Sam Whiskey (1969)

Burt Reynolds, Clint Walker, and Ossie Davis make up a threesome of thieves in "Rough Night in Jericho" director Arnold Laven's comic western "Sam Whiskey" about an elaborate "Mission: Impossible" heist at the Denver Mint in the 19th century. Actually, Laura Breckenridge (busty Angie Dickinson of "Rio Bravo") uses her natural endowments to seduce free booting adventurer Sam Whiskey (Burt Reynolds of "Mystery, Alaska") to pull the ultimate job. Our hero faces several challenges that would daunt a lesser soul. First, Sam must raise a quarter of a million dollars in gold ingots from a sunken riverboat at the bottom of the Platte River. Second, he must then substitute it gold-painted lead bars in the Denver mint with nobody the wiser or Laura may wind up serving time in prison. Third, he must get away without getting caught so he can enjoy the $20-thousand that she is paying him to pull the job. Before Sam can pull the job, he has to convince his old inventor buddy O.W. Bandy (Clint Walker of "None But The Brave") and his new blacksmith pal Jed Hooker (Ossie Davis of "BubbaHo-Tep") to help him. Jed likes the five grand that Sam is going to pay him, but O.W. is reluctant to join them because he was to devote his time to his inventions. Sam lures O.W. into a liquor drinking contest and gets O.W. so drunk that he passes out and doesn't awaken until Sam and Jed are well on the way to the Platte River to fetch the gold. Initially, O.W. isn't pleased with Sam's conniving ways and he climbs out of the wagon and grasps the back wheel so it won't roll. Eventually, O.W. and Sam reach an agreement and they continue to the river. Little do our heroes know it but they are being trailed by a suspicious looking gent wearing thick lensed glasses who likes to surround himself with plug-ugly, hardcase types to do his dirty work. O.W. devises a breathing apparatus that involves a bellows to pump air through a lengthy hose that is attached to a bucket. The diver has to go fifteen feet to the riverboat and look down at his hands and feet to find his way around. Just as our heroes are getting a knack for diving, the villain, known only as 'the Fat Man' (Rick Davis of "What Waits Below") and his men overpower O.W. as well Jed who were out in the boat. Meanwhile, Sam--diving when the villains arrive--hides in the smokestack of the river boat. The villains end up doing the heavy lifting and pull the entire quarter of a million in gold off the ship. Sam swims back to shore as the villains are about to hang Jed and O.W. and rescues them, gets the gold, and leaves the villains the worse for their wear. Afterward, our heroes penetrate the Denver Mint after Laura kidnaps Treasury Inspector Thorston Bromley (Woodrow Parfrey of "Planet of the Apes") and holds him as a hostage while Sam impersonates him so he can get into the mint. Director Arnold Laven relies on comedy to lessen the far-fetched nature of this western outing and Reynolds delivers a crisp comic performance. Burt Reynolds fans who haven't seen "Sam Whiskey" are missing a real treat.

So I was sick all weekend, bedridden with the flu and flipping through cable when I stumbled upon the Encore Western Channel, which I watched for hour after hour. For some reason, they were playing a triple-shot of Burt Reynolds westerns: Navajo Joe, The Man who Loved Cat Dancing and Sam Whiskey.Now I grew up in the Eighties so I missed most of Reynolds movies; last year I hunted down and watched many for which he is best known: Smokey and the Bandit (rip-roaring hilarity), Stroker Ace (yuck), Cannonball Run (meh) and Hooper (my all-time favorite, ridiculously entertaining). I thought I had seen all there was to see from ol' Burt, but Sam Whiskey pleasantly surprised me.This isn't really a western, it's more like a heist movie set on the frontier. I think the reason some of the other reviewers were disappointed by this one was that they were looking for stagecoach robberies, breakneck horseback riding and wide frontier vistas. While there is some of that, for the most part this film revolves around a "reverse-heist;" In this case, Burt and his team played by Ossie Davis(very funny and amiable as a blacksmith) and Clint Walker (imposing hulk of a man who's gentle on the inside) are trying to return some gold to the US mint. They work out a suitably ingenious and ludicrous scheme (the cornerstone for every caper flick) and work it out.While the proceedings are executed largely for laughs there are surprising amounts of edge-of-your-seat suspense as various curveballs are thrown our heroes' way. I have to admit I laughed out loud probably five times, which was incredible considering how miserable I felt and how much my sore throat hurt WHEN I LAUGHED. But I forgive the movie for this! I like the overall good-natured and almost lackadaisic nature of the pacing. The film keeps moving and is engaging, but by no means is it in any hurry.So I would recommend this one to all Burt Reynolds fans, all caper movie fans and generally anyone who is willing to give a 40-year-old easygoing movie a chance.And as an interesting side-note: As if I didn't already realize that I'd watched westerns all weekend -- I thought that actor Clint Walker looked vaguely familiar but couldn't quite place him. They I looked him up on IMDb...he played the icy bad guy in a Charles Bronson western I'd watched earlier in the weekend, "The White Buffalo." I hadn't placed him because it was such a polar opposite role for him. So in his career he's pulled a heist on the Denver Mint with Burt Reynolds and got into a gunfight with Charles Bronson on the frontier. Not too shabby.

Reynolds' undeniable charm and appeal are stretched to their limit in this simple, eternally average western yarn. He plays the title character, a drifter who is talked into a nearly impossible heist job by the sexually persuasive Dickinson. The film opens with an enjoyable confrontation between Reynolds and Davis (who would later work together on "Evening Shade".) The pair later hooks up with gorgeous lunkhead inventor Walker and attempts the job at hand...putting $125,000 worth of gold BACK INTO the Denver mint. They are pursued by a mysterious man, with the thickest eyeglasses on the planet, who wants the gold for himself. The film has a light tone and has the elements to be amusing and entertaining, but somehow misses the mark. For one thing, if one removed the scenes of the covered wagon travelling cross country, the film would probably run about 40 minutes! Also, the plot, as written, is just a little thin to sustain a feature film. Reynolds is near the peak of his attractiveness and shows off his chest in a bathtime scene. Unfortunately, Walker (who possessed the chest to end them all!) is denied that chance. The closest he gets is a bondage scene in which his shirt is cut open slightly. (Was Reynolds afraid of a little beefcake competition?) Davis does well in his role and Walker has a few nice bits as well. The whole thing just has a sheen of mediocrity over it. Dickinson is her usual stiff, breathy-voiced self, but is attractive and manages to supply a touch of amusement. Oft-used character actor Schallert is given a nice role. One mystery that even J.B. Fletcher couldn't solve: How could anyone, after hearing Reynolds sing in this film, hire him for "At Long last Love"?? Fans of Reynolds and of quirky westerns should enjoy it more than others.

Not even Reynolds is able to muster up charm in this fairly dreary western. Actually, though set in the wild west, the movie is more of a caper movie than a western. This wouldn't have been so bad had the capering been exciting and executed with vigor, but it isn't. Some clumsy filming techniques and the production values make it resemble a television production of its era.