4 for Texas (1963)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Teddi Sherman (written by) &
Robert Aldrich (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Comedy

Tagline:

They're Busting Up The West Like It's Never Been Busted Up Before!

Plot:

Frank Sinatra plays a tough guy who hooks up with fellow rat packer Dean Martin to open a casino in this western. |

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Texas | Banker | Casino | Riverboat

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Frank Sinatra	...	Zack Thomas
Dean Martin	...	Joe Jarrett
Anita Ekberg	...	Elya Carlson
Ursula Andress	...	Maxine Richter
Charles Bronson	...	Matson
Victor Buono	...	Harvey Burden (President, Galveston Savings & Trust)
Edric Connor	...	Prince George (carriage driver)
Nick Dennis	...	Angel
Richard Jaeckel	...	Pete Mancini
Mike Mazurki	...	Chad (Zack's bodyguard)
Wesley Addy	...	Winthrop Trowbridge
Marjorie Bennett	...	Miss Emmaline
Virginia Christine	...	Elya Carlson's maid
Ellen Corby	...	Widow
Jack Elam	...	Dobie

Also Known As:

Four for Texas (USA) (alternative spelling)
Two for Texas (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) | Stereo

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (f) (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #20571) | Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Mojave, California, USA

Company:

Sam Company

Trivia:

During one scene in the film, we see a building with a painted sign for the "SAM Company". "SAM" is the name of the production company that made the film and it stood for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: After the stagecoach wreck in the desert, as one of the principles is speaking to the others, in what should be a pristine desert background, a passing car is briefly visible at center screen left.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Joe Jarrett: Take a good look at him. He's the bad guy. And Joe Jarrett - that's me, and Zack Thomas, we're the good guys.
Matson: Let's go.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Classe américaine, La (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Jesus Loves Me

Testosterone Driven Men

4 for Texas is a much reduced Rat Pack film with only Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin representing the swinging group. But they each got girls here and what girls with Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress paired with Sinatra and Dino respectively.

The film opens up with an attempted stagecoach holdup with Frank Sinatra riding shotgun on top and Dean Martin as one sharp shooting passenger killing six bandits of Charles Bronson's gang. Of course they don't get off Scot free because the driver and another passenger were killed.

The stage is carrying $100,000.00 of Sinatra's money which Martin eventually winds up with. And when he gets to Galveston he invests it in the posh gambling establishment Sinatra was hoping to open.

You've got two other guys who are working their angles, conniving banker Victor Buono and Charles Bronson. Their scenes together remind me a whole lot of This Gun for Hire with Laird Cregar and Alan Ladd as the businessman and the killer he hired. At least Buono though he'd have liked to, had more sense than Cregar and wasn't about to pull a double-cross on Bronson.

Of course Ekberg and Andress realize their men should be allies instead of enemies. But testosterone keeps getting in the way until the two women kind of force an alliance.

4 for Texas is funny in many spots, not as good as the ultimate Rat Pack film Ocean's 11. Of the two of them Dino has the better performance, he's far funnier naturally which his former partner Jerry Lewis never tired of pointing out. And of course Dean gets to perform with the Three Stooges which is like working with three Jerrys.

There's a small cameo inside the gambling ship with Arthur Godfrey. He was one of the biggest names in television back in the Fifties, but anyone born after 1956 will not have the foggiest idea who that is or why we should be laughing there.

Though 4 for Texas is fine, maybe it would have been nice to have given Dino or Old Blue Eyes a song to sing. Even Ocean's 11 had both Dean and Sammy Davis, Jr. singing.