Viva Max (1969)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Jerry Paris

Writers:

Jim Lehrer (novel)
Elliott Baker (screenplay)

Release Date:

December 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Some heroes are born...some are made...some are mistakes

Plot:

When his girlfriend tells him that his men wouldn't follow him to a house of ill repute, Max, a general...

Plot Keywords:

National Guard | Texas | General | Alamo | Mexican Army

Cast

Peter Ustinov	...	General Maximilian Rodrigues De Santos
Pamela Tiffin	...	Paula Whitland
Jonathan Winters	...	General Billy Joe Hallson
John Astin	...	Sergeant Valdez
Keenan Wynn	...	General Lacomber
Harry Morgan	...	Chief of Police Sylvester
Alice Ghostley	...	Hattie
Kenneth Mars	...	Dr. Sam Gillison
Ann Morgan Guilbert	...	Edna Miller
Bill McCutcheon	...	Desmond Miller
Gino Conforti	...	Contreras
Christopher Ross	...	Gomez
Larry Hankin	...	Romero
Paul Sand	...	Moreno
Don Diamond	...	Hernandez

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Alamo Village - Highway 674, Brackettville, Texas, USA

Company:

Commonwealth United Entertainment

Trivia:

The Rome Italy location was chosen as actress Pamela Tiffin had already signed a movie deal for numerous films with an Italian Production Company at the time, and as "Viva Max" production was halted, this was the only option to complete scenes with the actress not to hamper her schedule. It was a necessary decision as actor Jonathan Winters also had upcoming commitments with The Dean Martin Show.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Alamo (1960)

Amusing and distracting at best, certainly no more than that

In an attempt to win the respect of his girlfriend and father, General Maximilian Rodrigues de Santos takes a group of 100 Mexican soldiers and heads north. Despite the fact that his men are poorly organised and view the General as being unfit to lead a dog, they manage to bluff their way past the bemused border guard. They go through Texas and make for San Antonio, home of the Alamo. They easily manage to capture the tourist attraction and are easily holed up inside, claiming it back on behalf of Mexico. Meanwhile, outside, the Texan authorities scratch their heads and wonder what they are supposed to make of all this.

The idea sounds simple and indeed it is – it all depends what you do with it whether or not it is as simple as all that or better. What could you do with it? Perhaps a wacky zany Carry On style jape? Or perhaps an absurd satire with relevant digs at the political systems? Or perhaps a cross between the two? Well, I'm not sure what the makers of this film tried to do with it but to my mind they didn't actually manage to make anything come off that well. At times it has some nice digs and ironies within it but these are very liberally scattered throughout the film rather than being the core of it. For the majority of the film it is surprisingly light on laughs or good comedy; it is roundly amusing but I did want more belly laughs. Funnily enough the best material happens outside the Alamo with some funny portrayals of the Texan response.

This leaves Ustinov just trying to mug his way to laughs and, to his credit he makes a good fist of it considering. However, like I said, the better material goes to people like Morgan, Winter, Wynn and a few others who are amusing and benefit from not having the title role on their shoulders to carry. The direction makes reasonable use of the Alamo but somehow still manages to make some parts of it look like it is on a set somewhere.

Overall this is a distraction at best; it is pretty amusing and has some nice touches but mainly it doesn't do anything consistent of note. Ustinov tries hard to carry the film but the best material is saved for the support cast playing the American response, meaning that I found myself in the funny situation of not wanting the lead actor/title character to be on the screen. Amusing and distracting at best, certainly no more than that.