This colorful story of Wayne and Marvin getting together for their annual fist fight on their shared birthday might have been preposterous and funny -- something along the lines of "What Price Glory?" It had the right ingredients in its cast and crew.
But by this time, maybe, Ford was pushing seventy and age usually doesn't help the configuration of a good comedy. Wayne looks a bit old for the part of "Guns" Donovan, ex-Navy man who runs a saloon on an island in French Polynesia and falls for the much younger Elizabeth Allen, who isn't a bad actress and is nicely put together.
Marvin is about right in his appearance and he hams it up vigorously as if actually enjoying the role of the shallow and sneaky ex-boatswain's mate. The rest of the cast makes the most of what they have.
The exuberant fist fight involving the Royal Australian Navy is, if not the equal of some of Ford's other comic brawls, at least a wonder in its own right.
But Ford's judgment lapsed now and again. Jack Warden has proved that he can do comic support in films like "Heaven Can Wait" and "Being There," but in this film he seems to be wondering why he's here. The quasi-romance between Marvin and Ford's old native seductress from "The Hurricane," Dorothy Lamour, is shallow, but nobody cares much anyway. Certainly not Marvin, distracted by his toy train set, squinting at the locomotive from rail level, as every kid has done at Christmas.
Maybe the problem is that there's simply too much sentiment and not enough comedy. Those three kids are pretty tiresome, especially the two younger ones. Jacqueline Malouf I give a pass to. She's supposed to be only a teen ager but, well, I give her a pass for looking so thoroughly nubile.
Ford's own yacht, The Araner, has a couple of featured moments. The director was to sell it shortly because it was so old that just keeping it up was a financial burden. Ford hated giving it up, as he hated relinquishing anything from the past. But like the movie, like Ford himself, it was simply past time for its retirement.
But by this time, maybe, Ford was pushing seventy and age usually doesn't help the configuration of a good comedy. Wayne looks a bit old for the part of "Guns" Donovan, ex-Navy man who runs a saloon on an island in French Polynesia and falls for the much younger Elizabeth Allen, who isn't a bad actress and is nicely put together.
Marvin is about right in his appearance and he hams it up vigorously as if actually enjoying the role of the shallow and sneaky ex-boatswain's mate. The rest of the cast makes the most of what they have.
The exuberant fist fight involving the Royal Australian Navy is, if not the equal of some of Ford's other comic brawls, at least a wonder in its own right.
But Ford's judgment lapsed now and again. Jack Warden has proved that he can do comic support in films like "Heaven Can Wait" and "Being There," but in this film he seems to be wondering why he's here. The quasi-romance between Marvin and Ford's old native seductress from "The Hurricane," Dorothy Lamour, is shallow, but nobody cares much anyway. Certainly not Marvin, distracted by his toy train set, squinting at the locomotive from rail level, as every kid has done at Christmas.
Maybe the problem is that there's simply too much sentiment and not enough comedy. Those three kids are pretty tiresome, especially the two younger ones. Jacqueline Malouf I give a pass to. She's supposed to be only a teen ager but, well, I give her a pass for looking so thoroughly nubile.
Ford's own yacht, The Araner, has a couple of featured moments. The director was to sell it shortly because it was so old that just keeping it up was a financial burden. Ford hated giving it up, as he hated relinquishing anything from the past. But like the movie, like Ford himself, it was simply past time for its retirement.