I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Put away your thinking cap for this one, sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Boy, talk about getting from Point A to Point B by the most roundabout way possible, I think Burt Reynolds and crew did it here. The kicker to this whole story had to be melting down the gold bars recovered from the Bonnie Blue, pouring it into a mold of George Washington's bust, and melting it back down into bars to replace the stolen loot at the Denver mint. As a caper movie this one really kept you guessing, and it could have all gone South at any point along the way.I guess if you're going to take this story at face value, you have to accept the idea that Sam Whiskey and his new buddies are going to put a quarter million dollars worth of gold back into the Denver mint from which it was stolen by Laura's now dead outlaw husband, and not be tempted to keep it for themselves. I can't imagine why no one bothered asking Miss Breckenridge where she was getting the twenty grand to pay for the job, but I guess with her figure it didn't really matter.I became a Burt Reynolds fan when I first saw him in "The Longest Yard". No, not the 2005 one with Adam Sandler, the original one where he played Paul 'Wrecking' Crewe. This flick came out a few years earlier and the lack of a mustache makes him look even younger. I'd have to say Sam's (Reynolds) first meeting with Laura Breckenridge (Angie Dickinson) was pretty racy even for 1969.Reynolds had a pretty effective team for the reverse heist if you will, Ossie Davis and Clint Walker had credible character introductions for the roles they would assume in the story. I got a kick out of the signpost in the road that offered the way to Gila Bend and North Fork. For a minute there, I thought Chuck Connors might be right around the corner to join the boys. Old time Western fans will get the reference, everyone else will have to look it up.

Burt Reynolds and Anne Margaret sizzle with on screen chemistry in Burt Reynolds first good movie.Up till this point Burt had been in mostly forgettable movies like "Operation CIA" and "Navajo Joe" or smaller roles in movies like "Angel Baby" and "Armoured Command". Here he shines as he does the type of light comedy for which would become his trademark. Without his trademark moustache his performance is full of charm and wit, with a twinkle in his eye, he is clearly enjoying himself. Plot In A Paragraph: Sam Whiskey is an all round nice guy, but with a loud, fast mouth that gets him in trouble. He is willing to try his hand at just about anything but when the attractive widow Laura offers him a job, he is to salvage gold bars, which Laura's dead husband stole recently, from a sunken ship and secretly bring them back to the mint before they are missed. But how shall he manage to get several hundred pounds of gold into the mint without anyone noticing??Of the rest of the cast, frequent costar of Burt Reynolds, Sweet Ossie Davies who I adore, is great here, like wise Clint Walker. Anne Margaret is gorgeous, and it's easy to see how she tempted Reynolds character to do her bidding!!

It's no mystery that Burt Reynolds is one of the most underestimated actors of our time. In this particular film, he gave us one of his best comedy-stilish acting ("no-one noticed it", he said) which makes this movie working. Burt's acting would be enough to make it watchable, but also Ossie Davis and Clint Walker fit well in their roles.For me the remarkable of this movie is a) the way it is directed and edited (it ain't dull for one second), although there are some silly situations (e.g. Burt firing with a machine gun to save his friends killing all his enemies without hitting his friends...), but hey, it's a comedy and it's not the story which is most interesting. It's the mood of the film and the way characters are portrayed. It contains a lot of fine jokes and dialogue ("I'm not riding this long way to bury your bird") and chemistry between Burt and Angie Dickinson is amazing. Also the more serious parts of the film (stealing the gold out of the fort) are working well.Also, there are some things which seem to be rare in a film: The fact that no-one of the "thieves" have intentions killing his buddies to keep the gold for himself. No, they even break in to return it back to the government! It's hardly believable, but it is that fact that make the film and these characters charming.I give it a 7 of 10

This is a forgotten Burt Reynolds film, that is not really that bad. This is some humor in Burt's character, and Ossie Davis, The two were paired again years later in evening shade. maybe united artists will put this on dvd, or at least tape.