There are some genuine laughs in this comedy that first appears to be another Doris Day/Rock Hudson type sex comedy but ends up being anything but. Notice I say "some" laughs, not a lot. The non-sensical plot deals with a novelist wife (Lana Turner) of an attorney (Dean Martin) with an addiction to betting on horse races. She decides to teach her husband a lesson so she can win him away from his obsession, and for some odd reason (seemingly to put him on a loosing streak), becomes a bookie herself. This brings in involvement from the mob and two judges (Paul Ford and John McGiver) who are associates of Martin's. To get her scheme rolling, Turner utilizes the assistance of her husband's lecherous partner (Eddie Albert) and the sexy next door neighbor (Nita Talbot) who just happens to be the gangster's moll! He is played by none other than Walter Matthau in another one of his early mob roles, and if there is any indication that he was a reincarnation of 30's character actor Ned Sparks, this movie is it. Martin spends a lot of the film intoxicated (indicating another problem), while Turner seems to be out of sorts with this type of comedy, as if she was a last minute replacement for Kim Novak. It is the character performers who end up the most interesting, and they also include Jack Albertson and Ned Glass (Doc in "West Side Story"). Albert's real-life wife, Margo (looking a lot like Ethel Merman!), plays the nosy Latin maid, and overdoes her imitation of Lupe Velez. The film, new on DVD, features some beautiful Technicolor photography and an ironic twist at the end that makes the ridiculous plot line palatable. Talbot, a much underrated comic, steals every scene she is in, while Ford and MacGiver are as always lovable buffoons.
Review of Who's Got the Action?
