The Big Gamble (1961)

A Darryl F. Zanuck Production. Photographed in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color. Interiors filmed in London and Paris. Copyright 31 December 1960 by Darryl F. Zanuck Productions, Inc. Released through 20th Century-Fox. New York opening at the Paramount: 1 September 1961. U.S. release: 1 September 1961. U.K. release: 21 May 1961. Australian release: 19 October 1961. 9,009 feet. 100 minutes.COMMENT: Expensively produced but as it turns out, it becomes a surprisingly non-involving variant on "The Wages of Fear". Uninteresting players are as much to blame as a script that runs out of steam. Irwin Shaw is a master of the short story, but evidently lacks the ability to draw characters of sufficient depth to sustain a long narrative. So all in all, "The Big Gamble" turns out to be a big disappointment. And that's the way this cookie crumbles. It starts off in a most promising fashion, but the characters are poorly fashioned and developed. When the writer runs out of interesting plot ideas about halfway, there's not only nothing dramatic left for the rest of the movie, but no characters or anything else for the audience to take much interest in. Except the scenery. This movie marked the final film appearance of Gregory Ratoff. The 63-year-old actor/producer/writer/director died in Switzerland of a blood disease on 14 December 1961.

Except for the beginning which takes place in a chic wealthy sullen family -which does not fit well in the main plot-,"linear" best describes this movie.A minor movie for highly talented Richard Fleischer who had already directed Juliette Greco in "crack in the mirror" the year before.Greco has some lines in French with her compatriots Fernand Ledoux as a customs officer and Jacques Marin.Which is very useful to her Irish husband Stephen Boyd.It's the story of the odyssey of a lorry through the jungle and its fevers ,its thieves ,its precipices and its rivers in spate .A critic called it " a cross between "African Queen" and "Le Salaire De La Peur" (wages of fear).Some of the scenes were more or less "inspired" by HG Clouzot's work (1953)but "Gamble" never reaches its level of intensity.Boyd ,Greco and David Wayne team up for better of for worse,and armed up with three hundred boxes of canned beer,they struggle against a hostile nature.

I love this movie though I was very young when it was made and did not see it at the time. I thought it was fantastically well made. Very well acted by entire cast. But star of the film was the young boy Davey. I wonder what happened to the actor who played him, Fergal Stanley . Did he become a professional actor ? I imagine he is highly successful in his chosen field. Does anyone know did he make other films If so I would love to know. Top marks, highly recommended. Would love to hear others views on this and other films made around the same time with a similar theme that would be of interest and appeal to someone who loved The Big Gamble

This is an entertaining movie about the trials and tribulations, and there are many, of an Irishman, his wife and his cousin, as they decide to travel to the Ivory Coast to start a trucking business. For all you Stephen Boyd fans, in this one, he's young, handsome and Irish and has just the right rambling, pioneering spirit needed for the part. He's fun to watch! Juliette Greco is charming and amusing as his wife and David Wayne contributes well to some of the best scenes in the film.The characters love, fight, get drunk, sing Irish ballads, and meet up with many out-of-the-ordinary local characters during this cross-continent global trek from Ireland to Africa.There's never a dull moment! It's an enjoyable little film.