bkoganbing
Playing the title role Burt Reynolds settles into the cynical good old boy character he would really shine in for the 70s and 80s in Sam Whiskey. Burt's playing a man no better than he should be who often goes back and forth on both sides of the law who gets an interesting proposition from widow Angie Dickinson.It seems during the late war between the safe her late husband robbed the Denver Mint of a lot of its bullion. She wants to give it back, but not so anyone would know it was ever stolen because some fake bullion was left in its place and about to be discovered as the U.S. government is about to withdraw Greenbacks and resume specie type money. He gets $20,000.00 from Dickinson for he and his associates Ossie Davis and Clint Walker.They to devise quite the caper and that I won't go into. Reynolds took a lot of his style and persona from James Garner and his Sam Whiskey could have been Jim Rockford in the old west. Dickinson's the kind of woman you don't turn down, she knows how to keep a man's interest.Special mention goes to Woodrow Parfrey as the inspecting Treasury man from the east. Without knowing it Parfrey and his hapless checker playing self become an integral part of the caper.A caper western in the tradition of The War Wagon and a good one.
rockmail
Many movies are produced for purposes other than artistic merit, or creative urge, so I'm not going to review the "quality" of this movie, as that is not its point. (Or maybe a I will... it's hard to avoid!) In 1969, movies were much more expensive to produce than today (as far as film stock, negatives, distribution, etc.), so major studio releases had to use certain stock genres, settings, and well known stars to get projects approved.This is one of those projects, and it serves that purpose well. If you want to see Burt and Angie in their prime, having a good time making a movie, then this time capsule is for you. It bangs right along, with no slow spots, and it easy to consume and understand.It's a great movie to watch for the flavor of sixties star driven action comedies, but it is very dated, and not well written. The dialog is basic, and the plot such as it is, exists just to string together action sequences. This movie never was never intended to be good, bad, or indifferent. It was supposed to sell tickets and refreshments when people wanted to get out for the evening.But that's fine - it did its job when it needed to, but skip it unless you're interested in the culture of the time when the movie was made, it doesn't stand alone as a movie of the genre worth watching.
Tony Rome
This is a forgotten Burt Reynolds film, that is not really that bad. This is some humor in Burt's character, and Ossie Davis, The two were paired again years later in evening shade. maybe united artists will put this on dvd, or at least tape.
Wizard-8
Not even Reynolds is able to muster up charm in this fairly dreary western. Actually, though set in the wild west, the movie is more of a caper movie than a western. This wouldn't have been so bad had the capering been exciting and executed with vigor, but it isn't. Some clumsy filming techniques and the production values make it resemble a television production of its era.
AD
