Per favore non toccate le palline

I turned this on in the middle or perhaps toward the end of the movie, not knowing what I was watching. I was immediately struck by Jack Weston's hilarious performance. He is priceless as a staunch obey-the-orders Naval grunt sent out on a mission that turns into a stunt worthy of Harold Lloyd. I really think he deserved an Academy Award just for the way he poured and downed glasses of bourbon, let alone his arabesque on the hotel lech -- I mean ledge (that's an inside joke -- watch the movie). Dean Jagger is admirable as always and the role of Admiral suits him to a T, er, an A; Steve McQueen is cool as the wisest smart Aleck in movie history; there's near-sighted Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton along for the laughs. The scintillating dialog, tinged with Cold War obsessions, the breakneck pace reminiscent of Preston Sturges at his maddest -- gee, I wonder if the WHOLE movie is this good or I just lucked out and caught it at its best! But from the moment Weston attempts to search McQueen's hotel suite to the wacky end, it's a hoot.

This film works -- at least this vastly entertaining segment -- for me. And I'm a tough customer to please. Based on a play by Lorenz Semple, Jr. and he's no slouch!

In an era when the portrayal of the stumbling drunk hadn't become tragic and offensive, this movie has Jack Weston working his versatile magic with just such a role. He creates some moments of real humor.

McQueen gives it a hard try at being comedic and succeeds much of the time with his own style. Dean Jagger is a great foil for all the madcap goings on. For hot rod T-bucket fans there's Norm Grabowski, so called 'father of the T-bucket', working the on-board blinker.

A lightweight, silly comedy not to be viewed as anything else.

It's obviously based on a stage play as all the scenes take place in just a few rooms. But, bearing in mind it was made in the early sixties, its got some good gags and one-liners in. This was Steve McQueen's only real attempt at comic farce and its enjoyable to see him in the role, even if he is a little over the top on occasions. Originally his reviews were good, but he himself disliked his performance in the film. This film has never been released on video in the UK and is only very rarely shown on satellite TV. Catch it if you can - then see the posters for the film at THE STEVE McQUEEN FILM POSTER SITE

Sure it's a little formulaic, but not deserving of the excoriation which precedes this mini-review. McQueen is just fine in the role, not so much a pure comic character as the fast-talking con-man Lieutenant, rather the sort of the role Tony Curtis used to play. And to keep the record straight, McQueen did other comedies, such as _Soldier in the Rain_, and the semi-comedic _Reivers_.

McQueen comes up with the idea of using a high-speed electronic computer to beat the roulette wheel and enlists Hutton and another sailor into the scheme.

Hutton, as the computer scientist doesn't have much to do, since he can't also play the fast-talking con-man. (And besides, he's a computer scientist!) But he does get to woo Prentiss, who amuses as the beautiful near-sighted heiress who talks to statues.

Weston up on the ledge with the blinker makes for a quite funny interlude as the others have noted.

But McQueen does not deserve the invective heaped upon him by the other reviewers of this film.

In 1960 the great Steve McQueen starred in one of the greatest films of all time in The Magnificent Seven . Just a year later he made one of of his rare comedy movies in The Honeymoon Machine . Both films couldn't be more different but actually this isn't half as bad as I was expecting.

This is the story of a navy lieutenant , and his civilian friend use a classified computer from a ship to help them break the bank at a Venetian casino.

The reason I wasn't expecting too much from this is , despite McQueen being one of the greatest actors that ever lived he wasn't great a comedy . Or being kinder He wasn't a natural in the genre but this film just goes to show that he did have it in him , thanks mainly to a good cast alongside him and a funny script.

This was first a stage play and you can tell it is but that isn't a bad thing . It has that back and forth , stage farce feel about it and it works quite well on screen .

The persistent joke about Pam not being able to see without her glasses gets about tiresome but that's the only obvious criticism I can think of .

Good performances from Brigid Bazlen , who I've surprisingly not seen in any movie before and Dean Jagger who plays her father , contribute to what was a pleasant ninety minutes .