Who's Got the Action?

I'm a big fan of Dean Martin - even after his split from Jerry Lewis. I really thought I was going to enjoy this movie, but was I disappointed… This is probably one of the most forgotten of Dean Martin's movies. It deserves to be, because it's so forgettable. Hardly anything sticks in the memory after having watched it. No funny lines, no hummable music or songs.

This movie might have been saved by the great character actors who were in it. Walter Matthau, Eddie Albert, Nita Talbot, John McGiver, Paul Ford, Ned Glass – I love them all. Well, great they certainly were, but not in this movie.

The problems were the asinine story/script, sore lack of humorous dialogue, totally unbelievable character types, lackluster direction.

Just about the only praiseworthy thing about the movie was the excellent color photography.

For anyone like me, who doesn't particularly like stories about betting on the horses (unless it's something by Damon Runyon), it will surely add up to one big yawn.

"Who's Got the Action" is a forgettable time-passer. I wasn't totally surprised, as the film starred Lana Turner...and by 1962 the quality of her films had diminished considerably. I was surprised, however, to see a major star at the time, Dean Martin, in such a slight film.

Martin plays a husband who loves to gamble on the horses. He's not very good at it and the wife wants to teach him a bizarre lesson...she sets herself up as a bookie for him because she KNOWS he'll lose a lot of money. The problem is that he starts winning big...and others notice and join him in betting with this mystery bookie. Soon, real gangsters are noticing they're losing clients and they are NOT happy.

The film is supposed to be a comedy but there really weren't many laughs. Add to that one of Walter Matthau's worst performances and you've got a movie that should have been better but wasn't.

This one isn't all that bad...really! Dean Martin was well-cast as a guy whose gambling addiction causes his wife, played by Lana Turner, to concoct a scheme to keep him out of debt by secretly becoming his "bookie." Trouble is, he hits a winning streak and she has to sell off jewelry, furnishings and other baubles to pay off his windfall. Before Walter Matthau became a major name-above-the-title headliner, he played "Tony Gagoots," big-time bookie with an elaborately concealed electronic control room for his illegal empire, and he's partnered with Nita Talbot, as his main squeeze, "Saturday Knight," and she's one of this film's comic highlights. There are also Eddie Albert and his wife, Margo, on hand to lend amusing and very professional support and the whole thing is prettily mounted in Panavision (which means that the VHS version is probably "formatted" - not a plus!) and Technicolor. It's an early-Sixties example of what TIME magazine, in a fairly positive review, called a "yak derby" and, if you're a fan of those two always-funny character actors, Paul Ford and John McGiver, they have a few moments in this one that lend to the proceedings some genuinely winning laughs.

Wouldn't you know it? Dean Martin has a gambling problem, or at least his wife Lana Turner thinks so, in this relatively unknown but worthwhile movie. This Lana/Dean teaming is an hilarious hoot to watch. While it may seem a bit incredible to believe, if you just sit back and relax, you'll find plenty of laughs. With a great cast featuring Walter Matthau, Paul Ford, Eddie Albert, Eddie's wife in real life Margo, as the maid, and Nita Talbot as Lana's next door neighbor with great taste in decorating. Dean's presence gives the film the why-do-I-care-about-anything feel to it, and Lana's misadventures make for chaos in this madcap tale of betting on the right horse!

Listless little comedy which drags on and on for an hour and a half.Lana Turner,one of the queens of melodrama -"The bad and the beautiful","Madame X","Peyton Place",the sublime "imitation of life"- or film noir ("the postman always rings twice") has not the great comical presence the part asks for.Walter Matthau steals the show:ahead of his time,his character uses a big computer;although a dirty man,he lectures his subordinate about his poor old mother,whom he must support even at his own expense.

A distant relative of "the sting" .People who are allergic to bets,bookies and stuff like that ,take to your heels.