SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

rockmail Many movies are produced for purposes other than artistic merit, or creative urge, so I'm not going to review the "quality" of this movie, as that is not its point. (Or maybe a I will... it's hard to avoid!) In 1969, movies were much more expensive to produce than today (as far as film stock, negatives, distribution, etc.), so major studio releases had to use certain stock genres, settings, and well known stars to get projects approved.This is one of those projects, and it serves that purpose well. If you want to see Burt and Angie in their prime, having a good time making a movie, then this time capsule is for you. It bangs right along, with no slow spots, and it easy to consume and understand.It's a great movie to watch for the flavor of sixties star driven action comedies, but it is very dated, and not well written. The dialog is basic, and the plot such as it is, exists just to string together action sequences. This movie never was never intended to be good, bad, or indifferent. It was supposed to sell tickets and refreshments when people wanted to get out for the evening.But that's fine - it did its job when it needed to, but skip it unless you're interested in the culture of the time when the movie was made, it doesn't stand alone as a movie of the genre worth watching.

Webslinger48 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.

Tony Rome This is a forgotten Burt Reynolds film, that is not really that bad. This is some humor in Burt's character, and Ossie Davis, The two were paired again years later in evening shade. maybe united artists will put this on dvd, or at least tape.

Wizard-8 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.