The Adventurers (1970)

Memorable, crazy movie

I wanted to but couldn't!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

RELEASED IN 1970 and directed by Lewis Gilbert, "The Adventurers" chronicles the life of Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) who, as a little boy in 1945, witnesses the violent deaths of his mother & sister during a revolution in the fictional South American country Corteguay. Much later, as an ambassador's son in Rome, he's an emotionally cold playboy who marries solely for wealth (Candice Bergen), but he's haunted by Corteguay and maintains relations with the dubious dictator (Alan Badel). Ernest Borgnine plays Dax' spiritual guardian, Fat Cat.The movie's based on Harold Robbins' book of the same title, which was loosely based on the real-life Porfirio Rubirosa, an oft-married wealthy playboy, diplomat and polo player who had a relationship with the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo."The Adventurers" is a curious amalgamation of Hollywood soap opera (e.g. 1967's "Valley of the Dolls") and Italo-Western-like slaughter with a Euro-robot as the leading man. The movie vacillates between starving children in South America, disco-a-go-go fashion shows in Rome or New York, machine-gun massacres, hedonistic sex romps and the disingenuous courting of rich women. It's basically a wannabe "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), but lacking that iconic picture's surreal and compelling artistry.The spectacularly engineered battle sequences were created by the James Bond stunt-genius Bob Simmons, featuring hundreds of real men (played by actual Columbian militants), real tanks, real trains and real planes, all getting blown to pieces before your very eyes with absolutely no CGI.The above reveals many points of interest, but I was well into the second half of the almost-3-hour flick when I realized that none of the characters interested me, particularly the protagonist. I'm not sure if the problem was the script, the story or the actor (Fehmiu), but the drama came across consistently flat. Another problem is the women. While there are several notables besides Bergen (Olivia de Havilland, Leigh Taylor-Young, Delia Boccardo, Jaclyn Smith, etc.) the camera either never captures their beauty or they're too anorexic to fascinate in the first place. On the positive side, the action-packed conclusion is gripping and the message is timeless: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.THE FILM RUNS 2 hours, 57 minutes and was shot in Colombia (Cartagena & Bogota), Puerto Rico, Italy (Rome & Venice) and New York City.GRADE: C

Porfirio Rubirosa was a man of many parts, part time diplomat, part time polo player, part time race car driver, and most definitely full time lover. He's the man on which lead Bekim Fehmiu's part is based. In that lies the tale of The Adventurers.Harold Robbins up to this point had done reasonably well on the screen with successful adaptions of novels like The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, King Creole, etc. But Paramount spent a fortune on this film with a few name players in supporting roles, but came up real short with Yugoslavian actor Bekim Fehmiu in the lead. Sometimes casting an unknown works, the best examples being Peter O'Toole in Lawrence Of Arabia and Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. But here the distinctly uncharismatic Fehmiu just had no chemistry with any of the women he was to wed and/or bed. When you're basing the lead character on a notorious lover of the flesh, that's kind of essential.Rubirosa in real life had an on again off again relationship with Rafael Trujillo dictator of his native Dominican Republic. Alan Badel plays the Trujillo figure who did not come to as glorious an end as he does here. Badel was certainly as treacherous as Trujillo in real life.Rubirosa was married 5 times in real life and one of those wives was Barbara Hutton who got around herself pretty good as another of her husbands was Cary Grant. Here her role is played by Candice Bergen who likes a good time, but also wants a family.The girl from Fehmiu's mythical country of Corteguay is Leigh Taylor-Young. Anna Moffo stands in for fellow opera singer Maria Callas. You'll recognize a few other players on the international scene.The climax is the revolution against the duplicitous Badel and the battle scenes are staged well, a lot of the film's budget certainly went there.As for Bekim Fehmiu international stardom was not to be, but it looks like he had a respectable career in his native Yugoslavia.If you like to stargaze and note some of the names that are present in the cast or if you are devoted to the novels of Harold Robbins then I would recommend The Adventurers. Otherwise it's pretty mediocre.

Having read the book by Harold Robbins, I was looking forward to the film. But, oh dear, what happened to the main points of the plot? The principal point of the plot is the relationship between Dax and Fat Cat. As a boy, Dax is taken to safety by the guerrilla, and on the first night out on their journey Fat Cat cuddles the shivering boy to him, and says, "Take my hand and I will guide you safely through the mountains." In the final scene, when Dax has overthrown the despotic President helped to power by Dax's father, an embittered rival with a score to settle, shoots both Dax and Fat Cat in the gardens of the Presidential palace, and as they are lying on the ground dying, Fat cat reaches out his hand and says ... (you've guessed it!).But it's missing from the film, the famous "scabbard" quote is transfered between two differing characters, Marcel's nefarious activities in Macau are totally displaced, and there is an unnecessary time-shift in the entire film.Oh dear! It could have been so good, but it was fairly mediocre.Robbins must have been very disappointed.

Lewis Gilbert had some great films to his name (e.g You Only Live Twice, Alfie, Sink the Bismarck!) when he signed up for this three hour all-star epic. Alas, the director came completely unstuck trying to film this Harold Robbins novel, and a hugely talented cast also sank with him amid permissive sex and violence, soap opera-like dialogue, hopelessly over-busy plotting, and general excess. The Adventurers is a famous film, but for mainly the wrong reasons. And anyone wishing to see it for curiosity value (after all, don't we all guiltily enjoy seeing good actors in trouble?) needs to be warned: at nearly three hours, this doesn't even have the saving grace of being brief junk.The action centres around the fictitious South American country of Corteguay, where corruption and revolution seem to be high on the agenda. Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) grows up amid the chaotic history of his country, witnessing terrible atrocities from an early age, emerging into manhood as a wealthy and handsome playboy. He leaves behind his troubled past and lives a jet-set lifestyle in Europe, marrying the beautiful Sue Ann Daley (Candice Bergen). However, events conspire to bring him back to war-torn Corteguay - his wife miscarries a baby and eventually becomes a lesbian; his father is killed; yet another revolution brews. Dax returns to his troubled home nation and, amid carnage and combat, he seeks revenge on the man who raped and murdered his mother when Dax when just a boy.Gilbert the director is usually a tasteful and thoughtful film-maker, but here the sensationalism inherent in the story has got the better of him. The film is not memorable for its performances nor its story but for its unsavoury aspects. The violence, the nudity, the killings, the rape, the vengeance and the macho posturing dominate the story without developing it in any way. Fehmiu is too wooden an actor to hold the film together, and his limitations are cruelly exposed by the dazzling array of talent surrounding him. Ernest Borgnine, for instance, as the revolutionary bandit Fat Cat steals his scenes, and Candice Bergen is good in a difficult role, but Fehmiu sails through it all with barely a credible expression on his face. This might've won some fans as a misunderstood cult film if it were an hour briefer, but at virtually three hours it becomes an impossible task to enjoy it and an effort of willpower to sit through it.