This film starts with a disclaimer that no animals were hurt during the making of it. They must have then found some pretty talented elephants to take direction of when to fall over as if they've been shot as Lee Marvin and Roger Moore go after their tusks. There are few other animal sequences in the film which mainly deals with Marvin and Moore trying to get away from some Germans in pre-World War I Africa, going down a river like Hepburn and Bogart in "The African Queen" and trapping the Germans chasing them with a net that gets tangled in the German's boat paddlewheel that stops them in their tracks.
A larger ship lunges after them and the boat is destroyed. The German officer aboard wants to blast them away, but the more civilized Captain with a British accent refuses and sends them down a giant plank of wood that they can float on for safety. Dangerous marshes ahead leads them to an island where Marvin knows the king, flirts with their daughters, and suddenly, they are back in civilization where they encounter Marvin's daughter, Barbara Parkins, whom Moore ends up marrying After a violent attack on their home, they set out to assassinate the culprit, leading to Moore ending up on a rickety two seater plane flying through a canyon and crashing down back where he started.
So while this is gorgeous to look at, the direction confounds everything going on, taking this down multiple minor plot lines and never really having one strong plot tying them together. It's more of an odd couple on an adventure story with Marvin and Moore, complete opposites, getting into all sorts of trouble while dealing with an old fashioned stereotypical German villain. Parkins has a good moment when she shoots a German officer over and over, the camera getting in closer with each shot she makes, which are quite a few. So while not a complete misfire and great to look at on a big screen, it is a misfire for its story and continuity in spite of some veteran film favorites.
A larger ship lunges after them and the boat is destroyed. The German officer aboard wants to blast them away, but the more civilized Captain with a British accent refuses and sends them down a giant plank of wood that they can float on for safety. Dangerous marshes ahead leads them to an island where Marvin knows the king, flirts with their daughters, and suddenly, they are back in civilization where they encounter Marvin's daughter, Barbara Parkins, whom Moore ends up marrying After a violent attack on their home, they set out to assassinate the culprit, leading to Moore ending up on a rickety two seater plane flying through a canyon and crashing down back where he started.
So while this is gorgeous to look at, the direction confounds everything going on, taking this down multiple minor plot lines and never really having one strong plot tying them together. It's more of an odd couple on an adventure story with Marvin and Moore, complete opposites, getting into all sorts of trouble while dealing with an old fashioned stereotypical German villain. Parkins has a good moment when she shoots a German officer over and over, the camera getting in closer with each shot she makes, which are quite a few. So while not a complete misfire and great to look at on a big screen, it is a misfire for its story and continuity in spite of some veteran film favorites.