My Favorite Westerns

nino tempo and april stevens

4 for Texas Trivia.

When I’m researching a movie  I love to read the Trivia on IMDB
(Internet Movie DataBase) It can tell you a lot:

IMDB Trivia

Opening credits say: “The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental.”
MFW: I’m mystified why this would need to be posted? Maybe somebody will confuse some politicians for the 3 Stooges.

“Oh, a wise guy, eh?”

Director Robert Aldrich intensely disliked Frank Sinatra’s non-professional attitude and tried unsuccessfully to have him dismissed from the film.
MFW: Not very hard to believe.

Nobody boots King Rat

Before Frank Sinatra was in the picture, James Stewart and Robert Mitchum were pursued for the lead.
MFW: Always interesting to see who else MIGHT have been in a film – but this just doesn’t make sense? I thought it was a Rat Pack movie?

Sophia Loren turned down a paycheck of $1m for four weeks work.
MFW: Sofia was smart. She had previously worked with Sinatra in The Pride and the Passion (1957)
She was also an anomaly – a beauty who turned out to be a good Actress.

1957

Ka Booom ! Sometimes size is impressive.

Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress both did nude screen tests, Hollywood’s first. However, the censors removed all nudity from the finished film.
MFW: Wonder if the Europeans got a uncut version?

Bashful Ursula (censored by MFW). This didn’t get into the movie either.

The role of Maxine Richter (Ursula Andress) was originally intended for Gina Lollobrigida.
MFW: I probably would have gone with Gina. But they never asked me.

The riverboat “Sultana” shares the same name with an overloaded Mississippi riverboat side-wheeler that exploded and sank on April 27, 1865, whilst transporting Union troops returning from Confederate prison camps during the closing days of the Civil War.

MFW: Overloading Riverboats was possibly a common practice in those days, and was likely deemed a necessity during the American Civil War.
Wikipedia: “On April 27, 1865, the boat exploded in the worst maritime disaster in United States history. Although designed with a capacity for only 376 passengers, she was carrying 2,427 when three of the boat’s four boilers exploded and she burned to the waterline and sank near Memphis, Tennessee, killing an estimated 1,700 passengers. This disaster was overshadowed in the contemporary press by other events, most particularly the killing on the previous day of President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Riverboat used in 4 for Texas

The Universal Studios prop steamboat was called the ENTERPRISE, since it was most remembered for its role by that name in the RIVERBOAT television series (1959-1961). Universal built the replica boat for the MISSISSIPPI GAMBLER (1953) staring Tyrone Power. It sat on a lake on the back lots of Universal Studios. Ultimately the ENTERPRISE was lost to fire on the Universal lot.

Bette Davis declined a role in this film to do Dead Ringer (1964).
MFW: Bette was 55 at the time. I’m unsure what role that might have been?
But Hell! we’re talking about Bette Davis.

Next: The Sons of Katie Elder

Tags: 4 for Texas, Dean Martin

sinatra

Dean Martin Westerns / 4 for Texas / Part 2

Next: Part 3

Tags: 4 for Texas, Dean Martin

michael murphy

Dean Martin Westerns /4 for Texas / 1963

Taglines

4 for Texas was Dean’s 4th Western (of 10) and is straight out of what I call the 60’s Hollywood Pulp Era – also possible called the Bimbo Era. LoL! It’s a shameless bit of fluff for sure, but is smart enough to not take itself seriously. Hell! it has the 3 Stooges in it!! I almost want to skip past it Western-wise, but it still has so many unique features and people (Stars) from that era (mainly Frank and Dean) that I’m still give it a look. Let’s consider it a ‘Sociological Study’.

I think it’s better in Italian.

Yet another puzzler: just as I was surprised to see John Sturges Direct Sergeants 3, I was equally stunned to see Robert Aldrich Directing 4 for Texas! Why? because Aldrich has also previously Directed Film Classics: Apache (1954) with Burt Lancaster, Vera Cruz (1954) with Lancaster and Gary Cooper, The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), Ulzana’s Raid (1972) with Lancaster again – and a several other notable films. Yet also Directed some pretty cheesy stuff like the Dirty Dozen (1967) and The Longest Yard (1974).   But, for me, it just doesn’t seem to fit? Anyway …

To get us started, how about some other opinions / Reviews?

“11%”??? Wow! Pass the popcorn.

IMDB is more generous. Maybe it thought this was a documentary?

Here’s some other IMDB Viewer Review snippets:

“Testosterone Driven Men … a much reduced Rat Pack film …”
“Bloated star vehicle … With the exception of the opening 15 minutes, the film is almost totally devoid of fun … lifeless, self indulgent and lacking in fun or wit …”
“… it is singularly unmemorable … a comedy-western that’s not particularly funny or all that exciting …”
“A 60’s comedy-western very much of its era”
“… unlikely that anyone but hard core fans of the stars will want to revisit.”
“Two for Texas, Two Against Texas Equals Zero”
“Unless you’re a Rat Packer, skip “Four For Texas.”

Wooooo ! My ears are ringing.
So if you think you’s like to watch this, consider yourself warned.

But Hey ! this thing made money. 3 years later Dean made Texas Across the River with Rat Packer Joey Bishop.

*Wink Wink” – *Nudge Nudge*

Is there anything more beautiful than a Riverboat?
Was there any Actress worse than Ursula Andress?

Next: Dean Martin Westerns / 4 for Texas / Part 2

Tags: 4 for Texas, Dean Martin