Sam Whiskey, o Proscrito

I think "Sam Whiskey" is a bit underrated and is actually one of Burt Reynolds' better films despite it's meager score of 5.9 on IMDB. It's very enjoyable...enough that you can look past the final portion of the movie which is, needless to say, farfetched....but fun.

Sam Whiskey (Reynolds) is certainly NOT a great hero in this film. He talks big and makes big promises, so that is why Laura (Angie Dickenson) hires this ne'er-do-well to do an anti-robbery! What is an anti-robbery? It's when you are paid to return something stolen without anyone being the wiser! In this case, apparently Laura's father stole gold from the local mint and replaced it with gold-painted lead blocks. Sam's job is to retrieve the faux gold and replace it with the original. First, he needs to hire some partners to help him. Second, he needs to retrieve the gold. Third, they need to somehow switch it with the fake stuff!

In many, many ways, this film is a like a lighthearted and slightly comic version of a later film, John Wayne's "The Train Robbers". The Wayne film is rated higher but I frankly enjoyed the Reynolds movie more even though how they replace the gold is hard to believe...especially since gold is MUCH heavier and difficult to work with than it is in the film! Worth seeing and fun...and, incidentally, the song Sam sings will DEFINITELY get stuck in your head if you do watch it!

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.

After being enlisted by a hot widow (Angie Dickinson), a former war spy (Burt Reynolds), a blacksmith (Ossie Davis) and an inventor (Clint Walker) team-up to salvage a treasure in gold bars from a sunken ship in the Platte River, a treasure the woman's husband stole. They then have to return the gold bars to the Denver Mint before the phony bars are discovered and the woman's family name is tarnished. But how will they get all those gold bars into the Mint without anyone noticing?

People tend to dub this a Western Comedy, but it's not in the silly sense of "Blazing Saddles" (1974) "Texas Across the River" (1966) or "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976). It's more of a Western Caper with amusing flashes, mainly due to Reynold's fun-loving title character.

The same plot was later used in John Wayne's "The Train Robbers" (1973) with Ann-Margret in the Angie Dickinson role, minus the caper in the third act. They're both worth checking out, but I favor "The Train Robbers" because, to me, the caper in the last act gets kind of tedious, not to mention unbelievable. Nevertheless, "Sam Whiskey" features a great cast with fun-lovin' chemistry and quality Western locations.

It is presumed that the story takes place circa 1870-75 since it is detailed that Sam was a spy during the Civil War and he appears to be around 30-35 tops. Actually, the earliest the story COULD have taken place would be 1906, which is when the Denver Mint began minting coins, but this would make Whiskey about 65 years old, which he obviously isn't. Adding to the problem, the Carson City Mint shut down in 1893. So the timeline is all fudged up.

The movie runs 1 hour, 36 minutes and was shot at Universal City, Burbank and Lake Camanche, Ione, California (with underwater scenes done in Silver Springs, Florida).

GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)

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.

It's no mystery that Burt Reynolds is one of the most underestimated actors of our time. In this particular film, he gave us one of his best comedy-stilish acting ("no-one noticed it", he said) which makes this movie working. Burt's acting would be enough to make it watchable, but also Ossie Davis and Clint Walker fit well in their roles.

For me the remarkable of this movie is a) the way it is directed and edited (it ain't dull for one second), although there are some silly situations (e.g. Burt firing with a machine gun to save his friends killing all his enemies without hitting his friends...), but hey, it's a comedy and it's not the story which is most interesting. It's the mood of the film and the way characters are portrayed. It contains a lot of fine jokes and dialogue ("I'm not riding this long way to bury your bird") and chemistry between Burt and Angie Dickinson is amazing. Also the more serious parts of the film (stealing the gold out of the fort) are working well.

Also, there are some things which seem to be rare in a film: The fact that no-one of the "thieves" have intentions killing his buddies to keep the gold for himself. No, they even break in to return it back to the government! It's hardly believable, but it is that fact that make the film and these characters charming.

I give it a 7 of 10