I 4 del Texas

This sometimes lively comedy western , though frankly tiring , contains a great but wasted cast . It starts with the opening credits: The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental . ¨4 for Texas¨ is set in the old west where outlaws and powerful people fight for a stash of gold . It packs a motley group of roles : A swindler insurance agent (Frank Sinatra) , an adventurer (Dean Martin) who winds up with a bag of someones else's cash , a banker (Victor Buono) is up to no good in Galveston and he hires a hired gun (Charles Bronson making the most impression) . As starring duo : Sinatra , Martin , play a couple of lovable rogues who make a last-ditch alliance to defeat even bigger crooks themselves . As Sinatra attempts to get the better of both of them . Later on ,there appears two beautiful girls (Anita Ekberg , Úrsula Andress , though one of the roles was originally intented for Gina Lollobrigida) to conquer them . The far out story of the far west. How the West Was Lost! They're Busting Up The West Like It's Never Been Busted Up Before! It's a daisy!

A lousy blend of comedy , Western , thrills , excessive dialogue with no sense and far too dependant on the femine charisma of two Euro-stars . All this unfolds with a runaway cruise control male that leads to mayhem and confusion . Embarring , absurding , ridiculous screenplay full of silliness and non-sense from Teddi Sherman and Robert Aldrich himself . The whole affair is slowly coloured chuckle from beginning to end with a briefly satisfactory , if somewhat obvious climax . The opening scenes are magnificent , as a stagecoach manned by Sinatra beats off attackers before crashing breathtakingly on the dust . Unfortunately , only the final at the ¨La Maison Rouge¨ , an overloaded Mississippi riverboat side-wheeler , comes up to this standard comic western movie . Co-stars two gorgeous ladies , Anita Ekberg , Úrsula Andress , more exposed by their silly dialogue than their low-cut costumes . Both of them give statuesque immovility to their interpretations . Here only stands out Charles Bronson at the liveliest presence in the movie. There are some bright guest appearances , especially that by Victor Buono , Nick Dennis , Richard Jaeckel , Mike Mazurki , Virginia Christine , Ellen Corby , Abraham Sofaer , final film of Jack Lambert, and Jack Elam .

Sharply filmed in Technicolor by prestigious cameramen as Ernest Laszlo , Joseph Biroc , Brunet Guffey , Alan Rudolph . Catching and lively musical score by Nelson Riddle . The picture was lousily directed by Aldrich . Perhap's Aldrich's later hit with ¨Dirty Dozen¨ can be attributed , in part , to this exercice in how not to make a comic western . Here Aldrich directs the slight story at tortoise pace and receives awful performances . This is Aldrich's absurd contribution to Sinatra clan , following hard on the heels of ¨Ocean's eleven¨ , ¨Robin and the 7 Hoods¨ and ¨Sergeant 3¨ . After a surprising payday for ¨What ever happened to Baby Jane ?¨ , Robert assembled a nice cast and sizeable budget and 2 Euro hotties for what proved one of his dullest films . Aldrich's first feature film was in 1953 (Big Leaguer ,1953). Soon thereafter he established his own production company and produced most of his own films , collaborating in the writing of many of them . Directed a considerable plethora of genres but almost all of his films contained a subversive undertone . He was an expert on warlike genre (Dirty Dozen , The Angry Hills , Ten seconds to hell) and Western (The Frisko kid , Ulzana's raid, Apache , Veracruz , The last sunset) . Rating : below average . Rating 3.5/10 .

What, I wonder, would a director do on the set of a movie starring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin? Light their cigarettes? Mix their drinks? Laugh at their jokes? One thing he certainly does not do is play "auteur." The director is present to say "Cut" and "Print," not to pursue his "vision" or any of that arty stuff. "Four for Texas" gave Robert Aldrich a pair of stars who, in terms of popularity, may have been the male equivalent of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford whom he had directed the previous year in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" But whereas Davis and Crawford were passionate enemies, Ol' Blue Eyes and Ol' Dino were the best of buddies, and their movies treated as casually as any of their swingin' Vegas gigs. It was an opportunity to have some fun and get paid doing it. If that fun translated to the screen, fine, but in this movie the cast appears to be entertaining itself while putting the audience to sleep. If Aldrich had no control over Frank and Dino, he compensated by overdirecting Charles Bronson who is as animated--for him--as Bugs Bunny. The whole shebang is a comedy-western, but there are virtually no laughs, only snickers--from the cast, not the audience. In comparison, "Ocean's 11" is some kind of classic.

Frank Sinatra plays Texas big-shot who teams up with saloon-owner Dean Martin to thwart an evil banker; Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress play--what else?--the bosomy love-interests. Comedic western directed and co-written by the uneven Robert Aldrich, who doesn't seem to notice that Sinatra and the gang are running precariously low on steam. Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford aren't around this time, but the supporting cast does include Charles Bronson, Richard Jaekel, Mike Mazurki and Victor Buono, as well as a cameo by The Three Stooges (!). Star-vehicle is curiously talky and slow on adventure, not to mention laughs. *1/2 from ****

I watched this recently as part of the Ultimate Rat Pack collection that I had purchased a while ago. I couldn't remember if I'd even seen it before although I grew up in the 60s when these flicks were on TV regularly. After viewing I realized why I couldn't remember it...it is singularly unmemorable, unlike Oceans 11 or Robin and the Seven Hoods featured in the same collection. It's a comedy-western that's not particularly funny or all that exciting. Frank and Dean breeze through this thing of course as only they can, mugging,joking almost winking at each other 'ain't we too much' during their scenes together. I'm assuming Robert Aldrich the director was merely there to corral the extras since neither of the main stars attempts to take any direction. This is not to say they are entirely un watchable but even for this kind of thing both have done better. Ursula Andress and Anita Ekberg look spectacular in various revealing outfits and Charles Bronson seems to be the only actor taking the whole thing seriously. The 3 Stooges show up and do a shtick that livens things up after the movie seems to slow to a crawl. Character actors Victor Buono(probably gives the best performance),Jack Elam,Richard Jaekel and a few other familiar faces round out the cast. The plot? Well, who cares really, you're watching this to see Frank and Dean do their thing and to some degree they do, but really it's all somewhat snooze inducing. The film of course is very much of its era when the Rat Pack ruled and smoking, drinking, gambling and womanizing were casually portrayed without any apologies. I do actually enjoy these kind of movies and have built up a collection on DVD over the last while that reflects my nostalgia for that time. I just wish this one was better.

It was great... for about 20 minutes.

What this movie lacks is about everything you want in a western. a few minutes action and a whole lot of crap.

A pampered cowboy and a thief who spent most of their time around two blond girls with skippy clothes and little brains...

..add to that a fat banker and a riverboat and you have your story.

Seriously that's about as interesting as it gets.

If your highest wish is to see Frank Sinatra get pedicure.. than this is probably the movie for you. But if you're looking for an action filled western... then I propose you look somewhere else.