The Four Deuces

Yet another jokey gangster film which proliferated the screens in the wake of BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967); the ragtime score, then, is clearly inspired by the recent success of THE STING (1973).

It's evidently cheaply made and pretty bad overall but, I guess, harmless enough; still, virtually the only thing of interest here is the film's comic-strip look, complete with captioned descriptions during transitions.

Jack Palance (another film I watched as a tribute to him - renting this one would certainly not have been a priority otherwise!) mercilessly chews the scenery as one of two warring gang bosses.

"This is a tongue-in-cheek crime melodrama that became a 'Late Late Show' fixture in the 1980s," according to the DVD sleeve, "Jack Palance plays Vic Morono, a high-ranking Prohibition-era mobster with a weakness for women who is waging an ongoing war with rival hoodlum Chico Hamilton (Warren Berlinger). Vic falls for gorgeous blonde Wendy (Carol Lynley). The film's title refers to the name of his speakeasy, and to his gang, which consists of himself, Wendy, and a brace comic-relief hoodlums."

"The Four Deuces" opens with cartoon credits, and attempts a stylish comic strip look. Expecting some wit upon seeing the name Don Martin in the credits will drive you stark raving nuts - this is not the cartoonist who worked for "Mad" magazine. Light bondage and female flesh scenes might have upped ratings for those 1980s "Late Late Show" airings. Perhaps most notable is the that Ms. Lynley and Mr. Berlinger worked much more memorably together in the stage and film versions of "Blue Denim".

*** The Four Deuces (1/76) William H. Bushnell ~ Jack Palance, Carol Lynley, Warren Berlinger, Adam Roarke

A mixed bag of tones runs through this gangster picture, veering from comedy to violence and pathos and back again. The mix doesn't always work, but makes for some good scenes here and there. Palance is effective, even subdued more than he often was during the era, and he's backed up by some talent (the always underused Carol Lynley, Adam Roarke, etc.) Obviously not well remembered, but possibly worth a look.

When I was a kid in Ohio, I had a good friend whose parents had a well-decorated house each Christmas season. But their neighbor, a couple of doors away, had one of those displays with hundreds of lights - on the house, trees, shrubs, along the long driveway, etc. There were figures on the roof and in the yard yard, and the owner spent hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars each year, not including massive utility bills. These were really nice homes, and the man could well-afford it.

Across the street, lived a top personality from one of the radio stations, with the most popular afternoon program, and his specialty was very funny and clever comedy. He did absolutely nothing to his home, except to post a well-painted, large sign in his yard, which said, "Please see our display across the street!"

I thought of this as I watched this flick - the second of a double-feature which our PBS station has, featuring older movies, each Saturday evening. "The Defiant Ones," a truly great film was first, and then this one followed.

In the same vein as the DJ I referenced above, I would only paraphrase by saying: "See my comment under the heading "rmt124" in this section!"

In the 1970s, I am pretty sure that regular movie producers didn't think seriously about casting Jack Palance in a movie with comic elements. But that didn't stop Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus doing so in this early effort by them. Actually, the movie is a mix between seriousness and comedy, and as you can probably imagine, the end results are a real mess. Seeing people get graphically killed along with other acts of violence does not mix well with the movie's stabs at goofy humor. But there are further problems with this exercise. The low budget was apparently almost all spent on renting antique cars and props, because the set design is often something you'd see in a high school play. The biggest problem with the movie, however, is how incredibly boring it is. It won't take long for you to start nodding off and having no interest in these uninteresting characters.