Die siegreichen Drei

I never miss Gunga Din when it is on TV. It is a great story. When I was young, the Rat Pack remake was my favorite film, period. That this classic is not available in DVD or Video isn't fair. I want to show young kids this movie. I want to show ME this movie. Can't something be done?

This movie has had trouble being massed reproduced in this country, thus a VHS copy is something of a rare collectible. In the style of the pre 1970 western, this is pretty typical fare, stereotypical handling of Native Americans, 2 dimensional characterization, and lots of shooting. However, aside from that, the plot develops at a nice pace, although the plot (a very rough adaptation of Gunga Dinh) runs thin at times but overall does manage to hold one's interest. Fans of the Rat Pack will note that this may be their weakest movie together, but the boys are all there and working together, so how bad can this movie really be?

Sergeants 3 is the second and last true rat pack film because it is the only other one with all the rat packers in the cast besides Ocean's 11. I guess that's just how it is for us purists.

Anyway Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Peter Lawford are three U.S. cavalry sergeants in the days of the old west and I have to say they would have been right at home with Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch at Fort Courage. They're good fighting men, but can't quite deal with the discipline the army imposes.

They make the acquaintance of Sammy Davis, Jr. who is a newly freed slave out in the west who'd like to join the cavalry.

If this all starts to sound familiar it should because it's the plot for the RKO classic Gunga Din. And it's the reason this film hasn't been seen for years and is not out on VHS or DVD. I was fortunate to see it in the theaters way back in the day.

It's got quite a few laughs in it, the majority of them as I remember gathered by Dean Martin. He's got the part Cary Grant played in Gunga Din. Dino's persona exactly fits the role he has. Talk about undisciplined, he was lucky he had a career in the military.

The film is also memorable for the presence of three of Bing Crosby's sons by his first marriage. I have absolutely no doubt that they got cast in the film as a favor by old blue eyes to the old groaner. Philip, Dennis, and Lindsay Crosby had a quartet act with older brother Gary and they had a celebrated breakup with him. Now they were trying to get going as a trio and not having any more success.

This was also Peter Lawford's last film with the pack. Sinatra broke off relations with him completely after that famous incident when President Kennedy refused to stay at his place while in Los Angeles and opted for Bing Crosby's estate. Frank took it out on Lawford who really had nothing to do with that at all. It marked the beginning of Sinatra's rightward march into the Republican party.

Sergeants 3 is funny, not a great film by any means, but all the cast did far worse stuff. But it curiously enough marks the high point of the fabled rat pack. After this film, a whole lot of events happened including a presidential assassination and things were never the same.

Ever since my childhood, the Rat Pack films have been staples on Italian TV – but, curiously enough, not this one!; still, as often happens, its long absence doesn’t necessarily make it a lost gem and, actually, it can now be seen as the least of them! In any case, a legitimate DVD edition of it has just been released in time for the 10th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s passing – though I had to make do myself with a barely adequate VHS-to-DVD dub for this viewing…but which, surprisingly ran for 117 minutes when the film’s official length is given as 112!

Anyway, personally produced by Sinatra, this emerges as the third version of a Rudyard Kipling story: a sort of GUNGA DIN (1939) parody in Western garb – except that the original already contained strong doses of humor! Old hand W.R. Burnett wrote the script and the necessity here to follow a proper plot renders this less freewheeling than other Rat Peck outings; however, this then results in jarring bouts of violence played alongside revue-style comic sketches! The film’s major set-piece is an extended shootout between the boys and some renegade Indians in a ghost town which culminates in an outburst of fireworks and the shooting of dynamite a' la RIO BRAVO (1959); by the way, Sinatra and Dean Martin had already proved themselves in the genre – most notably with JOHNNY CONCHO (1956) and RIO BRAVO itself respectively (Martin actually became a staple of the gun-and-saddle tradition between 1956 and 1973).

With this in mind, the repartee among the stars is par for the course: Martin has the old Cary Grant role, Peter Lawford fills in for Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Sammy Davis Jr., naturally, is Din; as for Joey Bishop’s character, he usually finds himself the brunt of the boys’ jokes. Sinatra himself seems constrained by the martinet role played in GUNGA DIN by Victor McLaglen but, typically, Dino and Davis have fun with their roles. Michael Pate and Henry Silva (as father and son) feature as the rebelling Indians; incidentally, Sinatra and Silva’s next confrontation – later that year in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE – proved far more memorable. It’s also worth pointing out that three of Bing Crosby’s sons appear here as bumbling privates.

Director Sturges was himself a Western expert and had already collaborated with Sinatra on the war adventure NEVER SO FEW (1959); he also did a number of Cavalry vs. Indians-type efforts such as ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO (1953) and THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL (1965; which was also largely played for laughs).

P.S. Shortly after this film’s release, Sinatra fell out badly with Lawford (even throwing him down a flight of stairs!) after President Kennedy – who was Lawford’s brother-in-law – choose to stay over at Bing Crosby’s house rather than his (due to recent allegations of Sinatra’s connection with the Mafia being uncovered) and which explains Lawford’s disappearance from subsequent Rat Pack efforts…

Why oh why can I not get a copy of this film? I can remember seeing it at the cinema many years ago. As has previously been stated, not one of the Rat Pack's best, but a very entertaining film. I can still recall many of the scenes, especially when Peter Lawford was climbing on the roof to put dynamite down a chimney and the scene when Sammy Davis Jr was buried up to his neck in the sand. As with all the Rat Pack movies, the humour is always bubbling, just beneath the surface. I would love to have my own VHS copy. Please, please does anyone know if there is one available anywhere?