prolific and versatile director Richard Fleischer's best products, perhaps "The Big Gamble" stands a watch but no much more than that.