You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

During the 1922 Turkish Civil War, two Americans and a group of foreign mercenaries offer their services to a local Turkish governor who hires them as guards for a secret transport.

Director:

Peter Collinson

Writer:

Leo Gordon (as Leo V. Gordon)

Stars:

Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Michèle Mercier

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Curtis	...	Adam Dyer
Charles Bronson	...	Josh Corey
Michèle Mercier	...	Aila (as Michele Mercier)
Patrick Magee	...	The General - Ataturk
Fikret Hakan	...	Colonel Elci
Grégoire Aslan	...	Osman Bey (as Gregoire Aslan)
Leo Gordon	...	Bolek
John Alderson	...	U.S. Army Major
Tony Bonner	...	Reese
Horst Janson	...	Wollen
John Acheson	...	Davis
Howard Goorney
Salih Güney	...	Capt. Enver (as Salih Guney)
Yüksel Gözen	...	Papadopoulos (as Yuksel Gozen)
Erol Keskin	...	(as Erol Koskin)

Storyline

Two former U.S. Army soldiers, Adam Dyer and Josh Corey, join a band of Turkish mercenaries in 1922 Turkey. They are hired by Osman Bey, a local governor, to escort his three daughters to Smyran and to protect a gold shipment that is to accompany them. Nobody is aware that Elci, a local colonel, plans to steal the gold for himself, while a rebel general pursues all parties involved.

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Plot Keywords:

thompson gun | train | mercenary | gold shipment | soldier | 

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Taglines:

Anything is fair game for SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE . . . dealing in death and destruction - for a price

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 July 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Soldiers of Fortune

Filming Locations:

Said Halim Pasha Manor, Turkey

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, SRO

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fikret Hakan was 36 when he appeared in this movie

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Goofs

When the biplanes strafe the trucks they let out the iconic 'jericho trumpet' sound of a WWII Stuka dive bomber. Also, they should hardly be over-revving anyway in a strafing and bombing role.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: THE AEGEAN SEA 1922

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Connections

Referenced in The Oral Generation (1970)

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Soundtracks

Flight To Mecca
(uncredited)
Music by Bert Kaempfert, Lyrics by Herbert Rehbein
Performed by Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra

User Reviews

For Curtis and Bronson Fans

You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

** (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining action film has former WW1 soldiers traveling to Turkey where they are hired by Osman Bey to help guard a gold shipment but after countless double crossings and twists, the soldiers begin to realize that there might be something more at stake than just gold. It's important to note that the soldiers are played by Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson and those names are big enough to make you want to keep watching even when the film itself starts to unravel and come apart. The movie gets off to a great start as Curtis is stranded at sea in a sinking boat and gets picked up by captain Bronson but before he can get on the two have a nice exchange of words. The first twenty-minutes of the movie are fast, sharp and contain some very funny moments but all of this stuff pretty much goes away once the center story kicks in. I never really could get too involved with the story in Turkey simply because it really didn't feel all that real and I also thought it was rather poorly written. I think there's way too much story trying to go on and there's really nothing behind it because the main goal is just to get to the next action scene. As far as the action goes, we get a couple excellent sequences. The opening bar fight is pretty good but the real highlight comes towards the middle of the film when the train carrying the gold comes under attack. After viewing the movie I had to do a Google search to see how many stuntmen got killed in this sequence but apparently it was none. The physical stunts are extremely graphic and there are a few scenes where horses are tripping off one another and there's one instant that will really stick out because it seems the human riding it gets crushed during all the mayhem. There's another big action piece at the end, which results in another twist in the story that actually works pretty good. The main draw of this movie is going to be seeing Curtis and Bronson together and they actually do a pretty good job. I thought that laid back, smart ass attitude of Curtis worked perfectly well with Bronson stone cold approach. The two are simply so different that when they mix it up they just come off very funny. The banter between the men in the bar at the start of the film is certainly one of the highlights. YOU CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL is far from a masterpiece and in reality it's not even a good movie. With that said, fans of the two stars will probably want to check it out but others will probably not find too much to keep them watching from start to finish.