Sam Whiskey

Comedic western. Gold rush movie. Heist thriller. This was pretty cool. Does not take itself too seriously. Light hearted and unpretentious like most Reynolds flicks. Burt Reynolds is underrated. Clint Walker and Ossie Davis are cool as sidekicks who regularly beat up the hero. It is not spectacular or anything. Set in an interesting time when people used to tell tall tales and sing songs about people which were also tall tales. But it is pretty entertaining after the rather goofy beginning with a title sequence that sets the tone and reveals too much about Sam. A dive for gold followed by a sort of a bank heist to get the gold legitimized. It is like Treasure of the Sierra Madre meets a Henri Verneuil film. (6.5/10)

source: Sam Whiskey

source: Sam Whiskey

Trailer—Sam Whiskey

Sam Whiskey

I'm a big fan of the films of Burt Reynolds. I haven't seen them all but the ones that I have seen I've seen a bunch of times. There a few a haven't seen yet. I caught up to "Sam Whiskey" last night. It wasn't very good. It was actually pretty bad. The first ten minutes or so started out great but then it fades fast. Angie Dickinson was very dreamy in her opening scene but later becomes kind of annoying. Her giant 1960s style hair didn't help. I've never understood how Clint Walker was famous. With the exception of his great work in "The Dirty Dozen", his performances have always left me flat. Burt Reynolds and Ossie Davis are both very likable actors but they aren't given anything that interesting to do. "Sam Whiskey" is a western/comedy/heist movie. The heist part of the movie seems to go on forever. Unfortunately, "Sam Whiskey" drops Burt's batting average down a little bit.

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.

Comedic western. Gold rush movie. Heist thriller. This was pretty cool. Does not take itself too seriously. Light hearted and unpretentious like most Reynolds flicks. Burt Reynolds is underrated. Clint Walker and Ossie Davis are cool as sidekicks who regularly beat up the hero. It is not spectacular or anything. Set in an interesting time when people used to tell tall tales and sing songs about people which were also tall tales. But it is pretty entertaining after the rather goofy beginning with a title sequence that sets the tone and reveals too much about Sam. A dive for gold followed by a sort of a bank heist to get the gold legitimized. It is like Treasure of the Sierra Madre meets a Henri Verneuil film. (6.5/10)

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.

Sam Whiskey (Burt Reynolds) is a roguish cad in the Old West. Seductive Laura Breckenridge (Angie Dickinson) recruits him to retrieve a sunken treasure. In turn, he recruits blacksmith Jed Hooker (Ossie Davis) and gunsmith O. W. Bandy (Clint Walker) to do some diving. It's a nice enough western. There are some nice light laughs. There are some fun enough characters. Burt Reynolds is the embodiment of this character. This is a group of fun actors doing fun characters. I don't really understand why the trio doesn't take the gold and run. So the second half isn't as compelling since they aren't being reasonable. One would have to believe that Sam is completely smitten and whipped. One would also have to believe that the other two are such good buddies that they would support him no matter what. All of that is too unlikely. That's if one ignores some other unreasonable elements. Ignoring all that, this is still some light fun without much harm.