You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) starring Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Michèle Mercier, Grégoire Aslan directed by Peter Collinson Movie Review

You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Tony Curtis in You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

Didn't Win Me at All

Adam Dyer (Tony Curtis) and Josh Corey (Charles Bronson) end up working together as soldiers of fortune despite a less than impressive first meeting when they con each other aboard a boat. But they find themselves agreeing to escort a gold shipment for a Turkish governor which along the way they realise also consists of his three precious daughters. But not only does this present Adam and Josh with plenty of temptation but also others as well as a suspicion that not all is as it seems.

As a movie reviewer I some times finding myself repeating what I have said before but then on occasion it just can't be helped. "You Can't Win 'Em All" is one such movie, a monotonous, repetitive bore of a movie which when I read other people's opinions made me question whether we had been watching the same movie. I suppose I expected more as prior to this movie director Peter Collinson had directed "The Italian Job" and with Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson in the lead roles he had good lead actors but the end result is a movie of three things.

Charles Bronson in You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

The first of those things is Tony Curtis who wise cracks his way through the entire movie whilst the second being Charles Bronson playing the straight man who sets the one liners up for Curtis to try and knock them out of the park. In fairness Bronson is there for the action as well whilst Curtis is there to be the ladies man but it isn't great. In fact it becomes painfully repetitive when all you get from Curtis is being the wise cracking charmer. As for the third thing, well that is the action and whilst some of it is spectacular in what appears to be chaos none of it is that groundbreaking or exciting.

As such the actual storyline of Dyer and Corey escorting this money and girls across country ends up for the most unimportant and purely a vehicle for the wise cracks and the action. Oh of course there is the fact the journey isn't plain sailing with some double crossing going on but again this only ends up a vehicle for some wise cracks and action with end result still being an uninteresting storyline. In fact the storyline ends up so uninteresting and the wise cracks so repetitive that the best thing about "You Can't Win 'Em All" is the beautiful scenery which for me deserved a lot more attention.

What this all boils down to is that "You Can't Win 'Em All" just didn't work for me and ended up a repetitive bore especially with Tony Curtis wise cracking his way through pretty much all of the movie. But as such it ends up a movie for those who loved listening to Curtis delivering comical replies and behaving like a flirt.


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