You Can't Win 'Em All is a 1970 British-American war film, written by Leo Gordon (also an actor who appears in the film) and directed by Peter Collinson. It stars Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson and Michèle Mercier. The film is set at the end of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922). Two American mercenaries are forced to serve an Ottoman governor, who wants them to escort his daughters to Cairo. He also wants them to safeguard a treasure.
| You Can't Win 'Em All | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster by Frank McCarthy | |
| Directed by | Peter Collinson |
| Written by | Leo V. Gordon |
| Produced by | Gene Corman |
| Starring | Tony Curtis Charles Bronson Michèle Mercier Patrick Magee |
| Cinematography | Kenneth Higgins, B.S.C. |
| Edited by | Raymond Poulton G.B.F.E. |
| Music by | Bert Kaempfert |
Production company | S.R.O. Company Inc. |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
editThe setting is the time of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), and the end of the Ottoman Empire. Two American soldiers of fortune – Adam and Josh – team up in 1922 Turkey with separate missions. Josh is interested in profiting from the turmoil prevailing as the Ottoman Empire collapses. Adam, the surviving heir to a shipping company, hopes to reclaim a ship seized by the Germans during World War I and interned in a Turkish port. Before they can achieve their goals, they are captured by the forces of Osman Bey, an Ottoman governor.
Osman Bey is impressed by the Americans' firepower – which includes Thompson submachine guns – and enlists them in a mission to escort his daughters, seemingly to Mecca, but really to Cairo. Because of the war, Turkish ports are blockaded by the British. Knowing that an American ship is not subject to the blockade, Adam suggests using the one held by the Turks, once they have returned it to him.
With Osman Bey's consent, the group sets off for the coast with Osman Bey's daughters, and also their guardian, the beautiful and formidable Aila. Along the way, they must contend with the dangers of the terrain, the war, the machinations of Osman Bey's opportunistic Colonel and also each other's greed. They also begin to realize that the Bey wasn't open with them about the real object of their mission, to safeguard a priceless treasure from the empire's enemies.
Cast
edit- Tony Curtis as Adam Dyer
- Charles Bronson as Josh Corey
- Michèle Mercier as Aila
- Patrick Magee as The General (based on Kemal Atatürk)
- Fikret Hakan as Colonel Elçi
- Grégoire Aslan as Osman Bey
- Leo Gordon as Bolek
- John Alderson as American Army Major
- Tony Bonner as Reese
- Horst Janson as Wollen
- John Acheson as Davis
- Howard Goorney
- Salih Güney as Captain Enver
- Yüksel Gözen as Papadopoulos
- Erol Keskin
- Ken Buckle
- Gonia Halil as Madam
- Terry York
- Mümtaz Alpaslan
- Manny Michael
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Uncredited voice actors:
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Production
editThe film was originally known as Dubious Patriots.[1]
"The country, the people, were fabulous", said Tony Curtis shortly after filming ended. "The thing that did us in was the very shoddy British production set up. They promised certain things on location and didn't provide them. There were inadequate sanitary conditions: people got sick. The director, Peter Collinson? I have no comment about Mr Collinson. Some day I'll tell you about him."[2]
Aircraft sequences were flown and coordinated by Charles Boddington and Lewis Benjamin.[3] The aircraft were owned by ex-RCAF pilot Lynn Garrison who shipped several of his S.E.5 replicas from Ireland to Turkey for the production. They were previously featured in The Blue Max and Darling Lili and would go on to star in Von Richthofen and Brown, Zeppelin, The Great Waldo Pepper, and numerous TV commercials.[4]
See also
edit- Vera Cruz, a 1954 film with a similar plot set in the Mexican Revolution.
References
edit- ^ "You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ "Tony Curtis Ends Turkey Filming". Los Angeles Times. 5 November 1969. p. f15.
- ^ "You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) Starring Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson - Zeus". www.zeusdvds.com. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
- ^ Benjamin, Lewis (October 2008). "Turkish Delight!". Aeroplane Monthly. Vol. 36, no. 426. pp. 32–37. ISSN 0143-7240.
External links
edit- You Can't Win 'Em All at IMDb
- You Can't Win 'Em All at AllMovie
- You Can't Win 'Em All at the TCM Movie Database
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