Robin and the 7 Hoods (Sv titel: Fem ess i leken), filmmusikal 1964
Manus: David R. Schwartz
Sångtexter: Sammy Cahn
Musik: Jimmy Van Heusen
Tag line: Like we’ve taken the Robin Hood legend and changed the bows and arrows to machine guns! … Like with songs yet! … Like WILD!
In prohibition-era Chicago, the corrupt sheriff and Guy Gisborne, a south-side racketeer, knock off the boss Big Jim.
Everyone falls in line behind Guy except Robbo, who controls the north side. Although he’s outgunned, Robbo wants to keep his own territory.
A pool-playing dude from Indiana and the director of a boys’ orphanage join forces with Robbo; and, when he gives some money to the orphanage, he becomes the toast of the town as a hood like Robin Hood. Meanwhile, Guy schemes to get rid of Robbo, and Big Jim’s heretofore unknown daughter Marian appears and goes from man to man trying to find an ally in her quest to run the whole show.
Can Robbo hold things together?
En storskalig, påkostad gangstermusikal med stjärnor som Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin och Sammy Davies jr kan väl inte bli annat än en redig hit?
Ja, jo, kanske… Den spelade in ett antal miljoner när den kom 1964 men jag har inte lyckats hitta uppgifter om den var en hit eller inte. Men jag kan konstatera att tiden inte varit snäll mot den.
Detta är en film som känns nått otroligt mossig idag och jag har en stark känsla av att unga på 60-talet nog tyckte det då med. Detta är en film riktad till den vita medelålders medelklasspublik som ville se The Rat Pack på filmduken och som ville bli road och underhållen utan att riskera att utsättas för nått så obehagligt som sex, satir eller skränig rock’n’roll. I denna film finns inget som kunde störa deras pryda och oerhört inskränkta gammaldagsa medelklassvärderingar.
Denna film ligger liksom mittemellan den äldre krigsgenerationens och den nya unga rockgenerationens önskemål vad gäller filmunderhållning och den passar inte riktigt in nånstans.
Det känns lite småfånigt att se Sinatra (49 år vid premiären), Dean Martin (47) och Bing Crosby (61) gå runt och låtsas vara ”hippa”, ”with it” och ”balla” för är det nått de inte är så är det det. Speciellt Bing känns sååååå fel, hade nog varit lite bättre om Peter Lawford fått spela rollen som det var tänkt från början för han hade med sina 41 år passat in bättre med de andra. Den enda av gänget som funkar är Sammy Davies jr, han känns ganska ball och han sjunger, dansar och agerar bäst av dem alla och hans tolkning håller åtminstone hyfsat fortfarande.
Musiken känns också förlegad även om den nu efter drygt 50 år fått ett visst nostalgisk skimmer som gör att visar låtar är riktigt njutbara – även om iscensättningarna inte är det. Nått som fascinerade mig nått enormt var det faktum att folk inte håller samma takt när de ska stå och ”digga” och klappa takten i de stora shownumren, speciellt barnen i den nästan plågsamt hemska Don’t Be a Do-Badder är så i otakt att man häpnar.
Så, inget jag rekommenderar men visst, om man vill förstå varför filmmusikalen dog ut som filmgenre under 60-talet så är det här ett bra exempel på hur fel man tänkte.
Favvosånger: Style, My Kind Of Town (Chicago is)
Trivia:
Peter Lawford was originally cast as Alan A. Dale, but was replaced with Bing Crosby following a break in Sinatra’s relationship with Lawford. The break stemmed from a scheduled visit to Sinatra’s home by Lawford’s brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy during a 1963 West Coast trip. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who was long concerned about Sinatra’s rumored ties with underworld figures, encouraged the President to change his plans and stay at Crosby’s home, which (it was maintained) could provide better security for the President. The change came at the last minute, after Sinatra made extensive arrangements for the promised and eagerly awaited presidential visit, including the construction of a helipad. Sinatra was furious, believing that Lawford had failed to intercede with the Kennedys on his behalf, and ostracized him from the Rat Pack. Sinatra and Lawford never spoke again, and Sinatra never endorsed another Democratic candidate. Ironically, Crosby, a staunch Republican, ended up cast in Lawford’s role.
Making this film should have been fun. Instead, by more than one account, it was a waking nightmare for all involved. John F. Kennedy was assassinated soon after filming started, casting a pall over the entire set. Not long after that, Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped from his dressing room at Lake Tahoe, Nevada (Upon payment of a large ransom, he was released, unharmed, a few days later). Victor Buono, who played Deputy Sherrif Alvin Potts, later observed that it was a minor miracle that filming was completed at all.
On the same day as the funeral scene was filmed, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
For reasons best known to the participants, Edward G. Robinson appears in a key supporting role without film credit.
Last theatrically released musical for Bing Crosby.
Both Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Falk have lost an eye.
My Kind of Town nominerades för en Academy Award för bästa sång men vann inte.
Man har gjort en scenversion av filmen. Den fick sin premiär i San Diego 2010. Den hade ett nytt libretto skrivet av Rupert Holmes och man hade flyttat fram handlingen till 1960-talet. Endast My Kind of Town behölls av filmens sånger och resten av musikalen fylldes av Cahn/Van Heusen standards.
Planer finns på att så småningom få den till Broadway men det verkar inte ske inom den närmaste framtiden.
Press:
Warner Bros. has a solid money entry in Robin and the Seven Hoods, a spoof on gangster pix of bygone days sparked by the names of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bing Crosby to give marquee power. . . Performance-wise, Falk comes out best. His comic gangster is a pure gem and he should get plenty of offers after this. Sinatra, of course, is smooth and Crosby in a “different” type of role rates a big hand. Martin seems lost in the shuffle. Davis is slick and Miss Rush, going heavy, is beautiful to look at.
– Variety
The minor musical whimsey that arrived at the Palace and other theaters yesterday under the just-too-cunning title of Robin and the 7 Hoods is almost as strained and archaic in the fable it has to tell of Prohibition-era gangsters in Chicago as the fable of Robin Hood it travesties. Dishing up Frank Sinatra as the leader of a mob that enhances its public image by giving large sums of money to charity, it runs through some all-too-familiar plot arrangements and farce routines that have a fleeting and far-away resemblance to some of the stuff in the old Damon Runyon tales.
–Bosley Crowther, The New York Times
I must confess I was yawning up to the moment Bing Crosby made his quiet and studious entrance as the unworldly secretary of a children’s orphanage. The years have not dealt lightly with Mr. Crosby. The tips of the famous toupee have receded still further back upon that time-honoured face. But after some moments of horrifying suspicion that he had been introduced as a mute stooge for the Sinatra Clan, the Old Master opened his mouth to sing again and to prove that his sweetness of tone remains unimpaired and undiminished for all his years of seniority.
– Michael Thornton, The Sunday Express
Videosar:
Style
My Kind Of Town (Chicago Is)
Don’t Be a Do-Badder
Bang! Bang!
Trailer
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