An ex-con with explosives experience gets back into the swing of things when he lines up a job to rob a Mafia run casino in Las Vegas. With John Cassavetes in the lead one would think this film would be more available than merely catching it by luck on TCM on their midnight Underground Cinema showcase. Though the production is more or less lower budget and the spoken words don't exactly line up with the movement of the lips, it's nonetheless vintage 60's crime with Cassavetes as great as ever, and Peter Falk playing the casino manager and lower level Mafiosi. There are some neat scenes of the San Francisco night life, and the action shifts to the Las Vegas strip with Cassavetes and his new bride Arlene (Britt Eklund) and the ruthless revenge of the Mafia as the movie becomes a pretty dark chase film through LA with Gena Rowlands getting a tough little part as the vise tightens.
Review of Machine Gun McCain
