You Can't Win 'Em All

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.

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.

Set against the backdrop of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Soldiers of Fortune tells the story of two opportunist former U.S. Army soldiers Adam Dyer(Tony Curtis) and Josh Corey (Charles Bronson). The two joins a group of Turkish mercenaries to protect the daughters of an Ottoman sultan and a train that carries gold. This is the first movie in cinematic history that portrays Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (even briefly by Patrick Magee) who is the founder and the first president of modern Turkey. Believe it or not, the rumor has it that one of the Turkish journalists wanted to interview Charles Bronson after the production of the movie but he was just vehemently rejected by Bronson. So the embittered journalist just started a smear campaign against the movie, that's why the movie has never been available on DVD here and unfortunately the only way that you can watch this movie in Turkey is to get hold of a pirate VHS copy. You Can't Win 'Em All may not have sounded realistic or historically accurate but it would not be fair at all to expect complete historical accuracy from an adventurous western movie. The filming locations do not really follow a logical order either. For instance, the mercenaries set out their adventurous odyssey in İzmir (formerly Smyrna)At first they camp in the Cappadocia region (east-central Turkey) Later on you see them in Ephesus and Didim (which is at the far west)I guess Peter Collinson must have thought he should show a few places that a tourist must see in his/her visit to Turkey. You Can't Win 'Em All may not be the best movie but if you like westerns and if you are real fans of Curtis and Bronson there is not a reason why you shouldn't like this one.

Not many people know that Hollywood actor Leo Gordon was also a noteworthy screenwriter. In point of fact Mr. Gordon wrote the script for this motion picture called " You Can't win them all. " He tells the the story of two traveling mercenaries Adam Dyer (Tony Curtis and Josh Corey (Charles Bronson) who arrive in Turkey in 1922. It was a turbulent time and the government was in the mists of a civil war. Our heroes arrive and sensing an opportunity to get rich, join which ever side will pay the most. This includes hiring on to guard a valuable shipment which includes members of a royal family, bars of gold and several million dollars worth of jewels. Throughout this movie which is filled with action, physical confrontations and exciting drama, our heroes try to stay one step ahead of they who would keep them from their treasure, only to realize it's not that easy. Michèle Mercier plays, Aila, a woman dedicated to the cause and proves a worthy adversary and ally for a Turkish General who is played by Patrick Magee. Leo Gordon who plays Bolek is in the film, but has a very brief role, still, with guns blazing, he does make his character exciting. Despite the movie's inability to make it at the box office, it has become a Classic in it's own right. Recommended. ****

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.