The Big Boodle (1957)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Sick Product of a Sick System

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The Big Boodle (1957)Errol Flynn is most known for his swashbuckling pizazz in the 1930s, of course, but as his career dwindled he became embroiled in all kinds of controversies, including sleeping with underage girls, sympathizing with the Nazis, and becoming drinking buddies with Fidel Castro.The last of these matters here, for "The Big Boodle" might be the first film made entirely in Cuba by a US film company, and Flynn is clearly at home. Two years later he would make a now famous odd film, "Cuban Rebel Girls," where he befriends the rebels in their uprising. So this is an important precursor, and it's truly interesting in many ways. It's a crime film with shades of a late film noir infecting most of it. Flynn plays an American who gets in trouble, and has to go it alone with a couple of dangerous women around him. Classic noir stuff. But of course it's late in the cycle, just before "Touch of Evil" which is the symbolic end to the classic noir era.So there are lots of scenes outside in Havana (great architecture and American cars), some cuban music (nothing totally memorable), and a general mood of that amazing pre-Castro era where Americans and Cubans mixed like oil, water, and rum. For that alone it's worth seeing. But it's worth saying the Flynn is actually terrific in his role as a tired but determined American out to clear his name and save his life.The other key player in this whole enterprise (a low budget movie with big budget looks) is the cinematographer Lee Garmes, a true veteran and the man who shot "Detective Story" and "Caught" which are both cinematically brilliant. Garmes and Flynn make an unlikely collaboration (and I have no idea whether they were friends) but they make this movie actually rather workable. Is it"When you want something done right, you do it yourself." IN a way that's what these filmmakers did. The story is the biggest hurdle--there isn't much to worry about or get involved in as it goes. Even the final climax at a famous old fort above town is more about the photography and movement of characters than any sense of who might shoot who. A curiosity and not a waste of time, but nothing remarkable.

In his prime, Errol Flynn was one of the most charismatic men to ever grace the silver screen.This movie was not made in his prime. If you watch this film, having never seen The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, or any of his other films pre-1950, you might find something to like here. The shots of pre-Castro Cuba are interesting if for no other reason, historical value.If, however, you've seen what Flynn was capable of. Watching him bumble through this role is sad to watch. Even in 1957 Flynn was a fit man, a scene with his shirt off shows that, but his face tells another story. His face has the look of a man waiting to die or already with one foot in the grave. He looks ghastly.The plot of the film is nothing great or even good. Just a simple, cheap film about some money counterfeiters. The plot is immaterial.Watch this film if you absolutely have to see every Errol Flynn movie, but don't act like I didn't warn you. Viewers interested in Cuba might find something to enjoy. At least it was filmed on location.

It was great seeing Errol Flynn play the role as Ned Sherwood who gets himself involved in a counterfeit ring of gangsters in Havana, Cuba during the Pre-Castro Cuba days. This film is entirely filmed in Cuba and there is plenty of running around the famous Morro Castle and the Cuban Lighhouse. Rosanna Rory, (Fina Ferrer) plays a very sexy blonde gal who is fully stacked and simply loves Ned Sherwood. Gangster's beat up Ned quite often and he is hounded by the Cuban police and also has the attention from another gal who is Rory's sister. Rory's father is a banker in Cuba and is getting upset with all the counterfeiting going on, so his two daughter's manage to get the printing plates hidden in different locations and the gangster's are hot after Ned and Rory. This is a great black and white film and does cover up the features of Errol Flynn's face from all the booze and hard living he had done in his past. Entertaining film.

I'm a huge Errol Flynn fan even buying and reading his out of print autobiography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways". I can definitely say that this movie is one of his worse. I think it has to do with it being the end of his career, not much money put toward his projects, and the lack of patience movie companies would have with him. Sorry to say but all that shines thru in this movie, which is a shame. He went from Robin Hood and Captain Blood to a B-rated movie like this. He still has his moments on screen but they are too far and few between. W/ his diminishing good looks and his "off screen" antics, Errol Flynn no longer got his pick of screen plays to read. He had to keep working just to pay the bills w/ his ever growing amount of debt he was in. I think some of his last movies were more for the paycheck than his love of acting.