Something Big ** (1971, Dean Martin, Brian Keith, Honor Blackman, Carol White, Ben Johnson, Albert Salmi, Denver Pyle, Paul Fix, Don Knight) – Classic Movie Review 11,520

Director Andrew V McLaglen’s 1971 Technicolor film Something Big is certainly big, but quite what it is supposed to be is open to question: a sprawling, episodic, Western-comedy-musical that stars Dean Martin, Brian Keith, Honor Blackman, Carol White, Ben Johnson, Albert Salmi, Denver Pyle, Paul Fix, Don Knight and Joyce Van Patten.

It is set in In the frontier of New Mexico Territory. Dean Martin plays Joe Baker, an outlaw determined to solve all his problems by pulling one big job. He has a fiancée in Dover McBride (Carol White), whose brother Tommy is his bandit partner, but becomes involved with Colonel Morgan (Brian Keith)’s wife Mary Anna Morgan (Blackman) and has to deal with woman-hungry killer outlaw Jonny Cobb (Salmi) and his ruthless sidekick Angel Moon (Robert Donner) – and still finds the time to sing a song or two.

The occasional funny line in the screenplay by James Lee Barrett and the excellent photography by Harry Stradling Jr can’t disguise the ludicrous plot, telegraphed jokes, and unappealing acting that form nearly two hours of incoherent yet strangely watchable entertainment.

The Marvin Hamlisch score and Burt Bacharach and Hal David title song do not show the composers at their best.

It is produced by Andrew V McLaglen and James Lee Barrett.

It runs 108 minutes.

The US release was the year’s New Year’s Day treat on January 1, 1971.

RIP Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020), remembered in the movies as Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Julia Daggett in another Western film Shalako (1968) and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

The cast are Dean Martin as Joe Baker, Brian Keith as Colonel Morgan, Carol White as Dover McBride, Honor Blackman as Mary Anna Morgan, Ben Johnson as Jesse Bookbinder, Albert Salmi as Jonny Cobb, Don Knight as Tommy McBride, Joyce Van Patten as Polly Standall, Judi Meredith as Carrie Standall, Denver Pyle as Junior Frisbee, Merlin Olsen as Sergeant Fitzsimmons, Robert Donner as Angel Moon, Harry Carey Jr as Joe Pickins, Paul Fix as Chief Yellow Sun, Bob Steele as Stagecoach Driver, Edward Faulkner, Armand Alzamora and David Huddleston.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,520

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/