Steineded How sad is this?

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

bkoganbing 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.

preppy-3 Hilarious mess based on a Harold Robbins novel. It starts in 1945 in the (fictional) South American city of Corteguay. A young boy named Dax sees his dog shot dead in front of him. Then he sees his mother stabbed to death and his sister raped and murdered. He then shoots to death several men responsible. He goes to another place and everybody there gets murdered too! This is all in the first 20 minutes--and the film runs three hours! Eventually Dax escapes to Rome with his father. He grows up and is played by that international star (cough cough) Bekim Fehmiu. The rest of the film follows him through his life and his frequent sexual couplings and desire to help Corteguay.Wow--what a disaster! To say this is bad is putting it mildly. It's incredibly stupid but keeps throwing in so much sex, nudity and violence that you're never bored. Some of the things here are so badly done they boggle the mind. At one point Dax is romancing a young woman (Candice Bergen looking so young and beautiful) but the montage of the two of them falling in love is so clichéd it's hilarious. Then there's the scene where they first make love--with actual fireworks bursting overhead! There's a hospital scene between the two of them that was so stupid I actually laughed out loud! There's a fashion show about two hours in that's a real eye popper. Most of the dialogue sounds (and looks) badly overdubbed. Old pros Ernest Borgnine, John Ireland and Olivia deHavilland are shamefully wasted but still manage to give good performances despite the script. Leading man Fehmiu is (to put it mildly) a bad actor. He's totally expressionless throughout the whole movie. He's also ugly and not in good shape at all.There are a few good things about this movie. The location shooting in Rome and South America is just great--there's some beautiful locations and cinematography here. Fehmiu aside everyone else gives pretty good performances. There's also some cool battle sequences too. As a serious movie this is a disaster. But, as camp, it's a laugh a minute! This was originally R rated mostly for the frequent female nudity. It was reissued a few years after its initial release and was cut to get a PG. The DVD says it's the PG version but it's not. The PG version runs 170 minutes--the R rated runs 177 minutes and that's the one on the DVD. Worth catching for laughs.

adstekservices I have read Harrold Robbins' book 4 times. When I recently viewed the film I expected to see all kinds of changes from what was in the book. I was actually amazed to see that the film followed closely to what was written except for a few story alterations that were obviously unavoidable. The book was a lot more decadent than was depicted by the film. However, the film was very well cast with excellent acting by everyone. I was really pleased that the film conveyed the spirit of the book to the end. I just acquired the DVD which is the original R rated version for international release. It runs a full 177 minutes. Obviously, this picture could not have been shown in American theaters in 1970 when the film was made. Even though the film is 35 years old it is not dated. My copy is a Panavision widescreen copy with full Dolby 5.1 Surround stereo sound and it plays as if it was a newly produced film. If you are lucky enough to acquire this version of the film watch it again. I'm sure you will be really pleased especially if you have a "Home Theatre" with a large wide screen.

cinescot This film is under appreciated and rather than a mess, is a profundly complex comment on the cycle of revolution in a quest for legalism and constitutionalism.The character Dax Xenos mirrors the life of the revolutionary son and sometime exile Octavio Paz of Mexico; though the late Snr Paz became a man of letters; rather than a temporary gigolo to gain money for a business and to restore the values of his father to his homeland!