Something Big

Agreeable but average slice of the Wild West , it deals with two bandoleros who run into trouble with their cavalry counterparts . Dean Martin wants to do 'something big . When he needs a Gatling gun to accomplish this, he seeks out a black marketeer (Albert Salmi) . The price he wants for the gun? A woman! . So Baker (Dean Martin) along with his colleague (Don Knight) abduct a woman (Honor Blackman) off of the stagecoach, only to find that she is the spouse of the commandant (Brian Keith) of the local Cavalry detachment .Things get further complicated when a girl named Dover McBride (Carol White) goes West as he promised to do four years earlier. Sooner or later, Baker will find the right girl. And when he does, he'll swap her for a machine gun. And do something big.Everybody wants to do something big once in his life. It's just that most people don't have to hold up a stagecoach, steal a girl, and swap her for a gun to do it.Baker has the biggest, fastest, gun in the West. See him use it on anything that moves!

A spirited spoof Western with noisy action , shootouts , Indian attacks and humor . The plot is plain and simple , a likeable rogue Bandido kidnaps the wife of a cavalry commander in order to exchange her for a Gatling gun that's being sold by a gun runner . This swinging Western contains some inspired patches of dialogue provided by Western expert writer James Lee Barrett . A gruesome symptom of the death of Western was the ¨Comedy Western¨ sub-genre , a confused , ironical , messy trendy that flourished briefly in the late 60s and early 70s . Occassionaly this sub-genre produced the odd bizarre gem , notably ¨Cat Ballou¨ by Elliott Silversein , ¨Alelujah¨ by John Sturges , ¨There was a crooked man¨ by Joseph L. Mankiewicz , ¨Texas across the river¨ by Michael Gordon , ¨The Good Guys and the Bad Guys¨ by Burt Kennedy , but this was one of the less honorable efforts . Here Dean Martin plays an outlaw in town to give his retiring adversary , Cavalry Colonel Brian Keith , a last , leadenly ironic run for his money . Dean Martin's lazy charm makes him a sympathetic rogue . Martin starred various film for the famous ¨Rat Pack¨, but he also performed various Westerns , such as : Showdown , Five card stud , Bandolero , Round night in Jericho , Texas across the river , Sons of Katie Elder , 4 for Texas and the best : Rio Bravo . There's even room for two English actresses such as the then-trendy starlet Honor Blackman of Goldfinger and Carol White as the beautiful girl who shows up and has come to force Baker to marry her and return east . Typically for the genre, a few known support actors appear , they are around to add incongruity as well as some richly comic lines to deliver , such as : Don Knight , Ben Johnson , Albert Salmi , Merlin Olsen , Robert Donner , Joyce Van Patten , Denver Pyle , Judi Meredith ,David Huddleston , Edward Faulkner , Paul Fix , David Huddleston , Bob Steele and Harry Carey Jr. Some of them are character actors from the world of McLaglen's mentor , John Ford .

It contains a catching and attractive musical score by Marvin Hamlisch . Atmospheric and evocative cinematography in Technicolor and color de Luxe by Harry Stradling J.R , Burt Kennedy's regular . This stirring tale of man bandoleros was professionally directed by Andrew McLagen , , though in fits and starts . He was the son of Ford's stock company stalwart, Victor McLagen. He was born in London but grew up around Hollywood, where his father often took him on movie sets. He learned the art of directing from greats like John Ford, who eventually gave him a job as assistant director on The Quiet man (1952). He holds the distinction of directing the most episodes of Gunsmoke (1955) and of Have gun Will travel (1957) . Being one of the few directors to have directed both Clint Eastwood and John Wayne , including Undefeated (1969) and Chisum (1970). He was a prolific craftsman who made all kinds of genres , such as : Wartime : Dirty dozen next mission, Sea wolves, Breakthrough, Wild geese, The Devil's brigade . Action adventure genre : Sahara , Ffolkes , Mitchell, On wings of eagles . And Western : Shenandoah, The way west , The rare breed, Bandolero, The last hard men , The Blue and the Gray and The shadow riders again with Katharine Ross. The flick will appeal to Dean Martin fans. Ratinf : 5.5/10 . Passable and acceptable . Well worth watching.

Sorry markspangler1, but the location wasn't the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, it was filmed just outside Durango, Mexico where lots of western films have been made. Beautiful scenery, mountains and plains, deep blue skies unmarked by jet contrails or fences. Through a chance meeting with Hal Needham, Stunt Coordinator and stunt double for Dean Martin, I was invited on the set during filming. I've always wondered at why it wasn't a more popular film. Great actors, great director in big Andrew McLaglen (the man is BIG!) great scenery and cinematography. My biggest regret was not being on the set when Ben Johnson was on location. Just missed him. He was always one of my favorite actors. Authentic, unpretentious and believable in all his roles. Dean is funny and the dog a real trooper. See this movie if you can.

Outlaw Joe Baker (Dean Martin) wants to do something momentous in his life. To further this end, he agrees to acquire a Gatling gun from a fellow outlaw, Johnny Cobb (Albert Salmi), in exchange for any woman Joe can find. (Johnny is starved for female companionship.) Johnny starts "holding up" stagecoaches, looking for women, and one day he snatches Mary Anna Morgan (Honor "Pussy Galore" Blackman). The catch is that she turns out to be the never before seen wife of Joes' longtime nemesis, Cavalry colonel Morgan (Brian Keith).

Amiable Western comedy never really does deliver "something big" itself, but it's easy enough to take for an hour and 49 minutes. The script by James Lee Barrett isn't really that funny, or that witty, but it does have its moments. Director Andrew V. McLaglen has some fun with the material, as does the well chosen cast, who provide the main reason to watch this romp. Critics have excoriated it over the years, but in truth it's not all that tasteless. By and large, the people who perish are lowlife bad guys, and the violence is never particularly gory. Everything is gorgeously photographed by Harry Stradling Jr. The music score by Marvin Hamlish is so ridiculously peppy that it's quite amusing.

Dino is good in the lead, and Keith is a solid straight man in the face of some real buffoonery from the people around him. Lovely ladies Blackman, and Carol White as Joes' would-be fiancée Dover, add to the attractiveness of the scenery. Lots of familiar faces fill out the supporting cast: Ben Johnson, Don Knight, Joyce Van Patten, Denver Pyle, football star Merlin Olsen, Robert Donner, Harry Carey Jr., Judi Meredith, Edward Faulkner, Paul Fix, David Huddleston, and Bob Steele. There's also an endearing canine co-star for Dino who rides in a pouch strapped to his horse.

"Something Big" offers nothing special, but it's reasonably entertaining for the duration.

Six out of 10.

I also remember seeing this in the theatre. Dean Martin was pretty cool in this movie, but I remember the best part of the movie was the theme song (by Mark Lindsay), and I had to go out of my way to order a copy of the 45.

Good clean fun with Brian Keith and Dean Martin. Who could ask for more than that? A well-written story line and a musical backdrop that sounds like "Love American Style". With an on-site western camera shoot and good cinematography, it's campy and funny, and thoroughly enjoyable. It is what it is.