i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Crappy film

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

This is the first time I've seen this in many years. The first time, the people I lived with loved it so fiercely they bought a long-playing record of the calliopean musical score and they played it a thousand times in a row. And, boy, is the film scored. Hardly a moment passes without bongo drums pounding and violins throbbing. Rita Hayworth gets to do what I hope was her last dance number on film. On hearing the melody behind the opening credits I was whisked back to San Bruno, California, with the instruments inside my head.Once over that initial spasm, though, I was able to get into the film and saw it a little differently than I had the first time. Mitchum is a creep, true, but not the unmitigated son of bitch that I'd first thought. Now -- with so much more experience -- I can even consider the proposition that by betraying Jack Lemmon to the authorities and stealing Hayworth away from Lemmon -- he was actually doing the younger, more innocent man, a favor.Briefly, the story is that Mitchum and Lemmon are partners in an old boat in the Caribbean and engage in small-time smuggling for a living. When their cargo on one trip turns out to be Rita Hayworth, Lemmon falls for her, but Mitchum is able to see that this is a mismatch made in Heaven. Lemmon is all Ga Ga and wants to marry her and Hayworth, a lady with no country but lots of history, is desperate enough to accept. Mitchum short circuits the plan through devious means. The direction is sometimes misguided. Lemmon and Mitchum have a fist fight aboard the boat, which Jimmy Jean interprets as "working off some steam," but it's too brutal. In the end, Lemmon is trapped aboard a small freighter about to blow up and is saved by Mitchum. The incident is anything but typical Hollywood heroism -- and those last twenty minutes are genuinely gripping. The denouement in the tavern is simply unbelievable.The screenplay is by Irwin Shaw and, though some of the dialog is surely from the novel, it has its felicities. When Lemmon first proposes marriage, Hayworth tries to explain to him why it wouldn't work. It's a cue for a dull speech, but it's very neatly done, and with aspirations. "I've been debased," she tells him. "Armies have marched over me." It doesn't make a dent in Lemon's erotic mania, a nice college kid from Indianapolis. The narrative ribbon occasionally scintillates with such almost subliminal sequins.The location shooting is expertly done. This isn't Montego Bay with its meticulously placed palms and pina coladas served by native girls in flowered dresses. This is the seamier side of Trinidad and Tobago, where the houses are slapped together of weather-beaten boards, the streets are littered with banana peels, and the beds in the seedy hotels are probably harboring bugs. The T shirts are dirty and soggy with sweat. You want a drink? Fine -- here's a bottle. It's a long way from the old studio productions with the men in white suits and panama hats and colorful but sanitary interiors veiled by beaded curtains.This isn't one of Mitchum's more impressive performances but he seems sober and hits his marks and says what he's supposed to, even while bleary eyed with rum and listening to a 78 record of Mozart on a wind-up phonograph. In life, Jack Lemmon was a nice guy, not erratic like Mitchum, but I've always thought he was better at comedy than drama. Rita Hayworth's performance is a blank. Her expression seem pasted on like a postage stamp. This must have been one of her last movies before she began to self destruct. The supporting players are just fine -- Bernard Lee as a quietly empathic doctor, Edric Connor with his jumbo baritone. Mitchum asks Connor, "Do you want to quit, Jimmy Jean?" And Connor stares back intently for a moment before replying, "I do believe I do."

Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Lemmon star in this tale of passion, friendship, and betrayal set in an exotic locale. Robert and Jack are friends, that is until Rita shows up. Rita gets a chance to show her acting chops in an understated performance as a lady wanting off of the island. She has a very memorable dance number, too. And, Bob Mitchum is Bob Mitchum, basically.Even though Jack Lemmon gets third billing, he has more air time than the others. My main problem with it is the fact that Jack's predicament takes up 30 minutes of the film and other than watching him act there's not much suspense or interest to keep the viewer really involved.It's to the actors' credit that the rest of the movie is very watchable and the ultimate ending is a very natural one. I know my review sounds rather lackluster (my rating is really 6.5), but if you like the stars, you'll walk away pretty satisfied. The ending helps a lot, and Rita seems to have everything pretty well balanced in her capable hands.Costarring Herbert Lom (Dreyfuss from the "Pink Panther" series) and Bernard Lee (Bond's superior "M" before Judi Dench) and co-produced by Bond producer Albert C. Broccoli, this combination of adventure and drama that may be one of the stars lesser known efforts but it is waiting for you to discover it.

Several commentors over the years have remarked on the folding between what's in this movie regarding Rita and her life outside the film. It barely needs mentioning here. She was a lovely woman with little talent. Appeal outstripped reach and produced much the same frustrated resignation in her that her character has here. She's too old to carry the charms she's used. Here, it is all explained as from "bad men," but its a question of striving toward failure — something we recognize as viewers more than the Disney business of some transcendent realization of self and possibility.It matters here and in life because she is one of our anchor redheads. The one that got us through the war, perhaps denoting what got us into it (so far as the Pacific). She's the redhead that entangled the greatest filmmaker of the era and wove a confusion that cost us plenty. (Suppose she had been a real partner or muse to Orson? Suppose he had resolved to actually FINISH films? Suppose he embodied what he thought he sought in a redheaded dancer? Suppose it had worked, and we didn't end with two broken souls.)Anyway, that's half of the story. The other half is about two men fighting for possession of the virtual corpse. It was a powerful thing in its day, I think because of the cinematic centrality of the setup: a ship with Lemmon trapped in the front and a seething firebomb in the back. Men trying to free him and giving up. His hated rival, saving him (did we EVER doubt this would happen?). A wise black observer. Also in its day, the ending was considered "mature." A crisis unresolved. The tragedy in the walking wounded.I think this is worth watching because of the history of film it gives us.(I suggest that you follow this with "Calypso is Like So" for a continuation on the theme. It gets what this movie means.)Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Rita Hayworth was 40 at the time this film was made. Rather interesting. She still looked lovely. Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon are both vying for her attention; Mitchum wins out momentarily.Toward the end the story shifts as Lemmon is trapped in a ship, there is a fire, and Lemmon becomes a more sympathetic character. Mitchum and Hayworth feel guilty. This story would seem ripe for a re-make; it is a good story; rather a curiosity.The Technicolor oranges and greens are prevalent; it is always interesting to watch films from this period. It would seem the stars themselves were fabricated to coordinate with the surroundings. The scenes at the carnival event are colorful and wild. Worth seeing as a commentary on the times.