You Can't Win 'Em All

YOU CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL is an unusual American adventure film with a European feel. The story is heavily indebted to the usual spaghetti westerns made during the era, with a couple of ne'er-do-well characters getting caught up in a good cause and gradually realising that more is at stake than making money. This time around, the characters have to guard a gold shipment from various renegade factions, leading to plenty of stock action scenes and gung-ho adventure staples.

The film wins plaudits for casting a couple of decent actors as the leads; there's Charles Bronson, acting all tough and stoic as usual, while Tony Curtis in contrast brings plenty of laid-back charm to his character role. The supporting cast is largely made up of ethnic Turks, although eagle-eyed viewers may spot CAPTAIN KRONOS himself, Horst Janson, in a minor role. YOU CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL is a relatively fast paced and action-packed adventure film, but I felt oddly unconnected to it throughout, like I didn't really give two hoots about what was going on; it's not one I enjoyed.

This is a competent adventure movie pairing, of all people, Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson. It's setting is an obscure one for Americans: Turkey in its days of revolutionary war following the defeat and collapse of the Ottoman Dynasty in World War I. Bronson and his band of mercs have tommy guns but don't get to use them as much as you might expect. On no best-of list, but this movie is a bit better than it had to be, and worth a look.

Another reviewer has called this "better than it had to be", which I think is right on the money. This is not a history lesson, nor is Shakespeare, but it uses an obscure period of history to tell an adventure story without insulting anyone's intelligence.

It is a remake of "Vera Cruz", the 1952 Western with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. Except Curtis' character is much wittier than Cooper's, and Bronson's character is not a psychopath. Both changes make it easier to watch, although not as dramatic. Both movies have anachronisms, but I think many of the anachronisms in "You can't Win 'em All" are sardonically recognized.

There are easy parallels between the chaos of 1867 Mexico and 1922 Turkey. In both there were uncertain loyalties at the end of an Imperial rule and a major conflict had ended nearby, leaving a pool of unemployed killers. In both a nationalistic regime replaced the Old Order, and neither Juarez nor Attaturk were choirboys. But the movie is neither history lesson nor moral polemic, just a cheerful adventure story.

In my quest of tracking down starring Charles Bronson features; "You Can't Win 'Em All" aka "Soldiers of Fortune" was one of the hardest to come by. In which is a bit a surprise, because it's rather an entertainingly sturdy old-fashion boy's own adventure with feverish plotting, buoyant performances and striking scenic locations on show. Think of another Bronson feature "Villa Rides" made two years before it, as the story is kind of similar but set in a different time, different place.

It's 1922 and two former U.S army soldiers Adam Dyer and Josh Corey meet under unusual circumstances, where these rivals join together as a group of mercenaries in Turkey. They're hired by a local governor for a mission through the Mediterranean, which includes transporting his three daughters and a gold shipment. This leads to a lot of devious developments occurring on the war-torn journey.

Charles Bronson and Tony Curtis simply clicked together as the two soldiers of fortune. Curtis' happy-go-lucky approach matched up well with Bronson's laconically calculated manner. Both provided many amusingly perceptive quips, as they try to out wit each other. The snappy script keeps the sharp humour and comic elements on the cards. This along side the illustratively sun-baked Turkey backdrop with its local flavour and revolutionary wars gave British director Peter Collinson an excitingly colourful frame to work with. His uniformed handling is lively, tough and sprawling in its made-up spectacles. Random opportunities knock for the characters to take up and so does the rough and tumble action. It's punchy with enough bangs for you buck, as the madcap narrative moves at a locomotive pace. Bert Kaempfert's flighty music score is a majestically sounding arrangement that suit's the film's epic framework and exotic locations. The cast also features the likes of Leo Gordon (who also penned the film's screenplay), Patrick Magee, Horst Janson, Tony Bonner and extremely beautiful Michèle Mercier.

"You Can't Win 'Em All" is an agreeably fitting and strong-willed adventure comedy escapism.

You Can't Win Them All was directed by Peter Collinson who made the landmark British heist thriller, The Italian Job.

Here Charles Bronson (Josh Corey) and Tony Curtis (Adam Dyer) play two soldiers of fortune who get together after Bronson finds Curtis stranded in the sea and soon constantly try to double cross each other as they see themselves as rivals.

The film is set in 1922 Turkey as the country is undergoing revolution internally and war with its neighbours and the two protagonists see this as an opportunity to make money. They join together and get hired by a local governor for a mission to transport his three daughters and some gold which leads to lots of devious shenanigans along the way.

Bronson and Curtis make a likable pair and work well together. Curtis is positive, amiable and a joker whereas Bronson is meaner, more calculating and colder.

There is some gorgeous Turkish location photography but the film is too stop and start and never truly gets going or engages. There is too much bickering and mutual distrust between Curtis and Bronson which stalls the film at the beginning and then only much later on we get the action sequences which are very well staged but feels like too little or two late

Some of the dialogue is jarring and the politics of the region is not easy to understand but it's an interesting misfire.