Something Big

RELEASED IN 1971 and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, "Something Big" is a tongue-in-cheek Western starring Dean Martin as aging outlaw, Joe Baker, who unknowingly kidnaps the wife (Honor Blackman) of a cavalry commander (Brian Keith) in order to obtain a Gatling gun from a scumbag gunrunner (Albert Salmi). Ben Johnson plays a scout while Carol White appears as the wannabe fiancé of Baker.

The title refers to 'something big' that Joe Baker is supposed to do before retiring from outlawry with several of the characters citing the line; a quaint idea, but it's not funny and gets old after a while. The opening act is a dud with nothing stimulating happening to draw the viewer into the story. There are several curious props (a skeleton, a dog, bagpipes and a peg leg), but they fail to stir much interest. Things finally perk up in the second half, but not enough to save the movie.

One huge problem is the idea that this antihero we're supposed to like is engaged in something way too unsavory (kidnaping the innocent wife to offer to the odious gunrunner, which amounts to slavery). Martin was able to get away with this type of character in the excellent "Bandolero!" (1968) because his crimes weren't so abhorrent; not so here.

There are some good bits, however, like the two man-hungry women living in the remote wilderness (Joyce Van Patten & Judi Meredith). Nevertheless, it's obvious why "Something Big" has been condemned to cinematic obscurity, never being released to VHS and barely making it to DVD in 2012.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 48 minutes and was shot in Durango, Mexico. WRITER: James Lee Barrett.

GRADE: C

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.

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.

Whatever happened to light-hearted western movies like 'Something Big'? Now, whenever Hollywood manages to let a western slip out among the 'Die Hard' ripoffs and teen romances, they are always ponderous, grim, indictments of the murderous whiteman's persecution of indians or sombre stories about tormented gunslingers. By 90's movie standards, nobody in the Wild West seems to have ever cracked a smile. 'Something Big' is a movie from the good old days of politically incorrect westerns. Dean Martin plays a likeable outlaw with plans for something big to finish his career in the west. Plans involving a Gatling gun, a fortune in gold, a kidnapped wife of a cavalry officer, Apaches and Mexican bandidos galore. The movie has a cheerful adventurous mood to it, with all kinds of touches of atmosphere like Dean Martin's pet dog Scruffy, the skeleton propped up in the saloon, and the John Ford-like dialogue between Brian Keith as the cavalry officer and Ben Johnson as his scout. 'Something Big' has almost the same mood as a pirate movie, only set in the west. An exciting story with likeable scoundrels after a fabulous treasure. I remember seeing this on TV as a little kid and wishing my life could be like that of Dean Martin's character in this movie. If you love westerns and do not feel like watching a big important 'message' movie like Dances With Wolves or a revisionist gunfighter story like Unforgiven, you should try to find this film on TV. It is a shame that 'Something Big' never made it to video. Western fans need more fun, guilt-free entertainment. I disagree COMPLETELY with Leonard Maltin's review, and I am sure all other real western fans will too.

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.