4 for Texas (1963)

Directed by Robert Aldrich. Starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg, Ursula Andress, Victor Buono, Charles Bronson, Nick Dennis, Edric Connor, Richard Jaeckel, Marjorie Bennett, Mike Mazurki.

Lazy Frank & Dino time-waster is a contrived and predictable Western with the two carousers as rivals looking to score with a casino, but have to contend with Bronson’s lethal bandit and Buono’s underhanded banker. You can’t blame the boys for finding time to cozy up with Ekberg and Andress, but you can blame Robert Aldrich (director, producer, and co-writer) for failing to give the ladies anything interesting to do besides be easy on the eyes. Has a moment here and there to wake the viewer up, including an appearance from the Three Stooges as bumbling deliverymen (unwarranted but not unwanted), but it’ll be a long, tough sit for anyone who isn’t primed to be enamored with the stars simply going through the motions. (In the case of Dean, that also means appearing visibly sloshed for the majority of his time on camera.) Classic film buffs can keep an eye out for a handful of popular character actors in brief appearances, such as Jack Elam and Jack Lambert in his final film role.

40/100