The Adventurers

After many years in the exile, marrying and having affairs with wealthy and beautiful women, the son of a former revolutionary and futile play-boy Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) returns to his country invited by the corrupt president to a homage to his father. He finds that he has a son living in the country, and decides to raise funds to help the life of the people of his country. However, the money is used to buy weapons, and he decides to fight together with the revolutionary El Lobo against the corrupt president.

I saw this movie many years ago, and at that time I liked it. However, I have just watched it on VHS, and now I found it a corny soap-opera. The story is a complete mess, and it is difficult to understand the motivations of the lead character. The contact of a few moments with an unknown son would be enough to change the behavior of a futile person to a revolutionary? Is the intention of the novel of the writer Harold Robbins to say that South American countries are supposed to live with successive revolutions and corrupt president and leaders? The beauty of Candice Bergman is one of the worthy parts of this forgettable movie. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Mundo dos Aventureiros" ("The World of the Adventurers")

Ten-year old Dax (Loris Loddi) watches as soldiers massacre his family in the war-torn South American country of Corteguay, in 1945. It's an experience that has a profound effect on the boy, and influences his actions and behavior as an adult. Dax grows up to become a European playboy (Bekim Fehmiu), who periodically returns to the ongoing national upheaval in his home country. The film's underlying premise is fine. But the screen story is a mess.

For one thing, Dax, the central character, is not very likable as an adult. He's too smug, too self-important, too haughty, and emotionally cold. If he's so concerned about the never-ending violence in Corteguay, why does he spend so much time hobnobbing with the rich and snobbish in Europe? His motivations don't really make sense.

Second, the plot contains too many secondary characters that come and go, throughout. It's hard to keep track of them. For its large cast, the film is almost devoid of characters with whom the audience can identify and become attached. For all their "importance" and "savoir-faire", these secondary characters are hopelessly shallow and cold.

Third, the film's dialogue is awful. It reminds me of one of those dreadful 1950's sword and sandal movies, with lines of dialogue so ponderous and so burdened with momentous gravity, you would think they should be delivered only by Hamlet. The film veritably drools with this overwrought melodrama.

Further, the film's plot irritatingly oscillates between South America and Europe. One minute we're in Courteguay watching two poor, starving children begging for food. The next minute we're at a gaudy fashion show in Europe, or at some highbrow party listening to some lady belt out an operatic aria. It's as if the writer couldn't decide what story he wanted to tell.

And the film's violence is excessive. The civil war subplot in Corteguay requires some brute force and destruction, naturally. But the violence here is much too personal, too graphic, and too gratuitous.

To its credit, the film does have good cinematography, especially outdoors with that beautiful South American scenery. And the costumes and indoor production design are lavish, almost too much so, at times.

Ultimately, "The Adventurers" is a pretentious bore that takes itself way too seriously. The characters are unappealing, the plot is muddled, the violence is excessive, and the dialogue is laughably ponderous. All of these liabilities are then magnified by the film's three-hour runtime.

I bought it on video and it was so long it was on two tapes! So a lot of fast forwarding was needed for the countless war scenes. But it was worth the wait to get to the high sixties segments, the overall best being (for the plot totally unnecessary) the fashion shows! But oh, it was the films´ highlight. Super camp fashion numbers out of the blue but totally appropriate for a high gloss sixties movie. It was released 1970, I wonder if it all seemed a little out of date even then?

Loads of stars, even lesser like an early Jaclyn Smith and the underrated underused Angela Scoular (of On Her Majesties Secret Service). But the best is Candice Bergen. SO stunningly beautiful the screen almost melted and she did some fine acting even if she thought she hadn´t. She played a lesbian again and she ends up bitter and chain-smoking. (Hollywood logic).

Porfirio Rubirosa was a man of many parts, part time diplomat, part time polo player, part time race car driver, and most definitely full time lover. He's the man on which lead Bekim Fehmiu's part is based. In that lies the tale of The Adventurers.

Harold Robbins up to this point had done reasonably well on the screen with successful adaptions of novels like The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, King Creole, etc. But Paramount spent a fortune on this film with a few name players in supporting roles, but came up real short with Yugoslavian actor Bekim Fehmiu in the lead. Sometimes casting an unknown works, the best examples being Peter O'Toole in Lawrence Of Arabia and Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. But here the distinctly uncharismatic Fehmiu just had no chemistry with any of the women he was to wed and/or bed. When you're basing the lead character on a notorious lover of the flesh, that's kind of essential.

Rubirosa in real life had an on again off again relationship with Rafael Trujillo dictator of his native Dominican Republic. Alan Badel plays the Trujillo figure who did not come to as glorious an end as he does here. Badel was certainly as treacherous as Trujillo in real life.

Rubirosa was married 5 times in real life and one of those wives was Barbara Hutton who got around herself pretty good as another of her husbands was Cary Grant. Here her role is played by Candice Bergen who likes a good time, but also wants a family.

The girl from Fehmiu's mythical country of Corteguay is Leigh Taylor-Young. Anna Moffo stands in for fellow opera singer Maria Callas. You'll recognize a few other players on the international scene.

The climax is the revolution against the duplicitous Badel and the battle scenes are staged well, a lot of the film's budget certainly went there.

As for Bekim Fehmiu international stardom was not to be, but it looks like he had a respectable career in his native Yugoslavia.

If you like to stargaze and note some of the names that are present in the cast or if you are devoted to the novels of Harold Robbins then I would recommend The Adventurers. Otherwise it's pretty mediocre.

This film is under appreciated and rather than a mess, is a profundly complex comment on the cycle of revolution in a quest for legalism and constitutionalism.

The character Dax Xenos mirrors the life of the revolutionary son and sometime exile Octavio Paz of Mexico; though the late Snr Paz became a man of letters; rather than a temporary gigolo to gain money for a business and to restore the values of his father to his homeland!