Something Big (1971)

A man kidnaps the wife of a cavalry commander in order to exchange her for a Gatling gun that's being sold by a gun runner.

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer:

James Lee Barrett

Stars:

Dean Martin, Brian Keith, Carol White

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dean Martin	...	Joe Baker
Brian Keith	...	Col. Morgan
Carol White	...	Dover McBride
Honor Blackman	...	Mary Anna Morgan
Ben Johnson	...	Jesse Bookbinder
Albert Salmi	...	Jonny Cobb
Don Knight	...	Tommy McBride
Joyce Van Patten	...	Polly Standall
Denver Pyle	...	Junior Frisbee
Merlin Olsen	...	Sgt. Fitzsimmons
Robert Donner	...	Angel Moon
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Joe Pickins
Judi Meredith	...	Carrie Standall
Edward Faulkner	...	Capt. Tyler (as Ed Faulkner)
Paul Fix	...	Chief Yellow Sun

Storyline

Joe Baker has a dream. He wants to do 'something big.' When he needs a Gatling gun to accomplish this, he seeks out a black marketeer. The price he wants for the gun? A woman! So Baker kidnaps a woman off of the stagecoach, only to find that she is the wife of the commandant of the local Cavalry detachment. Things get further complicated when a girl named Dover McBride shows up. She has come to force Baker to marry her and return east, as he promised to do four years earlier.

---

Plot Keywords:

gatling gun | stagecoach | cavalry | drinking | drink | 

---

Taglines:

Everybody wants to do something big once in his life. It's just that most people don't have to hold up a stagecoach, steal a girl, and swap her for a gun to do it.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Western

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some suggestive content and western violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ceva măreţ

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Center Films, Penbar Productions, Stanmore Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Lee Barrett apparently wrote this for Peter O'Toole.

---

Quotes

Joe Pickins: I guess I'd still be a horse soldier if I hadn't lost my leg.
Joe Baker: In the war?
Joe Pickins: Naw... See, there was this girl in Virginia... and her father caught us... cut it off. Chopped it clean off! With an axe. While I was sleepin'.
Joe Baker: Really?
Joe Pickins: Cross my heart.
Joe Baker: You're lucky it was only your leg.

---

Crazy Credits

Paradoxically--considering its definition--the film's title is presented in all lower case letters, as can be seen in the poster.

---

Connections

Referenced in My Husband, the Producer (1974)

---

Soundtracks

The Girl I Left Behind Me
(uncredited)
Traditional

User Reviews

Something mediocre

RELEASED IN 1971 and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, "Something Big" is a tongue-in-cheek Western starring Dean Martin as aging outlaw, Joe Baker, who unknowingly kidnaps the wife (Honor Blackman) of a cavalry commander (Brian Keith) in order to obtain a Gatling gun from a scumbag gunrunner (Albert Salmi). Ben Johnson plays a scout while Carol White appears as the wannabe fiancé of Baker.

The title refers to 'something big' that Joe Baker is supposed to do before retiring from outlawry with several of the characters citing the line; a quaint idea, but it's not funny and gets old after a while. The opening act is a dud with nothing stimulating happening to draw the viewer into the story. There are several curious props (a skeleton, a dog, bagpipes and a peg leg), but they fail to stir much interest. Things finally perk up in the second half, but not enough to save the movie.

One huge problem is the idea that this antihero we're supposed to like is engaged in something way too unsavory (kidnaping the innocent wife to offer to the odious gunrunner, which amounts to slavery). Martin was able to get away with this type of character in the excellent "Bandolero!" (1968) because his crimes weren't so abhorrent; not so here.

There are some good bits, however, like the two man-hungry women living in the remote wilderness (Joyce Van Patten & Judi Meredith). Nevertheless, it's obvious why "Something Big" has been condemned to cinematic obscurity, never being released to VHS and barely making it to DVD in 2012.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 48 minutes and was shot in Durango, Mexico. WRITER: James Lee Barrett.

GRADE: C