Review of The Big Boodle

The strongest part of this movie fits in with what a realtor would say, "Location, Location, Location." This was filmed in Havana before Castro came into power. How I wish it would have been filmed in color. It is still beautiful in black and white. The architecture is interesting from the buildings to the streets, the fort, the statues, to the automobiles which now are all classic. The movie itself is not too bad. Flynn plays an ex-pat who is a dealer in a casino who gets stuck with some counterfeit money. He tries to remedy this issue and he ends up getting beaten up and arrested. He goes to work at proving his innocence and while on that journey ends up meeting up with the beautiful Gia Scala and Rosanna Rory. He also has to deal with the harassment from the Colonel played by Pedro Armendariz and his other nemesis played by Jacques Aubuchon the villain. The climatic finale of the movie takes place at the old Castle/Fortress where Flynn ends up prevailing over Aubuchon. I really liked the movie. I was dismayed by the low rating score. It is such a unique film due to the location. Havana was a place Flynn liked to sail his yacht called the ZACA. Gia Scala stayed on Flynn's yacht during the filming according to the book written about her by her sister. Her sister even suspected an affair between Scala and the much older Flynn. Flynn who really had a poor reputation as a human being did do an act of kindness to Scala by allowing Scala and her mother who was dying of cancer to have the ZACA and its crew sail them to Hawaii and back to California before she passed.