4 for Texas

Though it starts off slow and at times is a bit cheesey, this Rat Packer film is actually a lot of fun and the story line is actually pretty good. This film is a must see for Ursula Andress fans. Her performance is great and she is wonderful at being sensual without appearing slutty. She also looks amazing; I have never wanted to be Dean Martin so much in my life.

4 for Texas is directed by Robert Aldrich who also co-writes the screenplay with Teddi Sherman. It stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg, Ursula Andess and Charles Bronson. Music is by Nelson Riddle and cinematography by Ernest Laszlo.

Plot follows the shenanigans of two rivals played by Sinatra and Martin who have designs on a waterside casino. Bandido Charles Bronson is on their tails while Ekberg and Andress file in for romantic interests.

Aldrich disliked the film (the director famously couldn't get on with Sinatra), its reputation is decidedly lukewarm and The Three Stooges make an embarrassingly pointless cameo, 4 for Texas is a distinctly average comedy/western. The star power keeps it watchable, with rat packers Deano and Frank constantly trying to score machismo points - Ekberg & Andress lighting up the screen with natural beauty - Bronson in solid villain role, and it's pleasingly photographed by Laszlo. Yet it's a mundane screenplay and the run time needed to be cut by at least half an hour. It's also such a waste to not have Aldrich (is this the same guy who directed Ulzana's Raid and Vera Cruz?) show his skills at action construction, especially since the soggy story needed some perk- me-ups!

One to chalk off of your Aldrich/Rat Pack film lists, then, where once viewed, it's unlikely that anyone but hard core fans of the stars will want to revisit. 5/10

I watched this recently as part of the Ultimate Rat Pack collection that I had purchased a while ago. I couldn't remember if I'd even seen it before although I grew up in the 60s when these flicks were on TV regularly. After viewing I realized why I couldn't remember it...it is singularly unmemorable, unlike Oceans 11 or Robin and the Seven Hoods featured in the same collection. It's a comedy-western that's not particularly funny or all that exciting. Frank and Dean breeze through this thing of course as only they can, mugging,joking almost winking at each other 'ain't we too much' during their scenes together. I'm assuming Robert Aldrich the director was merely there to corral the extras since neither of the main stars attempts to take any direction. This is not to say they are entirely un watchable but even for this kind of thing both have done better. Ursula Andress and Anita Ekberg look spectacular in various revealing outfits and Charles Bronson seems to be the only actor taking the whole thing seriously. The 3 Stooges show up and do a shtick that livens things up after the movie seems to slow to a crawl. Character actors Victor Buono(probably gives the best performance),Jack Elam,Richard Jaekel and a few other familiar faces round out the cast. The plot? Well, who cares really, you're watching this to see Frank and Dean do their thing and to some degree they do, but really it's all somewhat snooze inducing. The film of course is very much of its era when the Rat Pack ruled and smoking, drinking, gambling and womanizing were casually portrayed without any apologies. I do actually enjoy these kind of movies and have built up a collection on DVD over the last while that reflects my nostalgia for that time. I just wish this one was better.

What, I wonder, would a director do on the set of a movie starring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin? Light their cigarettes? Mix their drinks? Laugh at their jokes? One thing he certainly does not do is play "auteur." The director is present to say "Cut" and "Print," not to pursue his "vision" or any of that arty stuff. "Four for Texas" gave Robert Aldrich a pair of stars who, in terms of popularity, may have been the male equivalent of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford whom he had directed the previous year in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" But whereas Davis and Crawford were passionate enemies, Ol' Blue Eyes and Ol' Dino were the best of buddies, and their movies treated as casually as any of their swingin' Vegas gigs. It was an opportunity to have some fun and get paid doing it. If that fun translated to the screen, fine, but in this movie the cast appears to be entertaining itself while putting the audience to sleep. If Aldrich had no control over Frank and Dino, he compensated by overdirecting Charles Bronson who is as animated--for him--as Bugs Bunny. The whole shebang is a comedy-western, but there are virtually no laughs, only snickers--from the cast, not the audience. In comparison, "Ocean's 11" is some kind of classic.

Frank Sinatra plays Texas big-shot who teams up with saloon-owner Dean Martin to thwart an evil banker; Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress play--what else?--the bosomy love-interests. Comedic western directed and co-written by the uneven Robert Aldrich, who doesn't seem to notice that Sinatra and the gang are running precariously low on steam. Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford aren't around this time, but the supporting cast does include Charles Bronson, Richard Jaekel, Mike Mazurki and Victor Buono, as well as a cameo by The Three Stooges (!). Star-vehicle is curiously talky and slow on adventure, not to mention laughs. *1/2 from ****