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.
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.
